RAM NOTEBOOK : Giants Aren’t Sending a Sympathy Card

When you’re knee-deep in a four-game losing streak and reeling from devastating last-second losses in Buffalo and Minnesota, misery doesn’t just need company, it sends a limousine.

Luckily for the Rams, the New York Giants are coming to town this week, and while the Giants (8-1) can’t empathize with the Rams’ plight this year, they know well how a few funny bounces can change a season.

The Giants went through similar trauma in 1988, when they finished 10-6 and didn’t make the playoffs.

In fact, when Giant Coach Bill Parcells was asked if he could recall losing games the way the Rams have lost them the last four weeks, Parcells all but climbed through the phone lines during his conference call with Southland reporters.

“We lost one in the last 30 seconds in the last game of the year that cost us the division championship,” Parcells said. “That’s kind of vivid. We had one last year where, in overtime, we blocked a field goal against Philadelphia, and they picked the damn thing up and ran it for a touchdown. After we blocked it. So we’ve had a couple of fluke things happen to us, too.”

See, Rams, the world’s not out to get just you. What goes around comes around, even in football. And even to the Giants.

The Giants recovered from last season’s devastations to become this year’s surprise team, and maybe they’ve even caught a few breaks along the way to 8-1.

But you should have been a Giant fan last Dec. 18, when the home team, in a span of seconds, lost the National Football Conference’s Eastern Division title, and hours later, was bounced out of the playoff picture altogether.

The New York Jets, remember, defeated the Giants, 27-21, on quarterback Ken O’Brien’s five-yard scoring pass to Al Toon with 37 seconds remaining, which cost the Giants the division title.

They still could have secured a wild-card spot had the San Francisco 49ers defeated the Rams at Candlestick Park later that afternoon. But the Rams, of course, upset the 49ers and grabbed the final wild-card spot for themselves, prompting quarterback Phil Simms’ now-famous quote about the 49ers “laying down like dogs.”

No, the Rams haven’t cornered the market on misery or tough luck. The Giants are still trying to figure out how they lost an overtime game to Philadelphia last Nov. 20.

In that game, Lawrence Taylor blocked an Eagle field-goal attempt in overtime, but the ball bounced into the hands of Philadelphia’s Clyde Simmons, who took it 15 yards for the winning score.

How do a coach and his team recover from such losses? Let’s just say a friend of John Robinson’s wants to know.

“As a coach, you don’t have any choice,” Parcells said. “You’ve got another game next week and you’ve got to try to put it behind you as quickly as possible.”

This week, Fred Strickland and Larry Kelm practiced together for the first time since August, which is strange considering the two were supposed to open the season as starting inside linebackers.

This at least partially explains the problems the Rams have been having on defense.

Kelm injured a foot in the Aug. 21 exhibition game against Phoenix and hasn’t been heard from since. He began practicing last week and will be activated Sunday.

Strickland underwent arthroscopic surgery Aug. 8 and missed the opener, then sprained his left ankle Oct. 16 against Buffalo and has been out since.

With Kelm and Strickland as opening-day starters, the Rams planned to add a few wrinkles to last year’s Eagle defense. Instead, they’ve spent the season patching holes. Strickland said the defense can return to the form of old.

“If we both stay healthy, yeah,” Strickland said, “we can do things we wanted to do at the beginning of the year and put in some of the new defense they planned for us.”

Ram players met Wednesday with National Football League Players Assn. representative Dave Meggyesy to discuss the sticky subject of decertification, the union’s latest attempt to win unrestricted free agency for its players.

Last week, the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis ruled that the NFL is protected from antitrust challenges because the players collectively bargained away free agency in their last agreement, which expired in 1987. By decertifying, the union claims all players will be free agents and can file class-action suits as individuals against the league.

Ram players voted on the matter and are expected to approve the new plan, although some admitted they aren’t sure of the implications.

Ram Notes

Running back Gaston Green’s rib injury has moved to his stomach, and the Rams still haven’t offered much of a diagnosis. . . . Coach John Robinson said he was impressed with the play of inside linebackers Fred Strickland and Larry Kelm. Both are expected to play Sunday. . . . Cornerback LeRoy Irvin returned to practice after missing Wednesday’s workout with a foot bruise.

Safety James Washington’s thigh injury will keep him out of Sunday’s game, but Robinson said the Rams won’t bring in another defensive back this week. Former Ram Johnnie Johnson, released recently by the Seattle Seahawks, is available if needed. . . . The Rams need to make a personnel decision today to get Kelm on the active roster.