ANALYSIS : Rams Have to Think About 1990
In a world devoid of San Francisco 49ers, the Rams might be kings. They threw their best stuff at the league in 1989, won 13 games, christened a star quarterback, played with passion and purpose, and made everyone gather around the tube to watch reruns of Flipper.
Still, no blue ribbons. The 49ers have extended grief upon the Rams into a new decade.
Losing a championship game is difficult enough. The Rams know, having lost nine of 12 over the years. But losing to your divisional rival is unbearable. Still, the Rams stood and took it honorably after Sunday’s 30-3 loss, biting their tongues to suppress what had to be an excruciating frustration.
What legal act, exactly, aligned these divisions in the first place, and what’s to keep a team from jumping ship? If an owner can move a franchise out of town in the dead of night, why can’t the Rams fudge up their letterhead a bit and announce a new alliance with the AFC West?
Can a franchise talk out loud here?
The Rams have averaged 9.6 victories a season under Coach John Robinson since 1983, and have to show for it one lonely divisional banner to run up the flagpole each morning. The Rams will always have 1985.
The Rams, a spirited team with an infectious collegiate flavor, never wanted the 1989 season to end, much less skid to a halt as it did in Candlestick Park.
“It’s been a roller-coaster,” safety Vince Newsome said. “It’s been one of the oddest years, and the only way to see any good out of it would have been to be in the Super Bowl.”
Newsome, a relative veteran among kids who turns 29 next week, has maybe seen his best chance slip away.
Conversely, Flipper Anderson, who burst from nowhere in training camp to national acclaim in November, can’t wait for July.
“It’s a big loss,” he said after Sunday’s game. “But we know what kind of team we have. Our spirits are down because of the loss, but we’ll be back.”
In the meantime, the Rams count the days until Joe Montana’s going-away party. But 1989, for all its crazy comebacks and memories, is done. Robinson explains that a football team dies at the end of each season and must be reborn the next.
The 1989 Rams were buried in Candlestick Park. A new season will be bring change. You’ll miss some familiar faces and won’t recognize others.
Some names to look for in coming weeks:
Jim Everett. One skittish championship game-performance does not a season make. Everett came of age in 1989, leading the Rams through nine nerve-racking finishes, winning six.
The Rams will soon reward Everett with a new long-term contract, probably five years in the $2-million-a-season range. The deal will be completed before Feb. 1, when Everett technically becomes a free agent. Vice President John Shaw and Everett’s agent, Marvin Demoff, have been quietly working on the deal since August, and risking Everett to a free-agent offer sheet was never an option for the Rams or Everett.
Sources close to the negotiations say the deal will be announced at a news conference soon, but there’s a “90%” chance it won’t happen this week.
LeRoy Irvin. He was 10 years of laughs and one of the most flamboyant Rams ever, but his career is apparently over, at least in Anaheim. Irvin, a two-time Pro Bowl selection at right cornerback, suggested he would retire after Sunday’s loss. That may become official on Feb. 1, when the Rams must protect 37 players and leave the rest for Plan B free agency. Irvin, sources say, won’t be protected.
Jackie Slater. The 14-year veteran right tackle made the Pro Bowl for the sixth time in 1989, but Sunday’s loss choked him up so much he said he’s considering retirement. Don’t expect it to happen. Robinson thinks Slater, 35, can play two more seasons. For that reason, the Rams are expected to protect him. Great tackles, even aging ones, are difficult to find. Look for Slater to return for his 15th season.
Gaston Green. What’s a team to do with a first-round pick who hasn’t played in two years? Green finished the season on injured reserve so the Rams could activate Paul Butcher, a free-agent special teams monster, for a playoff game against the New York Giants.
Because he was the 14th pick of 1988, though, the Rams will likely protect Green from free agency, figuring some team will surely take a chance with the former UCLA star. The trading season opens again Feb. 5, but Green hasn’t shown enough to command much in market value.
Anyone need a low-mileage tailback with great speed and questionable desire?
Fritz Shurmur. The Rams’ defensive coordinator since 1983, Shurmur brought the league innovations such as the Eagle defense--five linebackers, two down linemen--and this year’s four-linebacker rushing unit. Shurmur gained national attention when he out-foxed Philadelphia Coach Buddy Ryan in the wild-card game. It might have been enough to get the 57-year-old Shurmur a crack at the Phoenix Cardinals’ coaching job.
It would take the Rams more than a phone call or two to replace him.
ONCE AROUND THE ROSTER IN 1990
OFFENSE: Don’t touch that dial. The unit is set for the next five years, so long as tackle Robert Cox can step in for Slater in two years and line coach Hudson Houck can develop a few young projects to protect against age. Left tackle Irv Pankey turns 32 next season and center Doug Smith is 33. Smith made the Pro Bowl in 1989, and Pankey would have been in a few by now were it not for Slater, who keeps stealing votes on the right side.
Robinson says he’s going to abandon his one-back offense in favor of a two-back set to better utilize underworked backs Robert Delpino and Cleveland Gary.
But tailback Greg Bell isn’t exactly over the hill. The man the experts claimed couldn’t put good seasons back to back just finished his second consecutive 1,000-yard rushing season and his third in a six-year career.
Not bad for an afterthought in the Eric Dickerson trade of 1987.
What’s more, Bell doesn’t turn 28 until August. Any more dwarf jokes?
DEFENSE: Want six good reasons the Rams had no chance of stopping the 49ers Sunday? Mike Piel, Bill Hawkins, Clifford Hicks, Anthony Newman, Doug Reed and Newsome. All missed the championship game because of injuries. Piel started at right defensive end but re-dislocated his left elbow in the first half.
When sound, the Rams’ defense isn’t as defenseless as it appeared Sunday when Montana brushed up on some of his patterns. It probably wouldn’t have finished 21st overall for the season, either. The pieces are there.
Still, changes beckon in 1990. Robinson swears he’s finally going to move Jerry Gray, a four-time Pro Bowl selection at left cornerback, back to his natural position, free safety. But can he afford to if Irvin retires and Hicks, his heir apparent, can’t return from major reconstructive knee surgery? That would leave Darryl Henley and Alfred Jackson as starting cornerbacks in the same division with Jerry Rice and John Taylor.
One option is drafting a cornerback this spring, or moving Newman to one of the open spots.
Piel kept getting better at defensive end, and first-pick Hawkins had emerged as a solid player when he was lost for the season Dec. 11 with a knee injury that required surgery.
One objective for next season is getting linebacker Frank Stams more action. The former Notre Dame star volunteered to move to inside linebacker when Fred Strickland and Larry Kelm went down in training camp. Stams was thrown to the wolves, then disappeared when Strickland and Kelm returned, proving it takes more than five minutes to learn a new position in the NFL.
SPECIAL TEAMS: Dale Hatcher, who made the Pro Bowl as a rookie in 1985, may have punted his way to Plan B free agency with his woeful 38.8 average in 1989. Kicker Mike Lansford remained one of the NFL’s best clutch kickers. If he ever improves his kickoffs, he’ll make a Pro Bowl before he’s through.
No question, the Rams made waves in 1989. Their fourth-quarter comebacks gave them unique character and a soul.
“I’m proud of our football team,” Robinson said. “I think we played our hearts out throughout the year.”
They made it all the way to the Final Four. Flipper Anderson, an understudy turned superstar, says the Rams will be back in 1990.
Think the 49ers will show?
Ram Notes
The Rams have been held without a touchdown in their last three NFC title games, dating back to a 9-0 victory over Tampa Bay in the championship game of 1979. The Rams used three field goals to win that game. They were defeated by the Chicago Bears in 1985, 24-0, and by the 49ers on Sunday, 30-3.
