Randall Can’t Handle the Zone : Rams: Los Angeles abandons man-to-man and frustrates Cunningham by keeping him in the pocket.

Remember the Rams’ weak link? The pass defense that’s ranked last in the NFL, the one the New England Patriots, of all people, shredded last week.

Well, it turns out that their much-maligned zone was really a secret weapon, the perfect ploy to frustrate the Eagles’ scrambler extraordinaire, Randall Cunningham, and propel the Rams into the NFC divisional playoffs against the New York Giants next Sunday.

Last week, Eagle Coach Buddy Ryan scoffed at such a defensive scheme, saying the prevent zone merely prevents you from winning. He might be singing a different tune after viewing the tapes of Sunday’s 21-7 loss to the Rams in the NFC wild-card game.

The Rams did not play a single down of man-to-man coverage. They didn’t use their Eagle defense. They didn’t blitz once. Just, as linebacker Mel Owens put it, “zone, zone, zone and more zone.” And Cunningham’s ability to create the big play that is his trademark was seriously hindered.

“We’re used to playing our coverage, our Pop Warner zone I call it,” cornerback LeRoy Irvin said. “Randall’s a mover and we didn’t want to allow their receivers to run around in the secondary or to have Randall running around.

“We lined up in man a lot and I think Randall was looking at ghosts. I think he was thinking man, looking for man, wondering, ‘When are they gonna run man?’ And we ran the zone on every single play.”

As a result, Cunningham and Co. were zoned out in a hurry. The Eagles managed just three first-half first downs and had only 78 yards of offense at the intermission.

“We took Cunningham away from his environment,” said linebacker Kevin Greene, who had two sacks. “He’s used to scrambling and running, and scrambling and throwing, and running and making big plays.

“I think he was frustrated. We said, ‘Hey, we’re in a zone. What are you gonna do about it?’ Maybe that threw a loop at him.”

Cunningham wouldn’t go so far as to admit he was frustrated, but he was certainly willing to grant that the Rams’ defensive plan was effective. “They played more zone than any team I’ve seen all year,” he said. “I’ve got to tip my hat to their defensive coordinator.”

That would be Fritz Shurmur, of course, who has spent the better part of this season defending the Rams’ make-them-go-the-long-way philosophy.

“These guys have taken a lot of guff all year long, but they’re a bunch of guys who never got discouraged,” Shurmur said. “There was a lot of heat on them. Statistically, they were ranked 21st (in overall defense) and people were saying they didn’t deserve to be in the playoffs.

“There’s no sense messing around with zones if you don’t have patience, though. If they dump a few off and convert some first downs, you can’t get discouraged. We did a hell of a job of staying disciplined.”

The biggest advantage of playing a zone against a scrambler is that all 11 defensive players are facing the quarterback at all times. No Rams were chasing receivers with their backs to the explosive and cunning Cunningham.

But was this game plan borne of defensive genius or necessity? Clearly, a little of both. The Rams have been so thin in the defensive line recently that they have been reduced to sending linebackers on their pass rush and dropping everyone else into the coverage.

“You have to dance with the one you brung,” Irvin explained. “We didn’t bring very many defensive linemen. So we had to develop a scheme that was best for defense and that was to play the zone.”

After the game, Ram Coach John Robinson could barely keep from bursting with glee. Sure, he would love to have four quarterback-eating linemen up front and a corps of world-class sprinters in his secondary. But this makeshift group provided plenty of satisfaction on a rainy Sunday in Philadelphia.

“We physically controlled the football game,” he said. “We almost had a shutout with a bunch of guys whose names no one knows. We might have confused them. They might have been saying, ‘Who are these guys?’ ”

Maybe this is the Rams’ year, after all. Didn’t the Miami Dolphins win a Super Bowl with a group known as the No-Name defense?

“We’re trend-setters,” Irvin said, smiling. “We’ve had dominant defenses in the past and lost in the first or the second round of the playoffs. So now we’re going to set a new standard.”

And all they have to do is keep their opponents stuck in their new no-passing zone.