49ers Cast Their Lott With a New Defense : San Francisco: Former USC star makes the key pass deflection as he and his teammates settle down to stymie the Rams.
The 49ers intended their new defensive scheme to be mystifying, and it was obvious at the outset of their NFC championship game that they had succeeded. There was one hitch: They were the team that was befuddled and the Rams were advancing with ease.
“We worked very hard on it this week, so hard that we were confused on the first series,” safety Ronnie Lott said. “But we were able to settle down and perfect it after that.”
The system, called the Special Lark, stopped the Rams in the 49ers’ 30-3 victory at Candlestick Park Sunday.
Lott, the nine-year veteran out of USC, sounded the first note of the 49ers’ victory song in the first quarter, when he batted a potential touchdown pass from Jim Everett to Flipper Anderson on second down and three at the 49ers’ 40-yard line with the Rams leading, 3-0. “Looking back, the play that Ronnie Lott made was by far the biggest play of the game,” Ram cornerback Jerry Gray said. “We would have been ahead, 10-0, and who knows. . . . Things like that really take the steam out of you.”
“I didn’t have any idea Ronnie could make that play,” Ram quarterback Jim Everett said. “He’s just the best defensive back in the league.”
Lott’s stellar play continued in the second half, when he intercepted an Everett pass intended for Pete Holohan at the 49ers’ 49-yard line and returned it to the Rams’ 37, thus silencing the Rams’ faint comeback hopes. But it was his first-quarter feat that stood out.
“The Rams had run a reverse the first time, and the second time they tried it, I was able to come up and make a good tackle on Flipper Anderson,” Lott said. “Coming into this game, I wanted to think about what Ernie Zampese (the Rams’ offensive coordinator) was thinking and feel what he feels. I saw on that play that Jim Everett dug down and once I saw that, I knew it was going to be a reverse. I thought Chet Brooks was going to be over there, but he wasn’t, and I just tried to get there as fast as I could.
“Part of the system was to try to take away one of their wideouts if we could on each play,” Lott continued. “We also tried not to let them set up certain pass plays they were able to do against every defense all season. We knew they don’t like to go to Bell (on passing plays) and we rolled the dice. We said, ‘Bell can beat us with the swing pass,’ but we didn’t want to give up any big plays, and we didn’t.”
Lott’s third-quarter interception deprived the Rams of any chance to rally. “I don’t know if it closed the door,” Lott said. “I knew Holohan kept telling Everett and signaling to him, ‘I’m open across the middle,’ and our new defense gave me the ability to read off Pete Holohan and the quarterback. I knew eventually they were going to go to Pete Holohan over the middle, and I was able to read it.”
Reading Lott’s emotions from his expression was impossible because he was impassive in a locker room filled with weary but smiling faces. But a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth when he spoke of teammate Joe Montana.
“You can use all the adjectives in the world, but never in our lifetime would you be able to measure the heart he has for this game and this team,” Lott said.
Of Ram Coach John Robinson, for whom Lott played at USC, he said: “He’s always been a class person and he’s given me my drive and a great understanding of this game. The greatest situation is to play against people you respect. This was a big win for us, but either way I would have felt good because I have so much respect for this organization.”
But it’s the 49ers’ organization that’s heading for the Super Bowl, and only if they win in New Orleans might Lott relax the rigid standards he applies to himself and his team.
“It’s sweet to get that fourth one,” he said of the 49ers’ imminent trip to Super Bowl XXIV, “but as an athlete, you don’t focus on the fourth, third or whatever. I don’t even know where my rings are. You’re just happy to be in this situation in the Super Bowl. As a football player, this is the ultimate situation.”
