They’ve Been on This Road Before : Rams: Third Eastern trip in a row has Robinson’s traveling squad taking on Giants in New Jersey today.

Once more, it’s the hard way or the causeway for the Rams, who have dragged themselves east for the third straight weekend after racking up victories over the New England Patriots, Philadelphia Eagles and Frequent Flyers.

The Rams aren’t just pushing their luck today against the New York Giants, they’re trying to keep it from being shoved into a landfill in the Meadowlands.

In two previous weeks, the Rams have defied the odds, their bad-weather rap, even the conventional wisdom of Eagle Coach Buddy Ryan, who tongue-lashed them for trying to build a better mousetrap on defense. Loose lips sank Buddy. Loose safeties sank his quarterback.

“They’ve turned the lights out on all the talkers now,” Coach John Robinson said this week, sending along best New Year’s wishes to ex-playoff coaches Ryan and his partner in blabber, Houston’s Jerry Glanville.

Yet, how many times can Robinson’s team keep repacking the suitcase? He hopes four in all, which would get the Rams into New Orleans with clean socks.

Pipe dream? The 1980 Raiders are the only team to have taken a Super Bowl from the wild-card chute. But even they caught a few breaks, playing host to the wild-card game against Houston and needing only a short commuter flight to San Diego for the AFC championship game.

There are no travel or time-zone breaks for the Rams, who kick off today at 9:30 a.m., PST, same as last week.

“I was sleepy going into last week’s game,” tailback Greg Bell said. “I remember after breakfast going back and getting another hour’s sleep.”

The Giants, champions of the NFC East, remember sleeping in at home that morning, resting various aches while the Eagles and Rams exchanged welts on their television screens.

“I would sooner have the week off and I would sooner play at home,” Robinson said. “But we’ve had the great misfortune of having those guys from San Francisco in our division, or we probably would have won some division.”

So at what disadvantage are the Rams today? Some would say none, given their penchant for unpredictability this season and their mastery over the Giants of late. The Rams weren’t buying into any superiority theories this week, and wouldn’t have uttered a public peep even if they thought otherwise.

Still, a 31-10 victory over an 8-1 team in November is difficult to dismiss, especially against a Bill Parcells-coached team. The Giants hadn’t absorbed such a thrashing since, well, the Rams defeated New York, 45-31, in the Meadowlands in 1988.

Going back further, the Rams’ 21-point win in Anaheim was the worst Giant defeat under Parcells since 1984, when San Francisco beat New York, 31-10.

Parcells has agreed to meet the Rams at the Meadowlands despite some ominous trends.

“I really don’t think history has too much to do with football, as you see around the league from time to time,” he said. “Witness Pittsburgh and Houston last week.”

That’s not to say Parcells isn’t worried sick. It’s not like the Giants are losing to the Rams on last-second field goals.

The Giants’ objectives are clear. They want to keep the score down and the Ram offense off the field. Parcells doesn’t have the weapons to compete with the Rams in a shootout. What he has is a solid defense and a ball-control offense directed by an 11-year veteran quarterback, Phil Simms; a tough inside runner in Ottis Anderson, and one big-play rookie, Dave Meggett.

Crucial mistakes buried the Giants in Anaheim, and Parcells said similar mistakes will produce a similar score.

The Rams were leading, 10-3, just before halftime when quarterback Jim Everett threw a 51-yard scoring pass to Aaron Cox, the touchdown made possible when a Giant safety slipped on the grass at Anaheim Stadium.

Meggett then fumbled the ensuing kickoff, giving the Rams the ball on the Giant 21 with 36 seconds left in the first half. Everett hit Flipper Anderson with a scoring strike on first down to make it 24-3.

Parcells said: “You can’t give them 14 points in a one-minute span and spot them a 24-3 lead at the half. We probably wouldn’t be able to catch up to them again.”

Simms was hobbling on a bad ankle in that game, also, and wasn’t much of a factor. With two good legs, you need a stake to finish off Simms, one of Robinson’s all-time tough guys.

“You get the feeling you’re playing against a guy who knows how to play and will try to beat you with his last gasp,” Robinson said.

The Giants might also hope for a mental lapse the size of one made in the 1984 wild-card game between the teams at Anaheim Stadium, when Robinson ordered the ball given to fullback Dwayne Crutchfield on a crucial call inside the Giants’ five instead of giving it to Eric Dickerson, who’d set the NFL’s single-season rushing record that season.

Crutchfield was stuffed, and New York won the game, 16-13.

It remains Robinson’s most controversial call to date, rivaled only by his fake field-goal decision against the 49ers this season.

Whatever happened to Dwayne Crutchfield?

Ram Notes

The injured player the Rams would most want back for today’s game is defensive end Doug Reed, who is out with an ankle sprain. His specialty is defending against the run. With Reed in the lineup last November, the Rams held the Giants to six net yards rushing. . . . The Giants have lost all four games in which they’ve rushed for fewer than 100 yards this season.

Paul Butcher, the special teams player signed Thursday, reminds Ram coaches of a larger version of Tim Tyrrell, the former Ram bomb-squader who was lost to Plan B free agency last winter. The Rams bounced running back Gaston Green off the roster to make room for Butcher. His instructions? “Coach (John) Robinson told me, ‘Don’t get stupid penalties,’ ” Butcher said. “He told me to concentrate on my job and not just be a wild man.” Butcher will wear uniform No. 59, Mark Jerue’s old number.

Robinson admitted that the Irv Pankey-Lawrence Taylor matchup is important but added: “How important? If Jackie Slater doesn’t block the guy on the other side and he gets seven sacks, that’s bad. It’s no more important than Jackie vs. (Reggie) White last week.”

Look for Ram tailback Greg Bell to use his straight-ahead running approach again this week. Bell said: “From the standpoint of their linebacking crew, I don’t think you can run sideways on these guys because they’re a lot faster than Philadelphia.” . . . Ram quarterback Jim Everett has completed 47.9% of his passes in three career playoff games, with five touchdowns and seven interceptions.