He Sings Praises of Failed Fake

No. 81 is kneeling on the Rams’ practice field, helmet off, readying to tee up another football for kicker Mike Lansford, and you tell yourself, no, this isn’t happening.

How can Huey Lewis be holding field goals for the enemy?

You know Huey. Of The News. Singer of pop hits and 49er praises. Major San Francisco football honk. Last seen at Anaheim Stadium throwing a bear hug around Joe Montana following last month’s 17-point, fourth-quarter comeback.

Don’t they check passes at Rams Park anymore?

Pete Holohan, who is not Huey Lewis, just an incredible simulation, laughs at the suggestion that he and 49er Fan No. 1 had to have been separated at birth.

“Yeah,” Holohan says, “I get that a lot. I just wish I had Huey’s voice.”

It’s a good thing they keep fingerprints and dental records, because things looked mighty suspicious the last time the Rams played San Francisco and Huey Holohan tried to run in a fake field goal on fourth-and-goal from the 49er four-yard line. When Holohan gained three, and the Rams lost by three, the play was second-guessed in front of TV sets across the country and later assailed in the newspapers as John Robinson’s Folly.

Holohan, who was merely following orders, still stands by the play, which was called during the second quarter with the Rams holding a 17-3 lead.

“I think it was a good call,” Holohan claims. “On the films we saw, they were really bringing people (on field-goal attempts) and we thought I could get outside and throw it. The idea was for me to roll out and throw to Mike Wilcher, but he was covered. The second alternative was to run.”

So Holohan did.

Grinding hard, he tried to sweep the right end, only to find an obstacle course of 49ers. Holohan did what he could, trying to leap over cornerback Tim McKyer. But McKyer caught Holohan and held him up long enough for linebacker Michael Walter to apply the finishing crunch.

Three plays later, Montana and John Taylor hooked up for a 92-yard touchdown pass-and-run and the ice was broken. San Francisco would rally from a 27-10 deficit with three fourth-quarter touchdowns--and when Mike Cofer missed the last extra point, creating a 30-27 final, Holohan’s ill-fated fake loomed all the larger.

“Looking back, I don’t think one play ever decides one ballgame,” Holohan says. “But it warrants some conversation. It was close. I say it was a good call.”

But not good enough to warrant a rerun, Holohan says.

“Since then, (the 49ers) have changed some things,” he says. “Circumstances on film don’t dictate that we’ll do it again.”

One such circumstance certainly sticks in the mind.

What happened from that play forward--Montana to the rescue--is extremely old hat for Holohan, who played with Montana at Notre Dame. Holohan, in fact, was there for the ribbon-cutting, the 1979 Cotton Bowl, which is regarded by historians as the first rudimentary evidence that Montana would become a great leader of men during NFL fourth quarters.

“Even back then, Joe had an uncanny ability to bring a team back,” Holohan says. “That year in the Cotton Bowl, he was a senior and I was a sophomore flanker. Joe got sick and didn’t even play the third quarter. We were down three touchdowns with six minutes left and Joe came in and brought us back.”

Actually, there was 7:37 left, but who wants to quibble with legend? The bare facts are these: With Montana stricken with hypothermia and holed up in the Notre Dame locker room sipping chicken soup, Houston led the Fighting Irish, 34-12. After Montana returned, he ran for a touchdown, threw for another, set up a third and passed for a pair of two-point conversions.

Final score: Notre Dame 35, Houston 34.

Holohan was drafted by the San Diego Chargers as a tight end in 1981 and played there seven seasons before his 1988 trade to the Rams, becoming along the way a connoisseur of fine California quarterbacks. Montana, Dan Fouts, Jim Everett--Holohan has caught passes from them all.

So, how do they rate?

“They’re all different types,” Holohan says. “I think Dan, by far, was the most pocket-oriented of the three. He wasn’t going anywhere. Joe likes to throw on the run. Jim is somewhere in between.

“The one characteristic they all share is the ability to win a game in the closing seconds. Joe and Dan and Jim are all guys who get it done down the stretch. . . . Jim, with the things he has done this year and the things he is going to do, is going to be one of the great ones.”

Spoken like a man who knows where his bread is presently being buttered.

And these happen to be the happiest days of Holohan’s professional career. Shunted to the San Diego sidelines while Kellen Winslow made a run at the Hall of Fame, Holohan has caught 110 passes in his two seasons with Everett. He is the all-purpose H-back in offensive coordinator Ernie Zampese’s multiformation format, sometimes lining up as a tight end, sometimes as a slotback, sometimes as a running back--sometimes, all in the same series.

Zampese loves him. In 1988, Uncle Ernie also made the move from San Diego to Anaheim and it’s no coincidence Holohan shortly followed him up the freeway. Robinson, too, has formed an attachment. “I never thought I’d love a guy from South Bend so much,” says Robinson, an old USC man.

On a team that features Flipper (The Gripper) Anderson and (Oh) Henry Ellard, Holohan is acknowledged owner of the surest hands on the Rams. Occasionally, Robinson will break out a ball machine during practice and pump spirals all over the field, sending his receivers diving and leaping, a little three-ring-circus fun. Every time, Holohan stops the show with his over-the-shoulder, around-the-neck, one-handed grabs--turning the drudgery of just another workout into the seal act at Sea World.

Pete’s next performance--2 p.m.

Holohan modestly suggests that it’s only his job.

“I like to think I can contribute by catching the football,” he says. “What I do best is catching the shorter passes and getting us first downs.”

Part of the job also entails holding the football for Ram extra-point and field-goal placements. Sometimes, he’s even asked to run with them.

Holohan’s not so good at that part. But, then, Holohan never asked to fake that field goal, just like Holohan never asked to fake Huey Lewis.

Some things, you just have to live with.