Everett Still Rams’ Pass to Success

Given his druthers, John Robinson would rather pound than pass. He’s a lot like his good friend and bus enthusiast, John Madden: Both prefer long, time-consuming journeys over land rather than brief and sometimes dangerous flights of fancy.

Robinson enjoys watching his Ram offense move downfield the same way junior high science students enjoy burning classmates’ leg hairs with magnifying glasses. He gets this look on his face, an expression of total contentment as his team exacts yardage in four- or five-yard chunks. Often, it is a slow, precise, demoralizing process and Robinson loves every drawn-out moment of it. To him, it is the way winning football was meant to be played--with blood and mud caked on your uniforms and precious time ticking off the clock.

Contrary to popular notion, Robinson isn’t entirely opposed to the forward pass. He just doesn’t trust it, that’s all. Never has, never will.

Robinson considers the pass a supplement, not a staple of an offense. Put it this way: if Robinson’s offensive attack were living room furniture, the running game would be the oversized couch and the passing game would be the footstool.

So then, how do you explain the Rams’ most recent victory, a two-touchdown pass-fest that left the Indianapolis Colts wondering what hit them? And does anyone want a good deal on a used couch?

Quarterback Jim Everett and wide receiver Henry Ellard should have been awarded game balls and frequent flyer points, what with all the air travel that went on. Everett scorched the jet stream for 368 yards. Ellard, meanwhile, set a career high with 230 yards’ worth of catches.

I know people who don’t go that far on vacation.

Every pattern worked. Every O beat every X Sunday, just as if it had been diagramed on offensive coordinator Ernie Zampese’s blackboard. These were the Other Rams, the Anti-Rams, the evil alter ego of Robinson.

It’s not as if Robinson has anything against pretty spirals and acrobatic catches; it’s just that his theory of physicality suffers. This would be the theorem that states that bludgeoning a defense into submission is more beneficial to a team--in this case, the Rams--than aerial bombing.

“The finesse part of the game goes up and down,” Robinson says. “The physical part of the game is easier to control.”

Translation: passing teams tend to screw up. Passing teams tend to lose.

Robinson doesn’t want his Rams to become the San Diego Chargers of the late ‘80s. He doesn’t want to become dependent on a quarterback’s arm or a receiver’s outstretched hands. He wants something more reliable. He wants to run.

That will be the message this week as the 2-0 Rams prepare for the Green Bay Packers. “I will exaggerate . . . and moan about the running game,” he says. “And (the Rams will) all say, ‘Here he goes again, the same old (stuff).’ ”

Robinson insists on preparing for a rainy day, when Everett isn’t completing 28 of 35 attempts (as he did against the Colts) or Ellard isn’t catching almost every pass thrown his way. Those are the games, Robinson said, “in which we’ve got to run for 150 yards.

“We have to be prepared to win football games without the finesse clicking for us.”

Robinson cherishes the peace of mind that comes with a solid running game. He likes the idea of calling a power sweep on first and 10 and practically knowing that it will be second-and-5 at play’s end.

The trade-off in all of this is that you can’t have it both ways. Well, you can, but it’s not an easy proposition. Usually the teams that can lead the league in rushing and come close in passing are ordering Super Bowl rings in early February. The 1987 New York Giants and 1988 San Francisco 49ers come to mind. The Rams do not. At least, not yet, they don’t.

Right now, the strength of the Rams isn’t the running game. If you had to rank the team’s most potent weapons, you would have to begin with Everett, then Ellard, then the offensive line, then H-back Pete Holohan, then running back Greg Bell. And that’s no rip on Bell. He is a fine, tough halfback. But who means more to the Rams right now, Everett or Bell?

Robinson no doubt will have his Rams running again. It is his coaching signature, his statement. To Robinson, there is nothing more beautiful than an 80-yard, 10-minute drive featuring off-tackle after off-tackle play.

But while pursuing and re-establishing the successes of the past, Robinson should be careful not to ignore the Rams’ immediate future, the pass. After all, you never know when the running game will have a rainy day.