Replacements Go One-Up on Rams : New Guys Beat Steelers, Give Robinson First Victory, 31-21

The Not-Ready-For-Prime-Time Players boldly ventured Sunday to where no Ram team has gone this season, mainly the win column.

Their 31-21 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers at Anaheim Stadium, in front of 20,218 curiosity seekers, wasn’t important simply because it was the Rams’ first in four tries, but because it may be the last for this collection of free agents and castoffs.

Then again, what with the strike negotiations at another standstill, this might be a team to get to know.

Some of them are familiar enough.

There’s running back Charles White, whose legacy includes a Heisman Trophy and a walk across his union’s picket line.

Add to that 33 of the Rams’ 38 rushing attempts, for 166 yards--a career high--and 1 touchdown.

There’s quarterback Steve Dils, whose previous job description called mostly for holding duties on extra points and field goals with an occasional cameo appearance as Jim Everett’s understudy.

Mr. Backup finished the afternoon with 13 completions in 19 attempts and a pair of touchdown throws.

And there’s Ram Coach John Robinson, whose pregame speech was so emotional, said veteran defensive lineman Greg Meisner, “that it got a bubble in everybody’s Adam’s apple.”

But have you heard of Kirby Jackson? (Hints: cornerback . . . Mississippi State?) Of course not.

Jackson recovered a blocked punt for a Ram touchdown and also tied a team-high with four tackles Sunday.

How about James McDonald or Malcolm Moore? If you can hum the Trojan Fight Song, you know these two. McDonald and Moore, USC alums, each caught a touchdown pass from Dils.

Thanks to such names and no-names, the Rams II now at least find themselves within viewing distance of the NFC West-leading San Francisco 49ers (3-1). And suddenly the New Orleans Saints (2-2) and next weekend’s opponent, the Atlanta Falcons (1-3), don’t seem so intimidating.

Just last week, as the Rams were on the wrong end of a 37-10 score in New Orleans, the season seemed in danger of collapse. Dils couldn’t complete a thought, much less a pass. White was ineffective. The Ram defense was there in name only.

“It seemed like last week . . . we didn’t know what we were doing,” said Meisner, who crossed the picket line shortly before the game against the Saints. “Now, they know they can win.”

Meisner paused and then corrected himself. “ We know that we can win.”

Said the newcomer Moore: “The attitude we have as a team is, we are the Rams, right now. We’re taking the attitude now that we don’t know what tomorrow will bring. We know we’re here to stay a while.”

That was the message Robinson preached before Sunday’s game. But unlike other occasions, Robinson headed directly for his players’ heartstrings. No calming, soothing speech. Instead, Robinson appealed to more basic feelings.

“He said to go out there and play hard, to think about being a nobody . . . and go out and show people that you are somebody,” Meisner said.

Told later of his speech’s impact, Robinson grinned sheepishly. He used a version of time-honored college rah-rah, and it worked.

“I was going for, ‘Oh, . . . , we need this (win),’ ” Robinson said.

Maybe, but even in his postgame comments to reporters, Robinson worked himself into a mild fervor.

“The most important thing is the guys who played,” he said. “In this particular situation, it’s impossible to tell what’s coming tomorrow, we just go day to day. But the players that played in the game, thank God for them. They proved once again that it’s a game of will and spirit and beliefs, and all that stuff count for something.

“They sucked it up and they went out there and played their butts off,” he said. “And I am so proud of them just for doing it for themselves.”

Talk about working a room. Just think what Robinson does behind closed doors.

Now the Rams have a chance, however slim, of salvaging a season. An 0-4 record would have, for all intents and purposes, ended those hopes.

The Rams knew it, especially Dils, who has been through this sort of thing before. Dils spent a portion of his work week getting peppered with insults and taunts by his striking union teammates.

Their reaction after the Ram victory?

“I think they’ll say good,” Dils said. “I talked to a couple of them (Saturday) and they said, ‘If you’re going to do it, win the game.’ They call us scabs in one breath and in the next, they say, ‘Win the game.’ ”

Aside from Robinson, the Rams used all sorts of methods to subdue the Steelers, who entered the game with their regular running backs--Earnest Jackson and Frank Pollard--and their usual center--Mike Webster. As for the rest of them, rumor had it that the Steelers were more talented than the Ram collection.

Sure enough, the Steelers had a 14-7 lead early in the second period and appeared on their way to a victory. After the Ram touchdown recovery of a punt blocked by Nolan Cromwell, the Steelers drove 84 yards for their first score and a 7-7 tie midway through the first quarter.

Then came a second Pittsburgh score, again directed by former UCLA quarterback Steve Bono. So lopsided was the Steeler advantage, that Bono even managed to complete a two-yard pass to himself (thanks to a tip by Ram linebacker Kyle Borland).

All seemed safe for the Steelers.

But the new and improved Rams, helped by a 51-yard flea flicker from White to Dils, through Steeler defensive back Cornell Gowdy’s hands, to Ram receiver Phil Smith, evened the score, 14-14.

“I had overthrown that pass all week in practice,” Dils said. “I saw him running down there so I took a little off it and he made a great catch. It seemed all of the sudden in the huddle there was a spark.”

Four play later, White scored on a two-yard leap into the end zone.

There would be other Ram drives, like the 9-minute, 84-yard journey that ended with Dils’ pass to McDonald near the end of the first-half. That one included six completions in eight tries by Dils.

And in third period, with the ball on the Ram 31, White popped out of a mass of tacklers and escaped for a 58-yard gain. Next play, Dils threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Moore.

“That one run (White’s) was amazing,” Dils said. “He got hit, he got hit, he got hit. The official was standing right there thinking, ‘Should I blow the whistle or not?’ He was just phenomenal.”

A fourth-quarter, 39-yard field goal by Mike Lansford accounted for the final Ram points.

Unlikely heroes Sunday, most notably White, who was arrested Aug. 21 for being under the influence of a foreign substance.

Now, after a brief stay on the Ram picket line, White has returned to what he knows best: running with a football.

“It’s starting to feel like a team, but we are still looking over our shoulder, wondering when the strike will end and how long we’ll be together,” said White in a statement to a Ram public relations official. “After being with these guys for a couple of weeks, we know that we are capable of getting the job done.

“Right now, I feel worn out, like I put in a good day’s work.”

He did. And for a change, he wasn’t alone.