Rams Win; Big Stride for Defense : Pro football: Fisher’s starters help open a 17-3 first-half lead over Chargers. Everett and Gary lead the offense in 24-3 exhibition victory.

The Rams’ first-line defense, a work still very much in progress, was presentable enough Monday night to help forge a 24-3 victory over the San Diego Chargers.

“We are contesting things more,” Coach John Robinson said.

“We are attacking the ball. I really thought that was true tonight. We did a good job.”

Defensive coordinator Jeff Fisher said: “There weren’t many mental mistakes. The effort, the charge, was there.”

The scrambling Ram defense, coupled with tailback Cleveland Gary’s fumble- less offense, controlled the Chargers’ first-teamers in the first half before yielding to the backups in the second and did not allow the big plays that a developing aggressive defense almost always does.

Also, the Rams’ offense, which committed eight fumbles in last week’s loss to the Atlanta Falcons, followed Robinson’s plan, picking up the tempo and not turning the ball over once.

In the first half, with quarterback Jim Everett looking strong in his first exhibition action of the year, the Rams opened a 17-3 lead that San Diego couldn’t overcome before 41,616 at Anaheim Stadium.

The Rams, 1-1 in exhibitions, sacked starting quarterback Billy Joe Tolliver once and bumped him around enough to cause some wildly erratic throws.

The usually conservative Charger offense came out throwing, with Tolliver trying 33 passes and completing 15 in an uneven first-half performance.

Under that barrage of passes, the Rams’ first-line pass rush was not overwhelming, but consistently bothersome, recording the one first-half sack (by Mike Piel), drawing two holding calls and forcing one interception (by safety Anthony Newman).

The big pushes came from defensive end Karl Wilson and Piel and a series of blitzes from left outside linebacker Brett Faryniarz and assorted defensive backs.

“This scheme makes things happen,” Newman said. “In this scheme, we make things happen. And when we really get this defense down, we’re going to be tough to play. Right now, we’re just flying around, we don’t know it all the way yet. But we’re getting there.”

It was the Newman interception that set up the Rams’ first score late in the first quarter.

Newman skidded in front of a hurried Tolliver pass, giving the Rams the ball at the Charger 48. Four plays later, Everett passed over the middle to Henry Ellard for a 29-yard gain down to the Charger six. On the next play, fullback Robert Delpino slid through a hole in the left side of the line to give the Rams a 7-0 lead.

After one series, the Rams got the ball back at Charger 48, picked up 20 yards on a pass to Aaron Cox over the middle, then settled for a 23-yard field goal by Tony Zendejas and a 10-0 lead.

The defense began to bend under the strain of the Chargers’ hurry-up offense in the second quarter, yielding a 10-play, 58-yard drive that set up John Carney’s 35-yard field goal.

Perhaps most painful of all to Fisher, San Diego running back Rod Bernstine went 11 yards on fourth and one at the middle of the field to keep that drive alive.

In the last minutes of the half, the Rams handed control of the offense to Gary, who went 47 yards on four carries to set the stage for Everett’s pass over the middle to Anderson for a 12-yard score and a 17-3 halftime lead.

Gary, battling Marcus Dupree for the starting tailback spot, was held out of the Rams’ loss to Atlanta last week because of a sore muscle in his right leg. Monday night, Dupree sat out because of a swollen toe.

“Cleveland wanted to run for touchdowns every time, and it wasn’t until the second quarter when he ran at people,” Robinson said.

“That’s what we have to have, a running game that runs it at people.”

Everett, who left after the first half in favor of Mike Pagel, started with four incomplete passes, but finished six of 13 for 88 yards and a touchdown.

Led by Pagel and the running of Aaron Emanuel, the Ram’s second-line offense had an 11-play, 56-yard drive capped by Emanuel’s one-yard touchdown run.