Rams See Mostly Positives : Pro football: Robinson praises Everett and offensive line after hard-fought loss to Raiders.

Striving to find momentum in the wake of defeat is what 3-4 teams do, and this is one thing the Rams consistently do better than most.

In Sunday’s 20-17 loss to the Raiders, the Rams played well enough to claim substantial progress but made enough critical errors to raise more subtle questions.

Are they a rapidly improving team done wrong by fourth-quarter freak circumstance?

Or are they a mediocre team that raised its level of play for three-plus quarters against the Raiders, only to stumble back into the same pattern of key blunders at crunch time?

“I think there is a growing confidence about the quality of our play right now,” Coach John Robinson said Monday.

“When I talked to the team today, we talked about saying, ‘Hey, when you play good, then you get in these kinds of games, and you just have to continue to try to make plays to win games, and to keep from putting the game in jeopardy.’ ”

Robinson pointed out the impressive play of quarterback Jim Everett, the return of a handful of key players from injury and the pass blocking of the offensive line as indicators of how far the Rams can go.

In the last three games, Everett has completed 66.4% of his passes, been sacked only five times, thrown four touchdown passes and has a 93.7 quarterback rating. In the first four, Everett had no scoring throws, was sacked 10 times, completed only 53.4% of his attempts and had a rating of 57.2.

“Jim Everett, I thought, played maybe the best game he’s ever played for the Rams in terms of how we look at a performance and rate it and evaluate it as coaches,” Robinson said.

“Our offensive line did a really good job of protecting the pass. Seldom will you see an NFL quarterback stand in an almost stoic position like Jim Everett did in this game. Seldom will you see a quarterback use his protection, step up, step around, get the ball off, any better than that man did in this game.”

Is it simply going back to a unit featuring Doug Smith at center and Duval Love at right guard--both better pass blockers than run blockers--that has allowed Everett regain his touch?

“It’s him working on it, us working on . . . the protection, just flat out saying we’re going to stop you on the inside rush. And him simply improving. Guys fall off the mark and they get back on the mark,” Robinson said.

But he is unhappy with a running game that is averaging only 3.3 yards per carry, a pass rush that has only 10 sacks and a team that hasn’t been able to finish off games it should win.

Reminiscent of 1989, the offense has been off-balance, dependent on its passing. In the end, that resulted in Everett’s two interceptions to close out the game against the Raiders.

Uncertain of their ability to run, the Rams kept throwing even after taking a 17-10 lead.

“I am worried about the running game,” Robinson said. “I think we recognize that the power-type things that we’ve talked about have had to be shelved some. We would like to get that back.

“Being able to pass for 300 one week and able to come back the next week and rush for 160, that’s what I think the championship teams are doing.”

One way the Rams might try to get the power back in their running attack is to get Bern Brostek time at Love’s right guard spot. After suffering an ankle injury, Brostek was replaced at left guard by Tom Newberry. But Brostek is a run blocker who experienced some problems pass blocking early in the season.

In addition, after a quick start, the Rams’ defense has been showing the signs of wear expected with an undermanned squad that lacks the ability to put pressure on the quarterback without blitzing and exposing the secondary to big-play possibilities.

The Rams had two chances at the end to stop the Raiders but failed both times.

Heading into Sunday’s divisional matchup against the 3-4 Atlanta Falcons and their wide-open offense, this is not encouraging.

But these things, Robinson insists, are not fatal flaws. They can be corrected with work, as Everett’s slump was, as the erratic pass blocking was.

“(It was) a difficult loss, but I think we have to look in terms of the remaining nine games,” Robinson said. “Figure if we can win five or six of those games, then we certainly are competitive.”