Ram Notebook : Everett’s Patience Wins Out

In one of your more useless threats, game referee Johnny Grier asked the Giants Stadium crowd of 75,617 to cease making so much noise Sunday.

The odd request came midway during the third quarter as the Rams were making their way down the field. The score was 35-24 and suddenly the Giants’ fans came to life.

On third and six from the New York 39, quarterback Jim Everett stepped to the line, just about ready to take the snap from center. Then he stepped back: He couldn’t hear a thing.

So he waited. And waited some more. Giant linebacker Harry Carson tried to quiet the crowd to no avail. Then Giant Coach Bill Parcells tried. That didn’t work, either.

Finally, Grier switched on his field microphone and announced that if the fans didn’t cooperate, he would “suspend the game for a while.”

The fans booed. Meanwhile, Everett returned to the line and began yelling signals. Sure enough, the noise caused a penalty. Stranger still was the fact that it was against the Giants: off sides.

“It was extremely loud at one point,” Everett said. “I know they were trying to rally back, and the fans were really trying to help the team. It’s great to be in a stadium where the fans are like that. But you just got to wait and play, and things worked out right.”

Linebacker Carl Ekern spent considerable time after several of last week’s workouts working on catching footballs. So determined was he to improve his ability to snare interceptions that he rigged up a Ram throwing machine to send him spirals from short distances.

So, of course, Ekern gets in Sunday’s game and has two Giant passes slip right through his hands.

Rookie wide receiver Aaron Cox continues his streak of one-catch, one-touchdown games.

Against the Raiders last Sunday, he caught one pass for 54 yards and a touchdown. Against the Giants, he had one reception for 69 yards . . . and a touchdown.

The ball he caught against the Raiders--his first National Football League touchdown--he saved. The one against the Giants?

“I spiked that one,” he said.

Statistics of interest:

The Rams had fewer first downs (21 to 24) than the Giants. . . . The Rams returned 5 kickoffs for 144 yards, an average of 28.8. The Giants gained 143 yards, but they had 3 more kickoff returns. . . . Kicker Mike Lansford missed his first field goal of less than 50 yards this season. It was a 31-yard attempt that sailed left.