PRO FOOTBALL ’87 : NFC PREVIEW : If Rams Win Home-Field Edge, They May Be Home Free

Years ago, the better National Football League teams often took it easy against outmanned opponents, saving themselves for more important afternoons.

No more.

They try to win them all now.

Asked about the new frenzy, Bill Walsh, coach of the San Francisco 49ers, said recently: “Everybody wants the hometown edge.”

He meant the home-field advantage in the playoffs, a privilege gained by teams winning the most regular-season games.

In particular, they win a noisy stadium at home for the conference finals--the last two big games of the season before the Super Bowl each year.

This edge has become seemingly decisive in the tougher National Conference.

For one thing, the finals are always played in the dead of winter--on a January day when the difference in temperature between East and West can be 60 or 70 degrees, and when wind, rain or snow can all be factors.

Secondly, the 1980s have degenerated into an era of increasingly raucous behavior by football fans. In today’s playoff games, visiting athletes are always battling partisan crowds. When two clubs are rather evenly matched, this frequently tips the balance.

Plans to adopt the college rule for unsportsmanlike crowd behavior--a modest five-yard penalty--were voted down at the NFL’s March meeting. Apparently, a majority in the NFL loves crowd insolence.

The last seven NFC championships have all been won by teams holding the home-field advantage in conference title games. And five of the last six NFC champions have gone on to win the Super Bowl. Thus, one prediction can be made confidently:

The NFC team winning the most regular-season games this season will win the playoffs, too, and most likely the Super Bowl.

The Rams are the team with the best chance to lead the NFC in wins this year in both the regular season and the playoffs. And as representatives of the stronger conference, they’ll be favored to beat the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl Jan. 31 in San Diego.

With Eric Dickerson, Henry Ellard, and Ron Brown, the Rams are not only the most explosive NFC club--and one of the most dependable defensively--they also have a winnable schedule.

So do the defending champion New York Giants, who are obviously the team to beat in the NFL. But as owner Wellington Mara said the other day, they must clear the two obstacles that have prevented every NFL champion from repeating as champions since Pittsburgh’s 1978-79 club won Super Bowls XIII and XIV.

“Everybody shoots at the champion,” Mara said. “Every week will be somebody’s Super Bowl against us.

“Worse than that is the injury thing. The healthiest (contender) always wins the championship--and it’s been a long time since any team had that kind of good luck two years in a row.”

The 1985 champion Bears are another NFC entry with a winnable schedule. The Bears may be looking at a difficult second half of the season against opponents like Denver, San Francisco, Seattle and the Raiders, but by then they may have Jim McMahon, their injured passer.

And in the easier first half, their defense should be able to build some momentum for the Bears with either Mike Tomczak, Jim Harbaugh or Doug Flutie at quarterback.

In a conference that has five Super Bowl contenders, the two other NFC members, who are clever enough to win the hometown edge, are the 49ers and Washington Redskins.

In the last three years, three of the NFC’s finest have won Super Bowl titles after winning most of their regular-season games: the 49ers, who finished 15-1; the Bears, 15-1, and the Giants, 14-2.

The prize makes the effort worthwhile.

NFC’S TOP 10

1. L.A. RAMS

A typical NFL analysis came this week from Detroit scout John Trump: “The Giants will be hard to beat if they have the same injury luck they had last year. The Bears will be hard to beat if McMahon plays most of their games. The Rams will be hard to beat if Jim Everett is an NFL quarterback.”

There are no guarantees on Everett--just as there were none on the Giants’ Phil Simms until he finally did it in the second half of the 1986 season. But Everett has one advantage over Simms. He has Brown and Ellard to throw to. Moreover, there is Dickerson to hand to. There may never have been a running back with Dickerson’s speed, strength and aptitude for evasive action. Other Ram assets are the offensive line, defense, special teams, and John Robinson.

The Giants and Bears both generate a rougher pass rush than the Rams can command. Head to head on neutral fields, the Giants and Bears both seem stronger than the rest, but that isn’t the way the NFL arranges its scheduling.

2. NEW YORK GIANTS

One way to look at the Giants is to remember that they probably wouldn’t have won the Super Bowl last season if McMahon had returned to the Bears in good health. Both clubs finished the regular season 14-2. Against the easy marks on the 1986 Bear schedule, a 16-0 record and the hometown edge in the finals wouldn’t have been beyond McMahon.

Another way to look at the Giants is to see that, quite possibly, they’ve improved more since winning last year than any other defending champion in NFL history. With George Young and Harry Hulmes in charge, they’ve been drafting better than anyone. They have a persevering coach, Bill Parcells. They have the game’s best pass-rushing linebacker, Lawrence Taylor, and best all-around linebacker, Carl Banks. They have surprising depth for a young team--two quarterbacks, two tight ends, many linemen, many offensive backs.

But their opponents know all. For Giant opponents, 1987, unlike 1986, is kill the king.

3. CHICAGO BEARS

Minus McMahon and defensive Coach Buddy Ryan, the Bears, compared to their 1985 team, are perceptibly better only in the experience their young starters have acquired since then. Their 1985 champions were so gifted, however, that this is still a great team, except at quarterback, where Tomczak isn’t McMahon.

4: WASHINGTON REDSKINS

Washington may be the NFL sleeper this year. The team is led by one of the game’s most respected coaches, Joe Gibbs, and one of the few standout NFL quarterbacks, Jay Schroeder. On defense, the Redskins don’t quite measure up to the Bears or Giants, or even the NFC’s California teams, except at cornerback, with Darrell Green. But with Art Monk and Gary Clark receiving, Schroeder can match last year’s 12-4.

5. SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS

At San Francisco, Bill Walsh has coached the NFL’s best balanced team for many years. Though quarterback Joe Montana was the Most Valuable Player of the 49ers’ Super Bowl champions--in both 1981 and 1984--those were essentially defensive teams and the 49ers still are. In 1986, statistically they were one of the few teams in the league that finished impressively on both sides of the ball. To get the 49ers back on top, Montana will have to resume being a rollout passer, which may be too much for a man with a bad back. Steve Young is a promising backup.

6. MINNESOTA VIKINGS

In recent seasons, the Vikings have been quietly sneaking up on the league, adding more talent than last year’s 9-7 record reflected. At 32, quarterback Tommy Kramer is coming out of his best season, although he spent the summer in an alcoholic rehabilitation center. The Vikings have Darrin Nelson and rookie D.J. Dozier to run the ball and Nelson and Anthony Carter to catch it. And if Kramer falters, Wade Wilson can throw it.

7. DALLAS COWBOYS

A year ago, quarterback Danny White finally made believers of his teammates, his coaches, and the Dallas press. Then he hurt a wrist--and will apparently play hurt the rest of his career. Even before receiver Mike Sherrard broke a leg this summer, Coach Tom Landry said he had decided to rebuild the entire offense around Herschel Walker. Will this be the rebirth of America’s Team?

8. PHILADELPHIA EAGLES

Facing the NFL’s most difficult schedule this season, the Eagles may not prove they’re No. 8 in the conference. But they are led by one of the league’s top coaches, Buddy Ryan, and one of the top 8 or 10 quarterbacks, Randall Cunningham. A healthy Keith Byars in the backfield is a must.

9. NEW ORLEANS SAINTS

If the Saints are beginning to come together, as their fans suggest, this is the year to show it--their second under Coach Jim Mora and General Manager Jim Finks. But the Saints lack both team speed and a quarterback, unless Dave Wilson or Bobby Hebert emerges.

10. TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS

Some scouts are saying the Buccaneers have the best young talent in the NFC Central. If true--if, for example, Vinny Testaverde is another Dan Marino, Coach Ray Perkins won’t be sorry he left the University of Alabama. As coach of the 1979-82 Giants, Perkins turned that team around.

THE DIVISIONS

West: The Rams and 49ers are again in the fight for first, and, again, the Saints and Atlanta Falcons are in the fight for third. Starting his second tour as coach of the Falcons, Marion Campbell, a defensive specialist who was last in charge in 1982-84, has brought in one of the NFL’s better offensive coordinators, Rod Dowhower.

Central: It is unlikely that the Bears will be pressed this year by the Vikings, who probably won’t be pressed by the Buccaneers, Detroit Lions, or Green Bay Packers. The Lions drafted able, controversial defensive end Reggie Rogers. There will be a quarterback controversy when Eric Hipple’s broken thumb mends and he can challenge Chuck Long. Did the Packers gain more than they lost when they drafted an effective runner, Brent Fullwood, and traded away James Lofton?

East: The Giants will hold off the Redskins again. In the race for third, the Cowboys would have trouble with the Eagles if they played the same schedules. The Cowboys could be 3-1 and the Eagles 1-3 going into their first meeting in October. The Cardinals drafted a second-line quarterback, Kelly Stouffer, and then made him feel like one when they gave him a salary offer he could refuse. So this team is still starting Neil Lomax.