Ramifications of a 5-9 Record: Slater Only Ram in Pro Bowl
The Rams are sending just one player to the Pro Bowl for the first time in so long that even Jackie Slater can’t remember when so many of his teammates have been denied so many postseason journeys to Hawaii.
And if Slater can’t remember it, odds are that it probably has never happened.
While a host of other, younger Rams were knocked out of Pro Bowl berths by the team’s dreary play this year, 15-year veteran right tackle Slater, Old Man Ram, will be back in Honolulu, representing the NFC for the sixth consecutive time and seventh time in eight seasons.
As yet another reminder that 1990 hasn’t exactly been a banner year for the Rams, this is the first time in the 41-year history of the Pro Bowl that the Rams will be represented by just a single player--who just happens to be their oldest.
The Rams are used to treating the Pro Bowl like a team holiday. The fewest they’ve ever sent is two players, in both 1981 and ’82. Last season, they sent six. This time, it is fitting that it should be Slater who makes the solo trip.
Slater, 36, is the oldest player voted into the Pro Bowl Wednesday--and just five years younger than the game itself. The Pro Bowl vote also comes the week Slater is about to tie Merlin Olsen for most games played as a Ram, 207. Barring injury, he’ll break the record on the last night of 1990, against the New Orleans Saints.
So, while Henry Ellard, Tom Newberry, Kevin Greene and Doug Smith, among others, will be otherwise occupied on Feb. 3, Slater will just go on, this time alone in Hawaii.
“Well, we didn’t have a good year,” Ram Coach John Robinson said. “I think that’s the way that goes.”
But Robinson said Slater’s ability to continue playing year after year is something that merits rewarding. In a wildly inconsistent Ram season, Slater, as always, has been a living, breathing, blocking monument to consistency.
“I think it’s great,” Robinson said. “He deserves it, certainly. Sometimes people make it because of past reputations, but Jackie definitely had a Pro Bowl year. He’s a phenomenon. He is playing as well now as he’s ever played.”
Slater, who pondered retirement after last season’s disappointing loss to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC championship game, said that as he grows older, he appreciates making the Pro Bowl more. He was first named to the NFC squad in 1983, seven years after being a third-round draft pick of the Rams, then owned by Carroll Rosenbloom, coached by Chuck Knox and at times quarterbacked by a rookie named Pat Haden.
“It means a lot,” Slater said. “I’ve always felt all along the reason why a guy plays as long as he does, outside of the obvious . . . is the fact that you have to work hard. And to still make a contribution to the point where you’re honored like this, when you’re at my age, is just overwhelming.”
If anything, Slater said that this vastly disappointing season only makes him want to work harder during the coming off-season. Slater, a contract holdout for much of training camp this year, dislocated a toe in the final exhibition game and generally got off to a slow start.
“I still feel very strongly that we have the backbone of what it takes to be a championship-caliber team,” Slater said. “I think that starts with the players, and from there we definitely have the coaching staff to get us into the big game and win the big game, and when you’ve got so much potential, it’s hard not to be excited about that possibility.
“I think probably right now I’m more excited about finishing up this year, having a good off-season, and having as solid a season next year as I’ve ever had. Because I know there was something just missing, that we didn’t get done. And it’s there. We can do it.”
Said Robinson: “I think he’s probably like Kareem (Abdul-Jabbar). Just something different about him. . . . Obviously, chronological age is not the only measure of age.
“It’s as though time hasn’t moved at that position. Rob Cox still hasn’t played, (left tackle) Irv Pankey still is playing well; Jackie is playing great. The sands of time have been delayed at the tackle position.”
Other than Slater, Ellard seemed to be the Ram with the best shot at a Pro Bowl berth since he ranked in the NFC’s top five in both receptions--fifth with 66--and receiving yardage--third with 1,089. Center Smith, who had made it to Hawaii six times in a row; left guard Newberry, who like Ellard is seeing his string of two consecutive Pro Bowl trips snapped, and linebacker Greene, who is second in the NFC with 13 sacks and who made it for the first time last season, also were possibles.
“I think I had a pretty similar year to last year, but when you’re 5-9, you’re not going to have five and six guys (make it on the Pro Bowl team),” Newberry said. “That’s pretty much proven.”