Pankey’s Little Place in Sun Is Finally in the Spotlight : Rams: After doing an impressive job containing Lawrence Taylor, the left tackle is gaining some well-deserved recognition.

Every Sunday, Irv Pankey finds himself in a most unenviable position. Left tackle, that is, which means he’s usually looking across the line of scrimmage at the opponent’s best pass rusher.

He says it’s a lot like being on an island. And it’s not only lonely, it can be downright discouraging.

Sure, all offensive linemen will tell you that they only get noticed when they make mistakes. A five-yard offsides penalty is one thing, but three slow-motion instant replays of the league’s biggest, quickest, fiercest sack masters shaking your favorite quarterback like a Doberman with an old sock leaves a lasting impression.

When he has a good day, Pankey gets a smidgen of notoriety for whom he blocks. On a bad one, he’s infamous for whom he doesn’t block. The rest of the time? Guys who have testified against the Mafia are recognized more often.

Pankey figures he at least should be able to earn the respect of his peers--guys who supposedly can sympathize with his plight--and maybe join the rest of the Ram offensive line in Hawaii for a Pro Bowl once in a while.

For the past decade, however, Pankey has watched a parade of teammates pack their loudest sport shirts and golf clubs and head for Honolulu. Last year, it was guard Tom Newberry, center Doug Smith and tackle Jackie Slater. Pankey got a nice view of the game from his sofa . . . again.

“It’s a mission every year,” he said. “I thought I had a good enough year last year to make it. I don’t know, they always say your best chance is the year after you’re supposed to go, so we’ll see.”

For 91 consecutive regular and postseason games, Pankey’s been in his spot, doing his thankless job, and all anyone ever wants to talk to him about is the player he will be battling next.

“You want to know about who am I going to be blocking next, right?” Pankey asked a writer who approached him but had yet to ask a question.

“It seems like any time I got any pub, it was like, ‘Well, you’re playing against such-and-such and he’s got 13 sacks. What are you going to do?’

“Well, you know, show up.”

Pankey’s a good-natured sort, but he’s been a little cranky lately. You see, this was going to be his blockbuster year: Irv Pankey Goes to the Pro Bowl, Part I.

He held out briefly during training camp and it appeared that at least Ram management recognized his worth. He pretty much got what he asked for--a two-year contract with a base salary of nearly $450,000--after surprisingly little haggling.

The Rams jumped out to a 5-0 start, but Pankey was admittedly a “little slow” out of the blocks. Then the Rams went into the four-game slide and Pankey was a feature in all those Sunday night highlight shows again. You know, lots of shots of him craning his neck to watch somebody he was supposed to block trying to rip off Jim Everett’s head . . . or his helmet, anyway.

First, it was Buffalo’s Bruce Smith, who had a couple of sacks and almost single-handedly disrupted the Rams’ offense. Next up was the Bears’ Richard Dent, who ran roughshod over the Rams, piling up six tackles and a fourth-quarter sack that all but ended any hope of a Ram rally.

Pankey fared better against Minnesota’s Chris Doleman, but the Viking end did break through for one key sack that kept the Rams from scoring after Mel Owens intercepted a pass and returned it to the Viking 30-yard line.

“Truthfully, I think I did pretty well against all of them,” Pankey said. “But it doesn’t really matter if you lose.”

Suddenly last Sunday, the sun finally broke through again on Pankey’s little island. He shut down--and even shut up--the most feared pass rusher in the league, the Giants’ Lawrence Taylor.

“That was a nationally televised game and because of that, he was giving his best and I was giving my best,” Pankey said after the game. “It was my day today.”

The Rams’ plan was to have Pankey occupy Taylor, with a little help now and again, in an effort to keep the Giant linebacker from getting the chance to run over a running back en route to the quarterback.

Does such a match-up serve to get a player psyched up for the task?

“Either that or scare him,” Coach John Robinson said.

If Pankey was pumped up or scared, no one could tell. “I’m not a very excitable person,” he says.

So when informed of his assignment against the Giants, Pankey said, “That’s fine.”

Explained Robinson: “When you have a good scheme, you allow a player to be successful. It pitted him against Taylor and he did a very good job.

“(Pankey) is pretty confident that he can win those battles. Taylor is quick, but also very powerful, and at times he tries to overpower you. It’s pretty hard to overpower a 300-pounder.”

Especially one who spends a lot of time watching film and memorizing every one of your favorite moves.

“We see a lot of film and have a lot of time to critique your man,” Pankey said. “And if I’ve played the guy once, I get to know him to an extent.”

But Pankey would be the first to remind you that knowing a guy like Taylor is a long way from owning him.

“It’s a challenge to my pride and I accept that,” he said. “Challenges. If you’re a left tackle and you don’t like meeting them, then you’re on the wrong side of the line.”

Ram Notes

Coach John Robinson was discussing a certain formation at his weekly luncheon when he decided to “get corny” and use condiment containers to designate players to graphically illustrate his point. He was using salt and pepper shakers as the Giant defense, when he suddenly replaced one with a much-larger shaker of Parmesan cheese. “Let’s get Lawrence Taylor in the right proportion here,” he said. . . . Defensive tackle Mike Piel lauded the secondary for providing “great coverage” against the Giants. “Our defensive backs did a great job,” he said. But Robinson still points to the secondary as an area where the Rams must improve. The Rams play so much zone defense, however, it’s difficult to pick out who’s at fault when opponents are picking out seams and getting open. “I think we need to be more aggressive in zone coverage,” Robinson said. “There’s no question that you have to concede that they’ll catch the ball in front of you, but you have to minimize what the man does after (catching the ball). Those are the things that have disturbed us.”

The Rams have waded through the toughest part of their schedule and have emerged with a 6-4 record. Robinson was asked what he thought of his team’s chances the rest of the way. “What are you saying, that now we’ve got an easy schedule? Well, we’ve got Phoenix, New Orleans, Dallas, San Francisco, the Jets and New England. We could screw all those up.”