Voices of the Past May Haunt Rams
The site of so many Rams crises through the years--playoff losses in 1969, 1974, 1976 and 1988--provides an excellent setting for the latest one, a three-game losing streak that could become four faster than a Ram blocker might say, “There goes Keith Millard!”
It hasn’t gotten any easier for the Rams here, just warmer. The Minnesota Vikings used to freeze the Rams out of contention. Now, in the Metrodome, they just shout ‘em out.
Last year’s wild-card playoff game against the Rams came complete with such a deafening roar that quarterback Jim Everett had to use a silent snap count, apparently only audible to Viking safety Joey (Dog Ears) Browner, whose two first-half interceptions led to touchdowns in a 28-17 Minnesota win.
How important is it to hear in football? Last summer, the Rams dominated the same Vikings, 24-14, in an exhibition game at Anaheim Stadium in which Everett used the staggered count expertly, drawing Minnesota’s fabulous front four offside several times, while keeping the group off balance throughout the game.
The Rams have come to Minnesota this weekend in need of a win in the worst way, but are armed this time with a new league rule designed to keep crowd noise in check.
The Rams’ John Robinson said something had to be done eventually.
He said of some stadium video scoreboard displays: “I don’t know if it was choreographed by somebody but those stadiums all flashed (NOISE!) to start it and newspapers commented on it, and visiting coaches are asked about it. So there was a clear environment established, and maybe this (rule) will make that less.”
Still, the Rams were working on their all-mime offense again this week.
“I don’t think there’ll be the same intensity,” Robinson said. “It’s not a playoff game. But I do think we have to recognize it’s an indoor stadium and noise will be a factor.”
Surprise, surprise, though, the Vikings haven’t run away from the pack in the National Football Conference, despite having acquired tailback Herschel Walker from Dallas on Oct. 11. Walker was supposed to be the missing piece, but the Vikings appear to have lost a few puzzle parts in the interim.
After Monday night’s 24-14 loss to the New York Giants, Minnesota Coach Jerry Burns gave quarterback Tommy Kramer the hook and will be starting Wade Wilson against the Rams. Wilson, an NFC Pro Bowl pick last season, opened the season as the starter before breaking a knuckle on his left hand against Tampa Bay on Oct. 1.
Wilson was the the NFC’s 12th-rated passer, with three touchdowns and five interceptions, before he went down, so this wasn’t like losing one of this year’s stars such as, say, Don Majkowksi.
The Vikings’ offense, operated by the independent-thinking coordinator Bob Schnelker, may need some rethinking. How can an offense with wide receiver Anthony Carter and Walker in the same lineup be so ineffective?
Walker carried only 12 times against the Giants, which is one popular theory, and Carter, a capable one-man wrecking crew, has only six receptions in his last three games.
“We haven’t been getting him the ball and he hasn’t been dominating the game as he’s got the capability of doing, but the fault lies not always with him,” Burns said of Carter. “Sometimes he runs an excellent pattern and the protection breaks down, or we can’t get the ball to him, because sometimes he might not be running the pattern. There’s so many problems that surround our ineptitude.”
Remember, Mike Lynn, the Vikings’ general manager, admitted that the Walker trade was a short-term proposition for his team, and that anything less than the Super Bowl the next few years would prove the trade a mistake.
The pressure’s in your court, Mr. Burns.
“I don’t think you’d be in the game if you weren’t either used to it, anticipated it, or expected the pressure,” Burns said. “I’m sure John Robinson isn’t going to be happy batting .500. He wants to get in there, get to the playoffs and win the Super Bowl. That’s the object of everybody. The pressure’s there to do it. If we don’t do it this year, it’s going to be next year. If you do it this year, there’s pressure to repeat it again. What the hell you going to do?”
Play ball, and let the crises begin.
“I think they’re going to come in here hungry as hell, and mean as hell,” Burns said of the Rams. “I think we’re in the same position, we’re both 5-3, and both hopeful to win our division. If we don’t get there, we’re fighting for a wild-card spot. It’s a critical game for both teams.”
Ram Notes
Henry Ellard has led the Rams in receiving in nine consecutive regular-season games and, with 51 catches through eight games, is on a pace to break his own franchise record for receptions in one season, 86, which he set in 1988. . . . Sack update: The Vikings are averaging 7.2 sacks a game the last four weeks and lead the league with 42. Defensive tackle Keith Millard leads the league with 13. . . . The Rams have just 16 sacks for the season. They had 39 through eight games in 1988. . . . The Rams are averaging 2.6 yards a rush the last three weeks, after averaging 4.6 the first five weeks.
. . . In case you haven’t noticed, Tony Slaton and Duval Love are sharing the right guard position, equally, alternating every third series. After a long summer holdout, Love still hasn’t regained the starting position he won after Dennis Harrah’s retirement in 1987.
