RAMS : New Attitude Gives Defense a Sting

Ram Coach John Robinson, widely known purveyor of statesmanship and grace in a game not blessed with much of either, has unleashed something wild and menacing in this training camp.

It takes some getting used to, seeing one of the NFL’s leading white knights coaching a growling, harrying, attacking defense filled with players eager to showcase their flair for full contact.

Not a lot of grace here, not a lot of statesmanship, not a lot of the things with which Robinson is usually associated. Just a defense pushing itself to the outer limits of aggressive football, hitting hard and talking loud.

“I think right now we’re trying to find out the line we can walk,” says middle linebacker Frank Stams, one of the freer spirits on the freed-up defense, “what edge we can take it to and then not go beyond that to stay with good, clean football.”

“I think to play this kind of defense you have to be kind of nasty,” says cornerback Sammy Lilly, who played under new Ram defensive coordinator Jeff Fisher when both were with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Although Robinson ordered the change from the Rams’ past defensive torpor to the current camp of hard knocks, and although he downplays any discomfort he might feel running practices that frequently are interrupted by brawls, sometimes the magnitude of the adjustment he’s making is clearly apparent.

Even now, with the intensity of practices tapering off from the brutal first few weeks of camp, the defense builds to a fever pitch during goal-line drills, screaming in unison on every big hit. The Rams’ defense is awake.

“When you tone up the aggression, it’s kind of hard to tone it back in some periods, and people do get hurt, especially in the type of training camp we’ve had,” says defensive end Kevin Greene, the wildest of the wild bunch. “But I think Coach Robinson really enjoys the aggressiveness he sees from this defense. That’s what he wanted.”

Says offensive coordinator Ernie Zampese: “The gauntlet was laid down that this was going to be a very competitive camp. I think the offensive guys knew it going in. I think right off the bat the defensive guys did a good job of saying, ‘Hey, here we come.’ ”

Changing from Fritz Shurmur’s sit-back-and-absorb-the-hits mode to Fisher’s storm-the-castle style is a big transition for anybody. Fisher emphasizes that cheap shots don’t belong in his defense and explains that instead of suffering waves of injuries in this camp, the Rams have had relatively few--and far fewer than last year’s gentle training camp.

Under Fisher, the Eagles weren’t dirty. They were just fast, strong and aggressive. And when they played well, they blew people off the field. That’s what the Rams are trying to develop.

“There may have been an attempt or a subconscious attempt to intimidate (by some defensive players),” Robinson says. “That clearly hasn’t occurred.”

Robinson has had to step in and break up fights several times. He has cursed defenders who crossed beyond the line of fair play. He has emphasized that the offense, too, has to get some work done during practice. And in one fascinating moment, he left two young players to duke it out and moved the whole drill 20 yards down the field to continue the work.

All the while, Robinson has recognized that for Fisher’s defense to succeed, his players have to breathe fire. An over-reaching passion, a thrill for the kill was a major part of Fisher’s success with the Philadelphia Eagle defense the past few years and something Robinson does not disavow.

He points out that his USC teams with Joey Browner, Ronnie Lott and others were certainly not shrinking violets, and that defensive football is by nature an aggressive proposition.

Clean football can be crushing football, he says. A John Robinson team will never be known as a pack of marauders. He is looking for menace without the mayhem.

“My football team isn’t going to be a cheap-shot team or a team that is ever going to try to be dirty,” Robinson says. “And there is no reason to assume that aggressive defenses have that connotation. We have no expectation of it.

“It’s like the old Chicago Bear defense. They were never dirty. They just kicked the hell out of you. They didn’t want to bother to look at you. They just, raaawwwrrrr . And whether the Philadelphia defense had the other reputation or not, I don’t have a comment on that.

“The Atlanta approach is to be chicken. . . kick him in the crotch, scream and yell, the flash before the real thing. I think for the most part, the Bear defense and the Philadelphia defense, they were serious. Most of those Philadelphia players just played their butts off. As hard as they could. So I don’t have any worry.”

And when any defensive player gives Robinson a reason to worry, he lets them hear about it--loudly--with full agreement from Fisher and the rest of the defensive staff.

Rookie linebacker Terry Crews got a verbal dressing down during the first week of camp for repeated scuffling, and recently, safety Brandy Wells was reprimanded after he delivered a late hit on tailback Marcus Dupree that Robinson feared had reinjured Dupree’s left knee.

The veteran defensive players say Robinson knows what he’s doing, even if things have gotten a little bumpy at times.

“Coach Robinson is the type (who’s) not going to do anything that’s going to get out of his control,” says strong safety Michael Stewart, one of the most physical players the Rams have had the past few seasons. “He specifically said from the beginning that we’re going to be more physical this year, and I think maybe he kind of expected that stuff the first few times.

“But we all know that once we start playing games, it’s got to be more focused. Snap to whistle. All the extracurricular, that’s just going to get us penalties and inevitably make us lose games.”

While Robinson says he understands that emotion is a big part of any aggressive defense, he cautions that all the whooping and outward signs of aggressions are not what’s really important in this camp.

“I don’t think it’s as much of it as you all may think, because that’s all surface thing, that’s the frosting you see,” Robinson says. “‘They are aggressive and they play aggressive, but then again, which good defense doesn’t?

“I tend to think it’s a prerequisite for all good defenses that you play that way. How demonstrable you are about your emotions probably isn’t.”

Some of the defense’s volatility, at least one player suggests, is necessary to convince players that they can play it. In Fisher’s gambling, risk-taking defense, no defender should fear making the big plunge. This camp has been a test for the real thing.

You talk it to convince yourself you can walk it.

“I believe you have to be kind of cocky in this defense,” Lilly says. “I think you have to know you’re good, know if you’re on the corner in a blitz, to know you can play one-on-one. . . . You can’t go out there thinking, ‘Am I good?’ You have to go out there knowing that you’re great.”

Says Stewart: “Once you kind of find out where you’re going, you can act aggressively, but it’s more focused. I think as we all get a grip on the defense and continue to learn it and know the specifics of it, that’s what we’re going to have, more or less, a focused aggression.”

* GARY MIGHT PLAY

Tailback Cleveland Gary is expected to make his exhibition debut Monday. C9