Greene’s Day Spent Chasing Quarterbacks of Green Bay

Coach John Robinson called linebacker Kevin Greene into his office late last season and told him of things to come. He told him of quarterback sacks--lots of them, of pass deflections and interceptions. He told him of the Rams’ desire to showcase Greene’s special brand of, uh, enthusiasm.

To which Greene responded by counting the milliseconds until Sunday’s season opener against the Green Bay Packers.

Greene’s like that: hyper-intense, big on glazed looks. Tell him he’ll play more and he gets this strange grin on his face. He lives for things to come.

With that in mind, maybe it’s only fair that the Rams make like Greene and do some counting of their own. They can begin with a 34-7 victory over the Packers and then move directly to Greene and his many contributions. Among the numbers:

--Two sacks, Greene.

--One pass batted down, Greene.

--At least a half-dozen times when Packer quarterbacks Randy Wright or Don Majkowski were forced from the pocket and into harm’s way, thanks partly to you-know-who.

Robinson and the Rams made good on their 1987 promise, all right. It’s called the Eagle defense and among its featured players is Greene, who still can’t believe his good fortune. Last season, a part-timer; this year, a one-man highlight film.

“It’s a natural kind of thing for him,” said Fritz Shurmur, defensive coordinator.

Which is another way of saying that the Rams were looking for someone who played rabidly.

That would be Greene. He’s wound tighter than a golf ball, the kind of guy who considers it a compliment when described as a borderline maniac.

“I think he’s visible,” Shurmur said.

The Eagle defense can do that to a guy. In essence, it allows Greene and fellow linebacker Mike Wilcher to become full-time pass rushers. They pester. They annoy. They create confusion.

Wright, who supposedly was good enough to make Marc Wilson expendable, completed 11 of 24 passes for 130 yards. He also threw two interceptions. Majkowski came in later and added one of his own.

“That’s the way it’s supposed to work,” Wilcher said.

Things got so bad for the Packers that wide receiver Walter Stanley criticized his quarterback during the game.

“If I had a quarterback, I’d beat you all day,” he told Ram cornerback LeRoy Irvin on the way back to the huddle.

Irvin was less critical.

“Randy Wright is a good quarterback, but we just got pressure on him today,” he said. “You can’t fault a guy when he’s always scrambling and running around out there.”

Doing much of the chasing was Greene. And when the Packers made adjustments--such as assigning two blockers to Greene--it cleared the way for someone else to barge into the Packer backfield.

“It’s so simple for me,” Greene said. “I’d say 99.9% of the time, my job is to go after the quarterback.”

Afterward, in postgame interviews, Greene spends 99.9% of his time denying he did anything worthwhile. Listen to Greene long enough and you’d think he spent the game on the bench sipping Gatorade.

“If (somebody) says he don’t like being the hero, he’s lying,” Greene said. “Everybody likes to be the hero, likes publicity, have people interviewing you. But understand this, I am no Brian Bosworth. I’m not an individual. It’s a team effort, understand that.

“I’ll tell you, no earrings, no nothing. I’m just a good ol’ country boy. You won’t be seeing anything abnormal coming from me.”

With that, Greene spent considerable time thanking Shurmur, Ram defensive backs, Ram linebackers, anyone, really. As for this recent preseason, when Greene collected had 5 sacks, 1 interception and 4 passes defensed--it was like it never happened. “That doesn’t count at all,” Greene said.

A locker away stood defensive end Doug Reed, doing his best to suppress a laugh.

“He’s telling you the truth, part of it anyway,” Reed said, smiling. “He’s a philosopher. He’s like Commander McBragg. He’s always got a story for everything.”

And the story Sunday was Greene and the Eagle defense.

Shurmur said the Rams used their the new defense “about 40-50%” against Green Bay. There was a kink or two, but for the most part, Shurmur said he couldn’t help but be pleased. Not only did the Eagle baffle the Packers, but it worked without compromising the rest of the defense.

For instance, the defensive backs survived an afternoon of mostly man-to-man coverage. Linebacker Mel Owens, who gets stuck with most of the dirty work in the Eagle, was stung just once--the Packers’ lone touchdown pass. Reed and Shawn Miller, holdouts until a couple of weeks ago, played well enough on the defensive line.

Put Greene aside for a moment, said Shurmur, “and that’s the thing I was most pleased about.”

Still, this was a game that belonged to Greene--even if he won’t admit it.