Robinson ‘Admires’ the Giants

The Rams won’t rummage through their dresser drawers this week. They know exactly what to pack for the East Coast.

But the windchill factor may be the only similarity between last Sunday’s wild-card victory over Philadelphia and this Sunday’s NFC divisional playoff against the New York Giants.

The Eagles talk big and back it up with big plays. Their pass rushers usually eat quarterbacks, not words, and scrambler Randall Cunningham most often frustrates, instead of being frustrated.

The Giants have a more patient defense that concentrates on stopping the run--they’re ranked fourth in the NFL against the rush--and forces teams to throw into a zone. Quarterback Phil Simms is a conventional drop-back quarterback running a structured offense.

The style of play won’t be the biggest difference, however. Sunday’s game was billed--by the Eagles, anyway--as the Green Meanies vs. the Wimps from the West. This week’s game apparently will be the Mutual Respect Bowl.

Ram Coach John Robinson makes it sound as if the teams are going to suit up in tuxedos and say, “Jolly good show, old man,” to each other after every play.

“We have great respect for the Giants,” he said. “We think they’re really a great team. We admire them. They play the game physically. They don’t pop off. They’re a certain kind of football team with a dignity, a respect.”

Doesn’t a bit of mutual dislike help inspire a team?

“I think you play your best football when you look at the other side and say, ‘Hey, you’re good,’ ” Robinson said. “I just resent the idea that you don’t play as good when you have respect; that hate and all the bad things make you play better. I’ve never seen that.”

Of course, it’s easy to respect teams you can beat, and the Rams have thumped the Giants, 45-31 and 31-10, in their last two meetings.

The popular theory for the Rams’ recent dominance is they match up well against the Giants. Irv Pankey can handle Lawrence Taylor. Jim Everett can find the holes in their zone. The Giants need to establish the run and the Rams can stuff the run.

Robinson doesn’t buy it.

“I don’t know, match-up kind of has the connotation that they’ve got to cover Michael Jordan one-on-one,” he said.

“But the game of football is still the combined will of one team against the combined will of another. And the club that has the most will beats the other one. I know about turnovers and stats, but that’s still the No. 1 issue.

“And it’s not a one-punch knockout. It’s an overall, three-hour fight. The Giants are winning this year because of their will, not because of any certain flash. That’s what they put out there, and they’re 12-4 because of it. I defy anyone to tell me that is something other than that.”

Robinson says the prospect of cramming a few reams of what-we’ll-do-to-the-Rams quotes down Eagle throats provided little more than a “punch of adrenaline” for the Rams on Sunday.

But he chooses words carefully these days to prevent the Giants from finding bulletin-board fodder.

Would he like to get another shot at rival San Francisco in the NFC championship game?

“We would love to get a chance at them,” he said, “but we’re not going to talk about it. We just witnessed stupidity and we don’t want to copy it.”

Robinson says his optimism about the Rams comes from factors that don’t show up in statistics.

“This club has more fun than any I’ve coached,” he said. “There are no groups that seem to go off by themselves.

“We have great commitment from our veterans. We have 25 people who are 25 or younger, and the veterans have meshed well with young players. And then somewhere in the middle is Jim (Everett), who seems to relate well with everyone.

“This club genuinely seems to like playing. In professional football, you hear about teams who don’t play hard, but we’ve played with emotion and passion almost all the time.”