NOTEBOOK : Eagles’ Toney Gets Grounded, and That’s Just Fine With Him

Anthony Toney’s four-yard run through the middle of the Rams’ defense in the fourth quarter Sunday was of little historical importance to anyone, except Toney.

The run gave Toney 100 yards, making him the first Eagle running back to reach the 100-yard mark in more than two seasons.

Toney finished with 103 yards in 24 carries in the Eagles’ victory over the Rams at Anaheim Stadium.

The last time an Eagle running back surpassed 100 yards in a game was in 1987, when Keith Byars rushed for 102 against the Buffalo Bills in the last game of the season.

“That’s just too long to go without one,” Toney said. “It’s like Buddy (Ryan, Eagles’ coach) always tells Keith and I, we won’t get 100 yards a game because we don’t carry 25 times a game.

“We usually wind up running it 13 or 14 times (each) and catching a couple of passes. If that helps us win, fine.”

Injury report: Eagles’ wide receiver Mike Quick, who caught a 15-yard touchdown pass from Randall Cunningham in the second quarter, sat out most of the fourth quarter because of a sore quadriceps in his left leg.

“My leg was pretty sore from all the inactivity,” said Quick, who missed most of last season after undergoing surgery on both knees. “I was out for 10 months doing nothing and that put a lot of stress on my quads. They’re starting to come around now.”

The fourth-quarter absence of Quick, who caught three passes for 37 yards, gave some playing time to Fred Barnett, a rookie from Arkansas State.

Barnett caught two passes for 39 yards, including a 33-yarder on second and eight with 5 minutes 40 seconds left that enabled the Eagles to run out the clock.

“As selfish as I might have been, I could have stayed in there,” Quick said. “But I thought it was better to let Fred go ahead.”

Money matters: Did Sunday’s victory make up for losing to the Rams in the playoffs last year?

Not as far as Ryan is concerned.

“No, that playoff game was worth a lot of money to us,” Ryan said. “They’re just paying us regular-season salary for this.”

The Eagle players are more than a little relieved they beat the Rams. And it goes beyond avoiding an 0-3 start.

“Buddy Ryan must have showed us that playoff game film 100 times,” said guard Mike Schad, a former Ram. “We even had to watch it on the plane ride out here yesterday. That film is burned in our minds.

“We knew we’re a team that should beat the Rams.”

Defensive tackle Jerome Brown said he couldn’t believe it when Saturday’s in-flight entertainment turned out to be another showing of the Rams’ 21-7 victory last New Year’s Eve.

“Some of the boys said, ‘God, no, not again,’ ” Brown said. “But you get to watching it again and maybe you learn something you can do better.”

When Cunningham connected with Mickey Shuler on a 12-yard pass play late in the third quarter, it marked the 89th consecutive game the veteran tight end had caught a pass.

Philadelphia picked up Shuler, who was waived by the New York Jets before the season opener, because tight end Keith Jackson was holding out. Jackson ended his holdout Wednesday and started in place of Shuler against the Rams.

Whether or not it is in their best interests, the Rams now get to enjoy their first-ever bye week.

Because of the NFL’s new 16-games-in-17-weeks schedule, the entire NFC West will sit out the next weekend of play.

For the Rams, it should mean one light week of work to lick some wounds, forget about Sunday’s defeat, and move on. The Rams play host to the Cincinnati Bengals in two weeks.

“You hate to go into a bye with a loss, but we have no choice,” quarterback Jim Everett said. “We’re just going to have to regroup. I still believe in this team, I believe the things we do are correct.”

The Rams will take their usual Tuesday off this week, then take Wednesday off, practice Thursday and Friday, take Saturday and Sunday off, then start up next Monday like a usual work week.

“It’s an opportunity to rest, get healthy and get ourselves in a good position to win the next week,” tackle Jackie Slater said.

When the Rams do get back to action, they almost surely will get back Pro Bowl cornerback Jerry Gray, who has been on injured reserve the last three weeks with a damaged knee.

And Coach John Robinson, knowing Gray will be back, seems to be taking this off-week as a chance for his team to get ready to go to another level in the later stages of the season.

“We have a week off now and we just have to be a better team,” Robinson said. “Whether we were 1-2 or 2-1, neither one of those numbers are disastrous as you look at the season in perspective. It’s what happens to us from now on (that) will determine our season. One and two is not where we wanted to be, but there are (13 games) ahead, so we could end up 14-2.”

Times staff writer Tim Kawakami contributed to this story.