Rams Show Falcons How Better Half Live : L.A.’s Jump-Start Leads to 33-0 Win

Basically, it was a football game squeezed into a half and a football team squeezed into a half nelson.

That quickly and that brutally, the Atlanta Falcons remained the team of few breaks but plenty of brake lights, the first of which began streaming from Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium sometime in the second quarter on Sunday.

There wasn’t much to hang around for, unless you’re into halftime shows.

The Rams won going away, 33-0, a direction some Falcon fans wished their team was headed if you read the bumper stickers--Go Braves, And Take the Falcons With You.

Atlanta trailed at the half, 27-0, and it all happened about as fast as you can say a 40-yard Mike Lansford field goal, a 1-yard run by Greg Bell, Lansford from 25, Jim Everett to Henry Ellard for 54 yards and Everett to Buford McGee for 4.

By halftime, the Rams already had 334 total yards and they finished with 501. The Rams averaged 6.8 yards per play from scrimmage.

Everett added a 21-yard scoring pass to Pete Holohan in the third quarter, just to balance his books.

On defense, the Rams showed little mercy for former quarterbacks Steve Dils and Hugh Millen, sacking them a total of 9 times to increase their league sack lead to 36, only 2 fewer than they had all of last season.

“They whipped us in all phases of the game,” Atlanta Coach Marion Campbell said. “I don’t have an answer why.”

How about tradition?

In fact, the Rams haven’t had such a good laugh over Campbell’s Falcons since, well, last year’s 33-0 route over Atlanta in Anaheim Stadium.

It was so easy, so early, that the real fight seemed to be who would stay in the game long enough to be eligible for player-of-the-week honors.

Greg Bell? With tailback Charles White back in uniform and lurking on the sideline, Bell thought it might be wise to break the 100-yard rushing mark early. So he broke 32 yards on his first carry and reached 100 yards with 2:40 left in the first quarter.

Bell, rushing behind maybe the best offensive line in show business, had 135 yards by the half and made only token appearances after that. He finished with 155 yards in 21 carries, an average of 7.4 yards per carry.

Bell seemed headed for his second career 200-yard rushing day, but was allowed only 3 second-half carries.

“He’ll have 200-yard games,” Coach John Robinson said, assuredly. “Those things aren’t important.”

For the season, that’s 622 yards rushing in 6 games for Bell. Anyways, welcome back, Charlie.

Henry Ellard? By the time the second quarter was over, Ellard had 5 catches for 121 yards and had pulled off one of the best front flips on dry land this side of Seoul.

It came after Ellard’s 54-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter, a play on which Ellard froze Falcon corner Scott Case on an inside fake and broke outside instead. Touchdown, Rams.

To celebrate, Ellard did a full front flip in the end zone, drawing high scores from the judges and an excessive celebration penalty from officials.

Ellard said it was the play that cooked the Falcons.

“It was the big slant and go,” Ellard said of the play, which gave the Rams a 20-0 lead. “I saw a letdown after that.”

It was difficult to tell the difference.

Kevin Greene? It turns out that Aundray Bruce, the Falcons’ first-round pick and the first player taken overall, wasn’t even the best Auburn linebacker in the game.

Greene, a fifth-round pick by the Rams, came after Dils as though they had been enemies--not teammates--the past 4 years.

Greene sacked Dils 3 times to increase his team-leading total to 10.

And, if you were wondering about that soft spot in Greene’s heart, forget it.

Any empathy for Dils?

“Shooooooooot No!” Greene said.

Greene also thwarted the Falcons’ only serious scoring threat, intercepting a Dils pass near the goal line with 12:36 remaining.

Greene finished with 5 tackles, 3 sacks and 1 pass interception. Bruce had 4 tackles.

The difference is that no one had heard of Greene coming out of Auburn, where he was a walk-on after playing 3 years of intramural football.

“Everybody was saying I should walk-on,” Greene said. “It was the best move I ever made in my life.”

No kidding.

Jim Everett? The National Football Conference’s leading passer going in, Everett padded his totals by completing 15 of 24 passes for 234 yards and 3 touchdowns.

Why he was throwing a lead block for Bell on a sweep in the third quarter with his team leading, 27-0, was another matter.

Everett said it was just instinct and the only way to play the game.

Robinson almost agreed.

“I said something, but he said ‘Look, when I’m out there I’ve gotta play. If I start measuring how I play, then I am going to get hurt. I think this football team needs that. This team has to have fun.’ ”

How much fun was it for the coach?

“I didn’t panic on that,” Robinson said. “I screamed at him, though.”

Everett left the game soon after, leaving the fourth quarter to backup Mark Herrmann.

The wonder of Sunday’s game was that it gave Robinson time to tinker and tune his 5-1 team for next Sunday’s showdown against 4-2 San Francisco in Anaheim Stadium.

After promising to play rookie Gaston Green for weeks, Robinson finally did--and liked what he saw.

Green carried 14 times for 61 yards and had 2 catches for 34 more.

White, the defending NFL rushing champion, made only a token appearance as a blocking back for 1 play in the fourth quarter.

Robinson said White, who returned this week from a 30-day suspension, will be back in the rotation next week.

But are there enough carries to go around?

“We’ll just have to have the ball more then, won’t we,” Robinson said.

Bell said he wasn’t running to protect his job or thinking about White. Bell said he was just running for running’s sake.

“I’m going out to do my job,” Bell said. “If I carry 1 time or carry 25 times, I’m going to do my job. If you start worrying about your own teammates, what are you going to do against the defenders? I’m trying to help this team win. Everybody that’s on this side of the ball is with me. I’m for them. I’m happy for them. They’re with me. We’re going to go down the road together.”

But what about San Francisco, Greg?

“Don’t I get a chance to enjoy today?”

Ram Notes

Greg Bell bruised his left shoulder in the second half, but said it’s not serious. . . . Here’s how the Rams’ 9 sacks broke down. Kevin Greene (3), Mike Wilcher (2), Shawn Miller (2), Michael Stewart (1) and Fred Strickland (1). . . . Steve Dils completed 8 of 21 passes for 100 yards and 1 interception. Hugh Millen replaced him in the fourth quarter and completed 6 of 7 passes for 48 yards. Dils was sacked 6 times, Millen 3. . . . After his great first half, Henry Ellard finished with 7 catches for 134 yards. . . . Last week, the Ram defense allowed 41 points and 519 total yards in a loss to Phoenix. Sunday, the defense allowed only 150 yards and no points. What gives? “We learned last week and this week that we can’t just show up and win,” cornerback LeRoy Irvin said. “I think we learned a lesson.”