Bengals Turn Ram Mistakes Into Win

If you’re a Ram, it’s a strange day when Al Davis is in your press box, Mike Piel is in your starting lineup, Kevin Brown is on your punt team--punting--and Darryl Franklin and Robert Delpino almost save your goat.

It’s also why the Rams’ 14-7 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in Saturday’s Hall of Fame game wasn’t nearly as important as getting out of Canton’s swelter and returning bodily fluids to bodies.

As they say, it wasn’t so much the heat that beat the Rams as it was the humidity.

Al Davis? The Raiders’ owner was in Canton Saturday for receiver Fred Biletnikoff’s induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, a hall Davis jokingly threatened to remove from Canton after he was booed at the podium by fans of inductee Jack Ham.

“If you Pittsburgh fans continue to respond in this manner,” Davis said, “we’ll see that the Hall of Fame is moved to the West Coast.”

Mike Piel? He’s one of the reasons the game left Ram coaches scratching their heads. It’s difficult to evaluate a defensive front that really isn’t your defensive front. But because last season’s starters--Shawn Miller, Greg Meisner and Doug Reed--remain this season’s holdouts, the Rams were forced to start the rookie Piel at left end, Alvin Wright at nose tackle and Fred Stokes on the right.

Three new faces on the line also may have botched the unveiling of the Rams’ new defense, an alignment that includes only two down linemen and five linebackers.

Wouldn’t you know it: The first time the Rams moved into the formation, Bengal quarterback Boomer Esiason flipped a short pass to Eddie Brown, who took it 62 yards down the left sideline to the Ram 12.

“They threw the ball out there, and we didn’t tackle,” defensive coordinator Fritz Shurmur said in defense. “There’s going to be those kinds of things when you do something for the first time. You’re going to learn and make some mistakes from it.”

This is the time of year for mistakes.

Ram quarterback Jim Everett played just a quarter and looked good doing it, completing 7 of 9 passes for 72 yards. Except after driving his team from the Ram 20 to the Cincinnati 4 in the first quarter, Everett and Mike Guman collided on a simple run play, the ball squirting loose into the paws of Bengal Ray Horton.

And two mistakes by reserve quarterback Hugh Millen led to both Cincinnati touchdowns. In the second quarter, a Millen pass intercepted by safety David Fulcher at his own 15-yard line led to a 4-yard touchdown run by Turk Schonert with 22 seconds left in the first half.

In the third quarter, Millen found Fulcher again, only this time he returned the interception 43 yards to the Ram 4. Four seconds later, reserve quarterback Turk Schonerttossed a 4-yard scoring pass to Ira Hillary to make it 14-0.

It was a tough day for Millen, who is fighting for the second spot along with Steve Dils.

“We didn’t move the ball the way we’d like to,” said Millen, who completed 16 of 28 passes for 107 yards.

Playing mainly with rookies and reserves, Millen got his team close in the fourth-quarter when he led the Rams on a 94-yard scoring drive, the touchdown coming on rookie Keith Jones’ two-yard run.

It was a real Ram youth drive, the bulk of the work being done by Jones (5 carries, 21 yards; 2 catches, 8 yards) and fifth-round fullback Delpino (2 catches, 23 yards).

Delpino so far has been the surprise of the camp for the Rams, and Saturday he was nearly the hero after he scooped up Brown’s apparently dropped punt late in the game and ran it in for a touchdown.

Now, for the reality: With less than three minutes left, Brown had called for a fair catch on the play but bobbled the ball. The Rams’ Franklin, thinking it was a live ball, punched it free, not knowing the rule that provides a punt returner calling a fair catch the right to catch the ball without interference, bobble or no bobble.

Also, the Rams had released a man too soon on the punt, so the touchdown would have been recalled regardless.

Still, the play didn’t hurt Delpino’s stock any, as if he needed to buy any more shares. Delpino finished with 20 yards on 5 carries and made 4 catches for 47 yards.

Ram Notes

Former Ram star Jack Youngblood, now a part of the club’s radio announcing team, left Saturday’s game after learning his mother had suffered a heart attack in Alabama. . . . Safety Johnnie Johnson and center Doug Smith have replaced ex-Rams Nolan Cromwell and Dennis Harrah as Ram captains. . . . Raider owner Al Davis had a long second-quarter chat with Ram Vice President John Shaw. . . . Rookie wide receiver Willie Anderson has dropped No. 48 and taken Kevin House’s old No. 83. The Rams waived House July 21. . . . The Rams left Canton with only minor injuries, suffered by tackle Irv Pankey (bruised quadriceps) and tailback Greg Bell (bruised shoulder). . . . Tailback Charles White rushed 8 times for 24 yards . . . Fullback Mike Guman caught 4 passes for 35 yards.