As a Whole, Rams Still Have a Long Way to Go

Lessons learned from Saturday night’s anything-but-art exhibition between the Rams and the San Diego Chargers at Anaheim Stadium:

--A Greene in the defensive huddle is still preferable to a Green in the offensive backfield, no matter how many touchdowns Gaston may get--and he had three of them Saturday.

--Curt Warner can still run, just not always forward.

--Ram special teams remain misrepresented.

--Hank (The Shank) Ilesic, however, represents the pinnacle of truth in advertising.

--Mark Herrmann still wants a job.

--Pass interference is the best play in the Ram playbook.

--And Rod Bernstine looks like he’s making the transition from tight end to running back.

As John Robinson was quick to remind, just in case anyone had mistaken August for December, “The importance of this game doesn’t mean anything to us.” A 30-27 loss to the Chargers means just another videocassette for the Ram film room, just a few plays to be filed away, but in NFL exhibition games, the sum of the parts is usually greater than the whole.

The Ram defense might have flimflammed Kansas City on German turf, but San Diego unmasked it for what it truly is--riddled by injury and a holdout named Kevin Greene, it is vulnerable at virtually every new turn.

Charger quarterback Billy Joe Tolliver has yet to be confused with Dan Fouts, John Hadl or Joe Willie Namath, but he confused the Rams for 10 completions in 20 attempts for 124 yards in one half of play. His backup, Mark Vlasic, picked up where Tolliver left off, closing out the game by completing 12 of 16 throws for 113 yards.

Five of those connections went to a third-string H-back named Rod Bernstine, who also managed to take eight handoffs. Took them a ways too--for 94 yards and two touchdowns, including a 67-yard run for the first score of the night.

With Thomas Sanders, another third-teamer, adding 63 yards in 12 carries, the Chargers amassed a total of 402 yards, averaged 6.3 yards per play from scrimmage.

“Obviously, we were not prepared to play this game,” Robinson noted afterward. “That’s what happens when you are not emotionally equipped to play.”

This, apparently, was intended to be attributed to American Bowl jet lag. You want to play Berlin, you have to accept the consequences.

But the 20-hour flight home hardly fazed Gaston Green, who finally yielded evidence that he was more than a Eurasian novelty. The Ram MVP in Tokyo in 1989 and again in Berlin, Green followed last week’s 115-yard performance with 71 yards and three touchdowns in 14 carries.

At home, finally, he no longer looked like a tourist.

Warner, the well-preserved veteran and presumed starter, ran nine times for a total of 20 yards. His first attempt was into a wall, netting nothing. His second went for a three-yard loss. It took a 14-yard burst in the second quarter to keep his head above double figures.

Robinson blamed the Ram offense, weakened by another holdout by the name of Jackie Slater.

“Obviously, in his early carries, a combination of Jim Brown and O.J. Simpson wouldn’t have made an inch,” Robinson said. “But once he got a little room to run, he ran OK.”

Warner wasn’t given much running room by Robinson, either--just a cameo that didn’t amount to much more than the half-quarter Jim Everett got in. Everett threw six passes, had three dropped and none caught. He spent the rest of the night on the sideline, where he watched Herrmann try to convince Robinson that three quarterbacks on one roster is indeed a good thing.

The off-season signing of Chuck Long to a two-year contract has made Herrmann a species of Ram of the endangered kind, so these meaningless exhibitions are big deals to him. Herrmann did what he could with the opportunity, completing eight of 16 passes for 122 yards and a touchdown.

Two nonpasses also figured greatly--pass interference calls in the end zone that set up a pair of one-yard scoring plunges by Green.

Shakier footing belongs to Ilesic, the punter attempting to replace Dale Hatcher in more than name only. Ilesic had a rough opener against the Chiefs and sliced three kicks Saturday for a meager 32.3 average, numbers that left Robinson less than enthralled.

“Our kicking game, again, was a real problem,” Robinson said. “It’s getting a little scary. We’ve got to do something in the next two weeks if we’re going to compete in the regular season.”

Another thing the Rams have to do something about: Signing Greene and Slater and the rest of the holdouts that threaten any Super Bowl run this team may have, real or imagined.

A bedsheet banner above the south end zone displayed the jersey numbers of Greene and Slater and the words: “Georgia, Sign The Checks.”

By the end of the game, the scoreboard was sending a similar message.