Saints Pass, So Rams Fail Again, 40-21

Seven days removed from the ranks of the unbeaten, the Rams have suddenly taken on the freshness of day-old bread, losing for the second time in less than a calendar week.

The Rams said their goodbys to the undefeated last Monday night against the Buffalo Bills. Sunday, they bid adieu to first place and some of the respect garnered through the first five weeks, when the team had the national media on its tail.

The New Orleans Saints handled the respect part, taking the Rams out, 40-21, at Anaheim Stadium, with a series of roundhouse punches to which the Rams had no answer.

Punch? The Rams couldn’t punt, protect, produce, much less predict where such lameness could lead with road games at Chicago and Minnesota staring them in the face.

“We stunk the place out,” Coach John Robinson said.

Again, the Rams’ pass defense received much of the blame, giving up 276 more passing yards and three touchdowns. Bobby Hebert’s scoring bombs of 54 yards to Floyd Turner and 37 yards to Eric Martin in the first five minutes of the third quarter served as blows to a secondary that remains last in the weekly league rankings.

Veteran cornerback LeRoy Irvin was victimized on the Martin touchdown, although Irvin thinks his troops are just coming up short on the pass-defense ruler.

“This is a game of inches,” said Irvin, who just missed deflecting the ball away from Martin. “Maybe after 10 years, I’ve lost inches.”

How about a lineup change? Nope, the Rams beat you to it, subbing second-year man Anthony Newman into the strong safety spot ahead of Michael Stewart, who reportedly had personal problems this week. It didn’t stop the bleeding.

But this was certainly an equal-opportunity loss, the Rams failing across the board, from special teams to pass protection.

“Out of 50 guys, we had 40 that played bad games,” Irvin said. “You can’t win like that.”

The Rams proved it. The vaunted offensive line, which has long kept quarterback Jim Everett safe, crumbled under the surge of linebacker Pat Swilling and end Frank Warren, who shared four of the team’s five sacks.

Did tackle Jackie Slater remember a worse performance by a group in a supporting cast?

“No, I don’t,” Slater replied.

And he has been around 14 years.

Everett could be seen numerous times discussing loudly his personal well-being with the men up front, most of it not suitable for publication.

Everett offered a few pointers, but had only a hip-pointer (bruise) to show for it afterward.

The rush affected Everett’s timing, which affected his passes to Henry Ellard, which affected Ellard’s route-running. The result was a season’s worth of dropped passes by Ellard, the usually sure-handed All-Pro.

The Ram run defense allowed Saints’ tailback Dalton Hilliard to gain 87 rushing yards, 24 receiving and three touchdowns?

Did we mention punting? That’s where the whole mess started. The Rams were pinned near their goal line on their first two possessions, and could only be saved by a couple of booming Dale Hatcher punts. Hatcher, however, hasn’t boomed much of anything this season, as his 31.4-net average might indicate.

His first punt, from the end zone, went only 33 yards and was returned 20 by Rod Harris to the Ram 24. The Saints thanked the Rams for the field position and, two plays later at the 20, Hebert swung a pass to Hilliard to the 18, and he cut it back for a touchdown.

On their next possession, the Rams were fourth and 20 at their own five when Hatcher was called on again. This punt died with a fair catch after 31 yards. The Saints moved close enough for Morten Andersen, who gave his team a 10-0 lead with 9:17 left in the quarter.

At what price? The Saints had to drive 33 yards for 10 points.

“The key today was their punts,” Saints’ receiver Eric Martin said. “They put us in good field position and helped us score a few times.”

Hatcher couldn’t ignore the boos after his third punt traveled only 34 yards.

“It bothered me,” Hatcher said. “Anytime you get booed. I got booed two or three times today. All I can do is the best I can, and do a good enough job to stay here.”

Hatcher has always been one to let outside events affect him. Afterward, he said there have been distractions.

“It’s a lot of things,” he said. “Personal problems. I don’t want to say what it is. The coach knows I’m kind of up and down. That’s just the way I am. I know I should worry more about my job, but I worry about family things, too. I just hope I can work my way out of it in practice.”

The Rams would never crawl from their first-quarter hole. They got close once at 10-7 when Everett threw a three-yard scoring pass to Ellard just before the end of the first quarter.

But Swilling ruined one second-quarter Ram drive with a 12-yard sack of Everett, and that was that. The Saints got the ball back at their 36, and after a one-yard rush loss, Hebert scrambled away from linebacker Kevin Greene’s rush, and found Martin open over the middle. Martin broke free of his defender, escaped Mel Owens’ tackle attempt--yes, the Rams missed tackles, too--near the sideline and raced 37 yards for the score, Ram defenders peeling off in his wake.

The Rams trailed, 19-7, at the half, but soon would be put out of their misery on Hebert’s two scoring strikes to open the third quarter.

Some years Irvin played here, the Ram defense would go weeks without giving up a big play. These days, you can chart them with a egg-timer.

“Now I wake up, read the stats, read that we’re 28th and say ‘Man, where have I been?’ ” Irvin said. “When you win, those things are on the back burner. We have to get that relationship back between rush and coverage, and become a family. It’s possible to build ourselves into a great defense, but are we willing to pay the price?”

There was one brief Ram comeback attempt, although it hardly rates an inspection. It came and went with the wind when Everett’s pass fell incomplete on fourth and two at the Saints’ 47. Was it wishful thinking? The Rams trailed, 33-14, at the time, with 3:09 left in the third quarter. Scoring before the end of the quarter could have gotten them closer than two touchdowns back with 15 minutes left.

Instead, the Saints drove 53 yards the other way and put the game away on Hilliard’s seven-yard scoring run with 10:48 left.

The Rams managed a meaningless touchdown with 6:47 left--Everett to Damone Johnson for three yards--but it was just window dressing on the final score.

“We stood around and let it all happen to us,” Robinson said. “Our position isn’t the issue, it’s how do we get going again?”

For starters, it’s going to Chicago, to Minnesota, and then coming home for the New York Giants.

Any suggestions?

Ram Notes

Injury report: Cornerback and punt returner Darryl Henley left the field with what appeared a serious hamstring injury . . . Safety Anthony Newman left the game with a left foot sprain, but X-rays proved negative. . . . Playing catch-up almost from the first quarter on, tailback Greg Bell was barely a factor, gaining 53 yards in 14 carries.

The Rams weren’t using the Sunday letdown after a Monday night game excuse, although John Robinson noted that his team seemed listless. “I sure as hell felt it before the game,” Robinson said. “I was worried.” . . . Jim Everett completed 24 of 42 passes for 263 yards, with three touchdowns and two interceptions. . . . Morten Andersen’s second-quarter point-after-touchdown miss was only his second miss in four years. . . . Ram linebacker Fred Strickland (sprained left ankle) was inactive for Sunday’s game.