NOTES : Greene Left in Lurch by Swilling’s Numbers
It did not escape defensive end/linebacker Kevin Greene’s notice that the three sacks Sunday by Saint linebacker Pat Swilling give Swilling a league-leading 11 1/2 sacks on the season.
That’s half a sack more than the entire Rams’ defense has through Sunday’s game and 10 more than Greene’s total of one for the season.
“Yeah, I remember the days when I used to compete with him,” Greene said.
From 1988-90, Greene led the NFL with 46 sacks. During the same time, Swilling collected 34 1/2.
Greene has found the quarterback-trapping slim pickings since the Rams switched from Fritz Shurmur’s 3-4 alignment to Jeff Fisher’s 4-3 front this season.
Greene, who used to be solely a blitzing linebacker, has seen time at defensive end and linebacker this season. Sunday, he was mostly a linebacker, which meant he had to drop back into coverage about half the time.
He did deflect a pass, and had six solo tackles and two assists.
Receiver Flipper Anderson surprised even himself Sunday by playing as well and as often as he did after missing the past four games because of broken vertebrae in his lower back.
Anderson did not play much in the first half of Sunday’s game, but he was the Rams’ big weapon in the second, catching four passes for 91 yards and a touchdown. He even played thief, stealing away a sure Vince Buck interception simply by reaching in and taking the ball and turning it into a 41-yard gain.
“That’s exactly what it was,” Anderson said when someone told him it looked like an interception plus a take-away. “I just took it away.”
It was ruled a 41-yard reception, his first catch of the day and only his fifth of the season.
“I didn’t expect to play that much,” Anderson said, “especially after I didn’t play hardly at all in the first half. But I took some shots I didn’t think I would be able to take, and it felt pretty good.”
Anderson, who set the NFL record for reception yards two years ago when he had 336 against the Saints, caught three consecutive passes, for 18, 17 and a scoring reception for 15 yards, during the Rams’ last touchdown drive.
“My presence, I think, puts a little stretch on the defense,” Anderson said.
Where’s the Stanford Band? Michael Stewart picked off a Steve Walsh pass with more than 3 1/2 minutes left in the first half, but the ensuing multiple-lateral play looked more like one of those last-gasp squirrel derby plays.
Stewart tossed the ball to Todd Lyght just before being tackled and then Lyght, looking very much like an option quarterback, pushed a lateral back in the direction of Pat Terrell. Terrell lost the ball but finally recovered.
The entire play netted seven yards.
“Mike got tackled and he pitched it to me and I started running with the ball,” Lyght said. “There was an offensive lineman on the ground and I didn’t see him and he got ahold of my leg and I couldn’t get any further, so I gave it up to Pat, but Pat wasn’t ready for it. We still got seven (points) out of it, though.”
Why risk losing the ball after intercepting a pass on the opponents’ 38-yard line?
“We try to go out on defense and put it in the end zone ourselves,” Stewart said. “We’ve got to try and make something happen.”
California Dreamin’: Saint Coach Jim Mora must have caught a little too much sun this weekend. Here’s how he started his postgame press conference Sunday:
“I knew coming in it would be a battle, it was a critical game for San Francisco to stay in the race . . . what did I say? San Francisco? Geez, I’m already looking ahead to next week’s game (against the 49ers). It was a critical game for the Rams.”
Saints by the Numbers: New Orleans is off to an 8-1 start for the first time in the team’s 25-year history. . . . Eric Martin, who had four catches for 75 yards, has now caught at least one pass in 66 consecutive games. . . . Craig (Ironhead) Heyward’s 22-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter was his first career TD reception and only his third catch of the season.
Banner Day: There was no shortage of Saints fans in Anaheim Stadium Sunday, and they showed their support with several clever banners. One read, “Sweep the Sheep,” and another read, “Geaux Saints.” Ram fans, showing their appreciation for wit, tore them down by halftime.
Injury Report: The Rams reported only two injuries. Ron Brown and David Lang bruised their feet. Left guard Tom Newberry was a question heading into the game with a sore right ankle, but he played the entire game.
The Rams deactivated tailback Cleveland Gary (sore knee) and linebacker Brett Faryniarz.
Times staff writers John Weyler and Mike DiGiovanna contributed to this story.