Rams : Despite Record, Robinson Does Monster Mash
Monday morning, Coach John Robinson turned into Dr. Frankenstein for 25 minutes and wondered out loud about the monster he has created.
For his beast, the Rams, victory came so easily and convincingly that it overshadowed all that was wretched with Sunday’s 31-10 victory over Seattle. Apparently, there was plenty.
Beneath the glitter and glamour of touchdown passes and standing ovations, Robinson found a hollow soul. His quarterback was never touched, his team never challenged, his defense barely scored upon.
Yet, his team is rotting slowly from the core, he insisted, noticeable only from the inside. If the Rams were a house, he’d throw a tent over it and call termite control.
Robinson is worried that all pass and no run will make January a dull month. He’s worried that his pass-happy team might be headed toward football’s temple of doom. Football is still won in the trenches, by running and stopping the run, he said.
“I’ve read that John Robinson doesn’t like passing,” he said. “And I think that’s stupid, really stupid when that’s written. The point I’m trying to make is, unless we do both, we’re going to fail.”
Just look at the numbers, he said. While Jim Everett is turning heads all over the league with his 19 touchdown passes, the Rams’ once-proud defense is allowing opponents 4.9 yards per rushing attempt.
Robinson’s outburst, delivered with stump-speech passion at his weekly luncheon, was almost laughable in the wake of Sunday’s lopsided win. But Robinson worked his story line hard. Orel Hershiser never pitched better.
How on earth, Robinson wondered, could Curt Warner have gained 75 yards in the first half against his defense? So what if he finished with only 86. Is this team so sack happy now that it has forgotten the game’s fundamentals?
“You talk about our defense with words like Sack-O-Rama,” Robinson said of his defense, which leads the league with 39 sacks. “Which doesn’t mean crap. If you’re a runner, you start thinking Run-O-Rama against us.”
Sack-O-Rama was a phrase created by Ram publicist John Oswald to chart the team’s sack leaders in his weekly releases. This week, the phrase was watered-down to Sack Attack. Last week, Roger Craig gained 190 yards in San Francisco’s 3-point win over the Rams. “Whoever does win in our division, the playoffs or the Super Bowl, they’re going to have to run and stop the run,” Robinson said.
He said he feels the balance of power slipping away from his team. He warned that a team should not become too enamored with the quarterback sack or the quarterback.
“Another thing creeps in,” he said. “It’s the idea that ‘I’m a pass rusher, I’m a specialist, part of the famous Sack-O-Ramas. I go up field and if they run, I holler to someone as they go by and say “Run.” ’ “
Never mind that the Rams actually outrushed the Seahawks, 154 yards to 153.
“I don’t care about yards,” Robinson said. “It’s a state of mind.”
To prove his point, Robinson pieced together an all-mistake highlight film and screened it for his players Monday.
Then, face flushed with emotion, he said the big games will be won with blocking and tackling, neither of which the Rams are doing well these days. You can’t be like the Oakland A’s and wait for the 3-run homer.
“It’s damn near a disease,” he said of his team’s state. “I hate to say it. When all of a sudden things are too easy. It’s like fast-break basketball. All of a sudden you say, man, ‘These guys are unbelievable, the fast break’s so good, no one can touch them.’ Then you run into a great rebounding team and you never get the ball off the boards. All of a sudden, you get beat by 20.”
The fever has even consumed the head coach, who called pass instead of run on Sunday’s fourth-down scoring pass to Damone Johnson at the Seattle 1-yard line.
“It just shows you what a bad state we’re in,” Robinson said, gradually breaking into a smile. “I called that play. It’s horrible.”
You think Robinson saw Ironhead Heyward’s 73-yard touchdown run Sunday? The New Orleans Saints, of course, are up next. And Robinson obviously couldn’t wait to grease the skids. Whose team has a big head?
It’s the Saints, not the Rams, who are perched atop the NFC West at 7-1. It’s the Saints, not the Rams, who love to run the run and stuff the run.
Message delivered. Message received.
Ram Notes
LeRoy Irvin, cornerback and autograph seeker, was thrilled that Seattle’s Steve Largent agreed to sign the football cards Irvin owns of the star wide receiver. Irvin, who had to cover Largent in Sunday’s game, has long been a football card collector. “I called him (Saturday) night and had someone take the cards over to the hotel,” Irvin said. “He signed them. You see, when he goes to the Hall of Fame, I’ll have all of Steve Largent’s cards already signed.” Irvin said he continually complimented Largent during the game, though he admitted Largent wasn’t buying it. “I kept telling him: ‘You sure are quick.’ He said ‘Thank you, you have my cards.’ ” . . . Quarterback Jim Everett’s quarterback rating improved to 109.3 this week, second in the conference to Washington’s Mark Rypien.
