NOTEBOOK : Rams Discover Long-Lost Running Game, Albeit Against the Lowly Jets
After each of the Rams’ recent victories--all sparked by the passing of Jim Everett--Coach John Robinson has found time to lament the lack of a solid ground attack.
“I’m concerned,” he said, “because I think there will come a time when you have to run the football to win. And, right now, we can’t get from here to the damned bathroom running the ball.”
Granted, the New York Jets came into Sunday’s game ranked 20th in the NFL against the rush, but the Rams managed a semblance of a running game, gaining 150 yards in 35 carries.
“We needed to run the football and throw the football to win today, but we really needed to run the football well,” tackle Jackie Slater said. “I can’t remember being in this kind of muscling situation before except in 1979 when we went to the Super Bowl.
“This team is excited about where it is and if we win (next Sunday in New England), we deserve to be in the playoffs. We control our own destiny.”
The game certainly wasn’t as exciting as Monday night’s Ram-San Francisco showdown/shootout, but running back Greg Bell thought the victory over the Jets was an equally impressive performance by the Rams.
“We showed just as much character this week as last week,” he said. “People say we let teams back in and have a lot of breakdowns. But we didn’t have any breakdowns today.”
Follow the bouncing ball: Midway through the third quarter, Everett found Buford McGee open over the middle for a 25-yard gain to the Ram 45-yard line.
McGee was flipped head over heels immediately after making the catch and fumbled as he slammed into the ground. Jet cornerback James Hasty picked up the ball in full stride on one bounce, reversed his field and ran back toward McGee, who had just jumped back to his feet.
McGee tackled Hasty and, in the process, knocked the ball loose . . . again. This time, Aaron Cox snatched it up, stumbled forward and managed to hold onto the ball.
The Rams ended up with a first down on the Jets’ 46-yard line. A nice, little 34-yard gain. Just like they wrote it up in the playbook (wink, wink).
Say what?
The Rams public relations department issued its usual sheet of postgame quotes and the first statement by Jets’ starting quarterback Tony Eason was: “I didn’t feel rested.”
That seemed a rather odd comment, especially when you consider that Eason hadn’t played since Sept. 24.
Then came the retraction.
What Eason actually said was: “I didn’t feel rusty .”
Eason completed 10 of 14 passes for 130 yards, including a 63-yard touchdown pass to JoJo Townsell.
“I thought Tony did very well,” Jet Coach Joe Walton said. “The only trouble he had was getting the formations in.”
On his decision to start the second half with Ken O’Brien, Walton said: “We felt that Kenny could play for a half and he moved the ball well. He threw a good pass for the TD (a 35-yard scoring strike to tight end Keith Neubert).”
Jet receiver Al Toon, who had six catches for 53 yards, has had at least one reception in his last 62 games.