Notes on a Scorecard - Jan. 8, 1990

The Rams’ 19-13 victory over the Giants should be remembered as a tight, tense playoff game that was decided by the Los Angeles quarterback, not an official who made a questionable call in overtime. . . .

Jim Everett clearly won his duel with Phil Simms and, under difficult circumstances, emerged as a genuine NFL star. . . .

Everett showed a good arm, toughness, patience and leadership ability on a day when the Rams played their third consecutive game in the East and faced a vintage Lawrence Taylor. . . . The Rams’ immediate goal is to win the Super Bowl tournament. Their next should be to re-sign the 27-year-old Everett, who will be eligible to file for free agency after the season. . . .

It wasn’t exactly as though all the calls went against the Giants. They got the benefit of the doubt when Simms seemed to fumble rather than throw an incompletion and another time when he wasn’t cited for intentionally grounding the ball. . . .

What should be second-guessed all winter is Giant Coach Bill Parcells’ strategy late in the first half when he refused to sit on a 6-0 lead in his own territory and the Rams intercepted a pass to set up a touchdown. . . .

CBS billed a game matching teams from Anaheim and East Rutherford, N.J., as Hollywood vs. Broadway. . . .

A Ram unsuccessfully tried to scoop up a fumble and run with it rather than pounce on it, but what else is new in football?. . . .

The Rams should be declared undisputed champions of the NFC East after going 5-0 against that division the last nine weeks. . . .

Jimmy Vaccaro, the oddsmaker at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas, has established San Francisco as a seven-point favorite over the Rams and Denver as a four-point favorite over Cleveland. . . .

This will be the first playoff game ever between the Rams and 49ers. . . .

Forget about what John Elway has or hasn’t done the rest of any particular afternoon. He still tends to get the job done at crunch time. . . .

Most surprising statistic of the day was that Pittsburgh punted only twice against Denver. . . .

Jon Kolb, who was a great offensive lineman for the Steelers, is doing a great job coaching their offensive line. . . .

Honestly, did the name Merril Hoge mean anything to you before Sunday? . . .

Three and a half hours between kickoffs of playoff games no longer is enough, as we discovered Saturday. San Francisco and Minnesota were well under way on CBS by the time Cleveland and Buffalo finished on NBC. . . .

Teams without an outstanding quarterback, such as Minnesota, rarely make it to the conference championship game. . . .

Joe Montana couldn’t have played any better in the first half Saturday at Candlestick, but, as Terry Bradshaw asked, what was he doing in the game when the 49ers were leading, 34-6, in the fourth quarter? . . .

San Francisco placekicker Mike Cofer picked a great time to have an off day. . . .

The prevent defense of Coach Bud Carson nearly prevented Cleveland from reaching the AFC championship game. . . .

Once you’ve seen Bernie Kosar run the option, you’ve seen everything. . . .

Making coach-of-the-year selections before the most important part of the season, the playoffs, is ludicrous. So was AP’s choice of Green Bay’s Lindy Infante, who didn’t even make the playoffs. . . .

Chuck Noll, four-time winner of the Super Bowl, never has been selected coach of the year by AP. Vince Lombardi won the honor only once. . . .

I get the impression John Madden doesn’t like the running-up-and-leaping penalty. . . .

Minnesota doesn’t have a clue about how to use Herschel Walker. . . .

Is Jerry Glanville still denying those reports that the Houston Oilers aren’t happy with his work? . . .

Newsday speculates that USC linebacker Junior Seau could be taken as the second player in the entire NFL draft by the New York Jets if he leaves school a year early. . . . I hope Eric Davis finally feels appreciated in Cincinnati. . . .

The difference between the Kings and Toronto Maple Leafs, who beat them Saturday night, isn’t much right now. Both score a lot of goals and give up a lot of goals. . . .

UCLA was fortunate that most of us were watching the Broncos and Steelers instead of the Bruin-Louisville basketball game. . . .

However, for a respite from football, try Georgetown-Pitt, Michigan-Indiana and Nevada Las Vegas-New Mexico State in college hoops tonight on ESPN. . .

Did anybody really care what CBS’ pregame guest, Richard Nixon, thought about the Rams and Giants?