Rams’ Defense Has Been on Fritz : Pro football: Shurmur feeling the heat of club’s 1-4 start. Robinson says defensive coordinator’s job is safe for now.

His voice is loud, and the words gush out like water from a punctured dam. His eyes are swollen, his arms cut arcs in the air, and his body twists as he talks.

As far as the Rams have fallen, Fritz Shurmur’s star has fallen farther, and faster. That may be a reversible condition, but then again . . .

The Rams’ 1-4 start, right or wrong, is being called his responsibility, his burden. And, he concedes, it very possibly could lead to his downfall as the Rams’ defensive coordinator.

“In the eyes of a lot of people, in their judgment, I may not be doing good enough with what we have to work with,” Shurmur says quickly. “And if that’s the case, then they’ve got to make the judgment to let somebody else do it.

“I understand that ultimately, if you don’t get the job done, then you’re asked to leave. That’s part of the deal.”

Shurmur, who is given considerable freedom to run the defense by Coach John Robinson, retooled the system this season, trying to come up with some kind of consistent, all-downs pass rush and bang the defense into Super Bowl-shape.

But, for a myriad of reasons, the moves have backfired. The defense has been a sieve, the plan has been junked, and Shurmur, 58, is alert to front-office whispers that he--and possibly he alone--must pay for the failure.

After eight mostly successful years here, after coming inches from landing several head-coaching jobs the last few years, Shurmur realizes that, thanks to his defense’s dismal performance this season, his job is on the line.

“You’ve got to be able to handle it,” Shurmur says. “And it isn’t pleasant, I’ve got to tell you. I’m not a masochist. I’d have to be one of those guys who said, ‘Beat me on the head with a hammer because it feels so good when you quit.’

“(But) the worst thing that you can do is to start to think in those terms and put them into a personal context, as opposed to, ‘Hey, this is a job. I love the job here. I love being here,’ but always keep reminding yourself when it’s going good and when it’s not going good that we’re all just passing through these jobs. There isn’t anything permanent about it.

“And if you happen to really like the place, then somewhere along the line, you’re going to make a situation occur where you stay and do something other than coach. That’s part of the thing.”

For all of Shurmur’s willingness to take the bitter along with the better times, Robinson insists that, as far as he is concerned, Shurmur is safe. The defense may be on the fritz, Robinson says, but the pressure of a firing isn’t.

“That’s certainly not an issue with me,” Robinson says of any scenario that would include his staying and Shurmur getting pushed out the door. “And I’m the one that would decide that. No one else in this organization will decide his future. So he isn’t really threatened.

“His is no different than my position. I think the front office, any front office, is in the position to fire the head coach. But unless the head coach’s contract is written up in a weird way, it’s the head coach’s prerogative to evaluate, retain or not retain his staff. Because of that, it’s not an issue.”

But Robinson, who recognizes that Shurmur might be feeling strained right now, does not fully discount the talk that certain front-office types might be unhappy with Shurmur and pondering a way to remove him.

“I can’t speak for anybody else,” Robinson says. “That’s not the situation. Theoretically, those things could be (happening). We could both go. Or we could independently make a decision that the coach wasn’t doing the job and I wanted to fire him sometime. But the prerogative is mine.

“I think he’s doing the best job he can under the circumstances. We’ve gone through a difficult period, and in that period, some of the decisions we’ve made have not responded the way we hoped they would. Whatever decisions we made were made with all of us. And ultimately, it’s my responsibility.”

Still, the team is 1-4 and the defense has been poor, and he is the coordinator, Shurmur said. Heat is expected.

But that doesn’t mean it won’t blister.

“Yeah, it’s about as tough a time (as he has experienced), sure,” Shurmur says. “It’s about as tough. The (1987) strike year here (when the Rams started 1-7) was tough, but there were some extenuating circumstances. Most people understood somewhat.

“This is the most difficult one because of the high expectations for this team. Rightly or wrongly so, they did exist. It’s been difficult from that standpoint.

“But hell, we did some things last year that were damn near miraculous in terms of injuries and stuff like that. But I never thought it was me. I thought it was the guys who came in and pulled some miracles off.”

The miracles include the dramatically successful use of the “Eagle” scheme beginning a few years ago, the makeshift all-linebacker front line thrown in to confuse the Philadelphia Eagles in last year’s wild-card playoff victory, and assorted other cutting-edge devices that nudged the defense just over the hump.

He has taken risks before, and won. This time, he concedes if he hadn’t tried the changes, hadn’t counted so heavily on the unrealized development of defensive linemen Bill Hawkins and Brian Smith, maybe things would be better now. That’s the risk.

“Sure, it might’ve made a touchdown difference here or there,” Shurmur says. “But you know what? I’m not sure I’d feel any better about it, because that would have meant that we had not addressed what was obviously a problem coming out of last year. So if it cost us a little bit, if we anticipated wrong in the way of some players, then so be it, and we’re accountable for that.

“This is one that probably didn’t turn out so good, but maybe it wouldn’t have turned out any better had we not made the move. Who knows?”

So Shurmur has tasted the glory, and now comes the time to bear the front office’s scrutiny.

“I would think they share in our disappointment,” Shurmur says of the front office. “And they have the responsibility to make determinations and judgments as to what kind of job someone who’s working for them is doing.

“I accept it, and I also know that I’m going to do my very best to solve the problems within the framework of the assets that I have at my disposal.”

Ram cornerback Jerry Gray, who has played under Shurmur his whole six-year career, says he can’t help but notice the strain on Shurmur.

“You can just see it,” Gray says. “You can see it in his eyes . . . the way he talks.

“It’s like all of a sudden, something isn’t going right, and they want to cut the heads off, but then once we get it going, they love him. I think it’s kind of crazy to start jumping the gun so early, because I think the people that jump off the ship are going to be left behind. The Rams are going to come back.”

Says Shurmur: “Every night when I go to bed, the first thing I think about when I get up in the morning is, ‘What can we do? What can we do? ‘ Whatever I have to do it with or whatever we’re given to do it with, we’re going to try to make it do the best.

“Now, it may not be good enough. But the one thing I cling to every moment of my life is: Boy, the deeper the hole is, the greater challenge it is to get out. And that’s where we are.

“Every day I keep thinking of different ways that we might try to get out of this thing. And that’s the challenge. That’s the fun part of this disaster at this point.”

And when the ground ceases shaking under his feet, maybe Shurmur will still be standing to enjoy the aftermath.