Opportunity Knocks Twice for Reserves : Rams: Brown makes up for fumble by catching key touchdown pass. Cox comes off bench to score winning touchdown.

For three months, Ron Brown and Aaron Cox were little more than names on the Rams’ depth chart. They ran under Jim Everett’s passes in practice, but spent their Sundays like most other Ram fans--watching Henry Ellard and Flipper Anderson weaving through opposing secondaries.

Cox, at least, had a handful of catches and one chance to spike the ball--he scored a touchdown against the Giants Nov. 12.

For the first 10 weeks, however, Brown’s detractors waited for him to make a catch so they could say: “This guy is now making $270,000 per reception.”

Then, on Nov. 19 against Phoenix, he made two catches, reducing his per-reception salary to a mere $135,000. But Brown, No. 4 on Everett’s list of favorite wide receivers, wasn’t laughing all the way to the bank.

“All I can do is keep playing and try to make the most of the few opportunities I get,” he said.

Ellard suffered a strained hamstring before last week’s game against New Orleans and the focus went to Anderson, who set an NFL record with 336 receiving yards against the Saints. Cox was back in the starting lineup and caught four passes in the game.

Brown, however, was still odd man out.

So, when Luis Zendejas kicked off Sunday after a Dallas touchdown that gave the Cowboys a 24-21 lead over the Rams early in the fourth quarter, Brown tried to make the most of a rare chance.

The ball bounced in front of him and Brown, who was about two yards deep in the end zone, blocked it. It rolled away. He hesitated, then picked it up and took off, angling for the left sideline. Then the ball seemed to pop up out of his arms.

Dallas’ Manny Hendrix picked the ball out the air, flopped down on the two-yard line, and three plays later, the Cowboys led, 31-21.

“What was I thinking?” Brown said. “I was thinking that this probably would be my last game as a Ram. I was so low, I could’ve sat on a matchbook and dangled my feet.”

But then Everett took over.

“He’s a real leader,” Brown said. “He kept telling us we were still going to win. And when he says it, you’ve got to believe him.”

Everett and Brown made a lot of believers only 7 1/2 minutes after Brown’s fumble. They hooked up on a 49-yard touchdown pass play that brought the Rams to 31-28 with 3:58 remaining in the game.

“I’ve never experienced such a high and such a low so close together,” Brown said.

And, two minutes after that, the Cowboys were down for the count--for the 12th time this season--as Everett completed a 23-yard scoring pass to Cox for a 35-31 victory.

Cox, who also scored on an 18-yard pass from Everett in the third quarter, finished with five catches for 103 yards. Brown had only the one catch, but Everett said it was a “huge” one.

“You’ve got to give both those guys a lot of credit,” Everett said. “Losing Henry, probably the best receiver in the NFL, is a big blow, but these guys were prepared to step in. And, after that fumble, Ron could’ve been hanging his head, but he didn’t.”

Cox, who lost his starting job to Anderson in training camp while he was holding out during contract negotiations, said he has felt vindicated the last two weeks.

“This feels really good,” he said. “It’s letting me know as well as the coaches that I can still play the game. With Ellard hurting, Jim’s been going to different receivers and today was my turn to catch a few.”

And Brown had a brief chance to relive memories of 1987, when the former Olympic sprinter had 26 catches for 521 yards.

“Ron’s had a frustrating year and that fumbled kickoff was the kind of error that comes when you want so bad to contribute,” Ram Coach John Robinson said. “But he overcame it and had a good game.”

Had Brown fielded that kickoff cleanly, he could have downed it. But once it started rolling over the goal line, he felt like he had to make a run for it.

“I wasn’t really sure whether I could down it, because I stopped it and then it rolled out of the end zone,” he said “Then I never really had a handle on it.

“These things happen in this business, but it doesn’t look too good on your resume.”

If you’re a Ram these days, you have to believe that all’s well that ends well. So Brown was joking and Cox was laughing Sunday afternoon. And Ellard, who is expected to return for Monday night’s game against San Francisco, seemed to be enjoying himself as much as the reserves.

“We’re showing that we’ve got the guys, no matter who’s out there,” Ellard said. “They came through with the big plays when we needed them.

“No matter who’s out there, we’ve got the guys to make things happen.”