RAMS : With Running Game Sputtering, Team Goes Back to Basics

Doug Smith was a 24-year-old tackle in 1981 when he was slamming his body into defensive linemen so Wendell Tyler could rush for 1,074 yards. He was establishing himself at center and headed for his first Pro Bowl in 1984 when he was butting heads with 300-pound nose tackles so Eric Dickerson could gain an NFL-record 2,105 yards. He was a three-time Pro Bowl selection by 1987 when he was helping pave the way for Charles White’s 1,374-yard season.

And he was attending his sixth consecutive Pro Bowl by the time Greg Bell had finished putting together back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons in ’88 and ’89.

It was Bell, now a Raider, who said of Smith and Co.: “Anybody can run behind this line.”

Well, maybe not anybody .

After three games, Curt Warner leads the Rams in rushing with 114 yards. At this pace, he’ll finish with about 600 yards. Of course, the Rams are employing a triumvirate of tailbacks these days, but together they have managed only a 3.4-yards-per-rush average.

Clearly, the Ram running game is not the weapon it once was, but nobody is sure why. And even Smith, who has seen the holes open and close for 13 years, can’t pinpoint the problems.

“You get in a game, and you try your hardest and you run the plays that have been called,” Smith said. “We’re doing our normal stuff. Maybe we just need to stay on our blocks a little longer.

“I’ve been playing a long time and it seems like every year you reach a point where you say, ‘OK, we’ve got to get back to the fundamentals.’ Running, blocking, tackling, that’s where we’re at now. We’re focused on the running game and we want to get back to being physical like we have been in the past.”

Smith says the Rams can work out the kinks on the practice field because he believes only some small adjustments are needed.

“You look at our won-loss record (1-2) and our (rushing) statistics and you know we’re not setting the world on fire,” he said. “So we re-evaluate, go back to the drawing board and start working hard again.

“But people, and the media in general, will tend to say, ‘Oh, they’re no longer there. It’s not happening.’ But the difference between it happening and not happening is the matter of an inch here or an inch there. That can mean the difference between breaking a play and a two-yard gain.

“So we’re really concentrating on getting another inch out of everybody on the team.”

Add running game: Coach John Robinson says the backs, the offensive line and coaching are inseparable factors in the rushing attack.

It’s sort of like trying to coordinate all the aspects of a finely tuned golf swing. If just one part is slightly out of sync, the whole swing can go out of whack.

“I don’t think you can say the reason you’re not running the football is, and then have one or two things listed,” Robinson said. “It just doesn’t come out that way. You need to have everybody doing the things they need to do.”

However, Robinson was disturbed that the Eagles seemed to physically control the line of scrimmage during their 27-21 victory over the Rams.

“So much of it is blocking, finishing blocks and physically trying to dominate your opponent,” Robinson said. “We’ve lost so much practice time (because of injuries) that we’ve lost some of that physical skill and determination. So we’re practicing running the ball, trying to get that back. And I’m confident that we will.”

He’s a one-man recession buster.

Doug Reed, who admitted he spent many summer afternoons during his six-week holdout devouring tacos at his favorite stand, has been working hard to get in shape since he reported.

But the 6-foot-3, 265-pound defensive tackle says he did make a stop at the taco stand recently.

“I went by to see the old guy who runs the place the other day,” Reed said. “I hadn’t been there in a month and his eyes really lit up.

“So I ordered 12 tacos.”