Suddenly, Rams Count On Newman : Pro football: With secondary depleted by injuries, safety takes leadership role. He could end up at cornerback.
Two days before their season opener against a team renown for unmasking defensive flaws, the Rams find themselves grappling for solutions to glaring problems--if not simply grasping at defensive straws.
And into this fine mess steps Anthony Newman, a safety by trade but potentially a cornerback by necessity Sunday against the Packers in Green Bay, Wis.
With cornerbacks Jerry Gray and Darryl Henley on injured reserve and Alfred Jackson questionable, the Rams are turning to Newman to provide the pass defense’s glue. Makeshift defenses get makeshift leaders.
Other Ram questions have been reasonably resolved by the signings of linebacker Kevin Greene and defensive end Doug Reed, and the gradual healing of the top crop of receivers.
But the secondary remains a day-to-day contortion.
If cornerback Mickey Sutton, a former Ram--and Packer--recently returned from the waiver wire, can handle a major assignment Sunday, Newman will stay at safety and be asked to exude leadership or as much as a player with one NFL start in his previous two seasons can realistically muster.
But if Sutton cannot deliver, or if another cornerback is injured, Newman--after going a full training camp as the starting strong safety, partly because of the long holdout of last year’s starter, Michael Stewart--will be shifted to cornerback. At either position, he will be facing a Packer offense that boasts Pro Bowl receiver Sterling Sharpe, who caught eight passes for 164 yards against a sound Ram secondary last year.
There are plenty of questions, and Newman seems to be the Rams’ answer for most of them.
These are strange times for the Ram defense and Anthony Newman, and nobody is denying it.
“What happens, first of all, (is) you take a Jerry Gray out of your secondary, who’s not only a great player but a great leader,” defensive coordinator Fritz Shurmur said. “He kind of runs things back there. He’s the guy who has the ability to hold it all together.
“Now you take him out, and even though (starting right cornerback) Bobby Humphery is a veteran player, he’s a new player for us. Anthony Newman has been an in-and-out-starter kind of a guy, and all of a sudden he and (strong safety) Vince Newsome become the constants back there, the guys who have had the most experience playing as starters.
“So, Anthony assumes a new leadership role. He’s done a good job, too, of showing a lot of authority and that thing you need back there, kind of a stability factor. You can’t have a bunch of guys back there flying around who are loose cannons. They’ve got to have some steadiness to them.
“Especially against that offense.”
That , in defensive coordinator’s shorthand, means the Packers’ dangerous “pass-to-daylight” scheme, an offense that piled up 442 yards and nearly wiped out a 31-7 halftime deficit against the Rams last season before the Rams won, 41-38.
Even with last year’s starting quarterback, Don Majkowski, limited to a relief role because he recently agreed to a one-year, $1.5-million contract, it can be assumed that the Green Bay offense is best handled by players who actually have started more than a few NFL games.
Second-year man Anthony Dilweg will start at quarterback for the Packers, but Majkowski almost certainly will be dressed and eager to play should Dilweg falter.
Opposing them will be Newman, a player the Rams have always liked but had never quite found the inclination to play regularly.
They have found it now. Boy, have they found it.
Inexperience and injury have kept him on the sidelines for most of the last two years. Last season, he broke his left elbow in December and missed the rest of the season.
Newman said he is fully prepared. “We lost the great one, Jerry Gray,” he said. “And Alfred’s questionable. But still, we’ve got guys here who can step right in and play.
“Everybody needs experience; everybody’s got to start somewhere. Jerry started somewhere. You start one time, and you just take it from there. And if you’re a great athlete, who cares if it’s your first game and your first year . . . ?
“You’re going to play ball. You’re going to let your athletic ability take over. So we’re not worried. We’re a group. We’re a defense. We’re going to help each other, and we’re going to take care of business.”
If all breaks well for the Rams this weekend, Sutton and Humphery will start on the corners, with Newsome and Newman the old hands at safety.
Latin Berry, a rookie who was a fullback in college, and Jackson will share the “nickel” corner duties, and Stewart will be the extra safety.
Will Green Bay try to take a few deep whacks at this patched-up bunch?
“The Packers are a team that throws the ball anyway,” Newman said. “They’re not a running team; they don’t have the great back there. They’ve got some great receivers--Sterling Sharpe (for one).
“So they’re going to throw the ball. They’re coming out throwing. We know that, everybody else knows that.”
Ram Notes
Today, the Rams will activate linebacker Kevin Greene, defensive end Doug Reed and safety Michael Stewart and will place tight end Jim Price and receiver Tony Lomack, who have hamstring injuries, on injured reserve.
Injury update: Ram starting right tackle Jackie Slater (toe injury) is doubtful; cornerback Alfred Jackson (groin injury) is questionable; and wide receivers Henry Ellard, Aaron Cox and Flipper Anderson (hamstring injuries), tackle Robert Cox (rib injury) and guard Joe Milinichik (thumb injury) are all listed as probable. . . . Because of injuries at tackle, starting right guard Duval Love spent part of Thursday’s practice at tackle and rookie center Bern Brostek worked some of the time at guard. . . . For the Packers, defensive end Shawn Patterson (hamstring injury) is doubtful; starting safety Chuck Cecil (hamstring injury) is questionable and starting fullback Brent Fullwood (knee injury) is probable.