Ram Notebook : For Sutton, Fielding Punts Is a Breeze; He Gets Game Ball

Cornerback Mickey Sutton, only 5-feet 8-inches and 165 pounds, played a big game for the Rams on Sunday, big enough to be awarded a game ball from Coach John Robinson.

Robinson praised Sutton for the way he handled punts in wind gusts up to 25 m.p.h. “Probably the most impressive football player on our team in my view was Mickey Sutton,” Robinson said.

“Mickey handled the punts, which ultimately was one of the things that decided the game. He was a big man for us.”

Sutton’s 46-yard punt return to the 11-yard line helped set up the Rams’ third touchdown, an 11-yard pass from Jim Everett to Henry Ellard.

Running back Charles White left the game briefly in the first half to attend to his bruised ribs. White was escorted to the Ram locker room where trainers re-taped a protective pad.

“The thing had fallen down,” White said. “I just had to get it re-adjusted.”

White finished the game with 14 rushing attempts for 44 yards and no touchdowns.

Cornerback LeRoy Irvin unveiled The Salute again, sort of his signature gesture after a noteworthy play.

This time it came after Packer running back Paul Ott Carruth was sent reeling backward by Irvin after a short pass completion. Irvin popped to his feet, faced the Ram bench and then delivered the salute.

“It’s my way of getting back in the game,” Irvin said.

Irvin had planned to save it for later, maybe the Ram home opener against Detroit this week. But he said he felt insulted by the Packers’ efforts to run and pass his way. “They were (ticking) me off,” he said.

The Salute is for Ram defensive coordinator Fritz Shurmur. It’s Irvin’s way to honor him, though Shurmur said he could do without the fanfare.

Irvin, who is searching for a shoe contract, said the fact that teams are testing him could work in his favor.

“I’m telling (shoe companies) forget about the Olympics,” he said. “Teams will throw at me so much I’ll always be in the (television) picture.”

Guard Tom Newberry, who went to the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, was overwhelmed with ticket requests by relatives and friends for Sunday’s game. Not wanting to disappoint anyone, Newberry arrived in Green Bay Saturday with 200 tickets.

“I bought 200, but most of them paid me back,” Newberry said. “There was no big deficit for me.”

Orange County product Brian Noble was featured on the cover of the game program Sunday. It was a nice photo, too: Arms upraised, uniform tattered, as if he’d just made a great tackle.

Only one problem--the Packer linebacker is a holdout. Noble, who has played for the Packers the past four years, watched the game on television from his home in Huntington Beach.

“I’ve got the Coke commercials running, I’m on the cover of the (the program), I’m on the cover of the (Packer) pocket schedules,” Noble told the Milwaukee Sentinel. “People probably think that I’m there.”

Outside linebacker Mel Owens usually isn’t much of a headline maker. His job is fighting off the opponent’s tight end so other guys can make tackles. Sunday, though, Owens finished with one sack for 10 yards and also recovered a fumble.

“I’m a cover man,” Owens said. “I only get to blitz once in a while. But it’s a good defense when you got guys that can rush.”

Robinson became the first coach in Ram history to last more than five years when he coached the first game of his sixth season with the Rams. Robinson needs only six more wins to pass Chuck Knox (54) as the winningest coach in Ram history.