Giants Erase Final Trace of Rams’ 1989 Glory, 31-7

If nothing else, and there is probably nothing else worth heralding about this season, the Rams are now finding that losing is easier to understand when it comes in waves.

And it’s downright simple to swallow when it comes at the able, efficient hands of the New York Giants.

The high expectations vanished long ago, the Super Bowl dreams got squashed about a month ago, and what’s left is a 3-6 Ram team that finds its 31-7 loss to the undefeated Giants Sunday afternoon relatively redeemable.

Nobody was squawking afterwards that they should have won, that the game was stolen from them, that the fates unjustly intervened in the outcome.

The Rams lost handily to the better team. The Giants are also the team they beat twice last season, but 1989 has become a distant and irrelevant memory.

For a team that began this season expecting to soar, finding explanations has almost become a bore.

“It simply was a question of us playing a team that is playing superior football,” Coach John Robinson said. “I thought our team played as hard as we could, we just weren’t able to do it.”

And in what has become the oft-repeated theme of their season, when the Rams were presented with opportunities to sneak back into the game, they dropped them.

Last year, the Rams beat the Giants with big plays--most memorably with the 30-yard Jim Everett-to-Flipper Anderson touchdown pass to win their playoff matchup in overtime.

This year, the big plays have come only sporadically, and not at all when they have most needed them. Sunday, when Anderson popped free down the right sideline in the third quarter, the pass fell through his arms.

“It’s just not coming as easy as it did last year,” receiver Henry Ellard said. “Can’t explain it. The big plays we need just aren’t happening.”

Said Everett: “We just didn’t make the plays like we’ve done in the past. We tried, but we couldn’t make it happen.”

In the last three weeks, the Ram offense has scored a total of 33 points. Locked against the league’s No. 1 pass defense, Everett could complete only 17 of his 36 throws Sunday, and was intercepted three times.

In the decisive second half, the Giants used the simple building blocks of turnovers and good field position to score 21 unanswered points and salt the game away after the Rams had closed it to 10-7.

By late in the fourth quarter, it was 24-7 Giants, and the only interesting facet of the game left for the Rams was how running back Marcus Dupree would look during mop-up time. For the record, Dupree looked fine, carrying the ball four times for 22 yards and hungering for more.

“They played the game they wanted to play,” Robinson said.

“We played as well as we’ve played all year today,” Giants Coach Bill Parcells said.

The Rams looked like they were going to give the Giants a game early in the second half, when, on the third play of half, the Rams forced the Giants into what Robinson called “their only error of the ballgame.”

Ram linebacker Kevin Greene busted through right tackle Doug Risenberg on his way to Phil Simms and the ball, knocking the football loose with a vicious hand to Simms’ arm. Greene eventually recovered the ball at the Giant 11-yard line.

Two plays later Cleveland Gary slammed in from three yards out for the touchdown, cutting the deficit to 10-7 and ending the Rams’ scoring drought at four full quarters.

But the Giants answered back in their own efficient way, featuring a more wide-open attack and Simms throwing downfield on their next drive. Simms completed passes of 10, 15 and 14 yards on the nine-play, 83-yard march, finished off by rookie running back Rodney Hampton’s impressive dance through the left side of the Ram defense for a 19-yard touchdown. That made it 17-7, and was the key drive of the game.

“From then on, we just couldn’t compete with the efficiency with which they played,” Robinson said.

Said inside linebacker Frank Stams, who led the Rams with 10 tackles: “They didn’t make any errors. They don’t do anything fancy, just three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust, but they just keep coming at you.”

The Rams looked like they had a quick-strike response of their own three plays later when Anderson broke free for what would’ve been a sure 67-yard touchdown bomb from Everett after beating cornerback Mark Collins clean. It was the same combination--same quarterback, same receiver, same cornerback, same side of the field--that produced last year’s Anderson score that beat the Giants in the playoffs.

Same play, different year.

The Rams, who had seemed to be building offensive momentum before the play, never seemed the same after the drop.

The final seeds of the Rams’ defeat came when Giant punter Sean Landeta locked them deep in their territory with a kick that skidded sideways and was downed on the Ram three-yard line. After the Giants stopped the Rams on three plays, Dave Meggett returned Keith English’s punt 22 yards to the Rams’ 30.

Six plays later, running back Ottis Anderson swept around the right side and just barely into the end zone for a three-yard touchdown run and a 24-7 Giant lead with 13:25 left in the game.

Gary Reasons’ interception on the next Rams’ possession virtually sealed the game and left the Rams grasping for goals.

“We still have seven left,” defensive lineman Doug Reed said. “We still have something to fight for, we still have some goals left, and that’s to show everybody that we can be a good football team. If nothing else, we we want to prove we can play good football.”

The Rams played close to good early on, but the closest they came to scoring in the first half was when they drove to the Giants’ 23 on their second possession, setting up Mike Lansford’s failed 40-yard field-goal try.

The rest of the half, the Rams could manage only two more first downs. Everett was nine of 17 in the half. Meanwhile, the Giants’ offense kept the ball in their possession and the opposing offense off the field.

Simms threw much more than usual in the half, flicking short passes to his backs on his way to 13 for 16 passing for 149 yards. At one point, Simms completed nine consecutive passes. He ended up the game 19 for 26 for 213 yards and zero interceptions.

“I don’t know what the hell he threw for, but he played great football, making third-down plays, kept drives going,” Robinson said.

Ram Notes

Cornerback Jerry Gray, who was held out of last week’s game with a sore knee, started Sunday. . . . The Rams’ two deactivations were defensive lineman Bill Hawkins and offensive tackle Robert Cox. . . . Ram kicker Mike Lansford missed his only field-goal attempt, a 40-yarder in the first quarter wide left. He is eight for 15 on the season. In his last three games, Lansford has made two of his five attempts, and is three for nine from 40-49 yards this season. But Ram Coach John Robinson said that Lansford’s miss Sunday wasn’t anything to be overly concerned about. “Well, I thought it was a hard kick, and it was up in the air, just slightly wide,” Robinson said. “I think Mike will have a good last half of the season.” Last season, Lansford was 23 of 30 on the year, and eight of 10 on kicks between 40 and 49.

Injury report: linebacker Mike Wilcher suffered a mild concussion in the first quarter and did not return. Wide receiver Henry Ellard suffered a strained his left hamstring in the game, and played only sparingly after the injury.

* SIMPLY GREAT: Complicated game plans are for losers. John Weyler’s story, C12.

* GLITTER IS GONE: Ram film’s sequel is a stinker. Mike Penner’s story, C14.