RAMS : Victory in Cleveland Helps Make Season Brighter

Ram Coach John Robinson had just finished viewing his personal choice for the feel-good film of the holiday season: a rerun of the Rams-Browns game.

Sure, the Rams believe their emotional victory over the 49ers 10 days ago in San Francisco was a turning point. But Sunday’s 38-23 romp in Cleveland was a real lark, just the prescription for the depression of a season gone bad.

“It was important for us to go out and play a good game without the emotion involved in the San Francisco game,” Robinson said. “We played strong. I think we felt strong and in control of the game.

“I think that was very good for us. We’re feeling better about ourselves. Our sense of self-worth is on the upswing.”

And everybody left the place smiling.

Quarterback Jim Everett, who had thrown only one touchdown pass in a month, threw four Sunday. Running back Gaston Green not only played, he was the Rams’ leading rusher and scored a touchdown. Running back Buford McGee had 96 yards in rushing and receiving. Linebacker Kevin Greene recorded three sacks in a game for the first time in more than 1 1/2 seasons.

“Things are starting to click,” Everett said. “We’re at the point where we’re getting things done.”

Robinson hopes it’s a trend, but he remains cautious. After all, he has spent much of the season dazed and confused.

“Sure, you begin to doubt your ability to control your team,” he said. “For a while, we looked like the ‘Night of the Living Dead’ people. That was really mystifying. It was the most disturbing thing of the season, the numbness or whatever. Getting in the (mess) is one thing. Not being able to get out was the shocking part to me.”

So he’ll gladly settle for a small dose of self-esteem.

“You have fun when you play good,” Robinson said. “That had been missing for us . . . You say, ‘Damn it, I’m glad I’m a coach.’ ”

Robinson says the Rams’ woeful start was the result of a team-wide malaise, but after a couple of victories, it’s evident that two factors--an unsuccessful defense and a previously too-successful offense--played major roles in the slump.

The porous Ram defense allowed opponents to take early leads, (the Rams were outscored, 74-45, in the first quarter of their first 10 games) and the offense, which had a series of big-play victories in 1989, tried too often to even things up on a couple of plays.

“We were pushing the ball down the field and then the rhythm slips away,” Robinson said. “You don’t run the ball as often or as well. You’re behind two touchdowns, three touchdowns. You’re looking for big plays too much because you’re trying to catch up. You have this sense of, ‘We’ve got to score.’

“Our offense became too enamored with big plays so we made the conscious effort three weeks, five weeks or whatever, ago, to say, ‘We’ve got to run the football. We’ve got to put the balance, the rhythm, back in our offense.’

“We make big plays, we’re a good big-play team, but we became a little bit obsessed with it, I think.”

Fullback Robert Delpino is one of those players who has benefited from the Rams’ determination to keep variety in the game plan menu.

Last season, Delpino caught three or more passes in seven regular-season games and finished with 34 receptions for 334 yards. Before Sunday’s game in Cleveland, when Delpino had four catches for 51 yards and a touchdown, he had eight receptions for 121 yards.

Can the 5-7 Rams emerge from the fog and still make a run at the playoffs? Certainly, they aren’t mathematically eliminated, but their 3-5 conference record doesn’t bode well in any number of tiebreaker scenarios.

Robinson doesn’t even want to think about it. Asked at his weekly press luncheon if his postseason hopes had been revived, he turned the tables and became the interviewer.

“What do you have to win to get in the playoffs, do you have to win eight or nine? You tell me,” he said.

Given the tiebreaker situation, the Rams would have a hard time making it with an 8-8 record was the response.

“Then that’s my answer,” Robinson said.

“Do I quote myself,” the reporter asked.

“Put it down as an informed source,” Robinson said.

Cornerback Darryl Henley might not be the most polished cornerback around and he has been beaten more than occasionally of late, but none of that has tempered Robinson’s enthusiasm about the second-year player from UCLA.

“I really like him,” Robinson said. “He’s in your face. He’s getting beat on the corners, on the subtle things, but you beat him and he’ll come back and beat you. He’s got a nasty look on his face.

“He’s just learning now, but he’s a damn good player. He’ll get picked on now that he’s gotten caught a couple of times, but I’m happy with the way he’s playing. He’s on his way.”