RAM NOTEBOOK : Robinson Says This 3-6 Team Is Going Uphill Not Down
Three and six is 3-6. Or is it?
After nine games in 1990 the Rams were 3-6, and they’ve staggered to the same record this year. But is it different?
Some Rams think so.
“We could easily be 6-3,” safety Anthony Newman said. “But it’s a sad case, and we’re 3-6 again.”
In 1990, three of the Rams’ first six defeats were 38-9, 41-10 and 31-7. They also trailed Green Bay, 33-17, in the fourth quarter before closing to 36-24. And they were behind, 27-14, in the fourth quarter before losing to Philadelphia, 27-21.
The only close one was a 34-31 overtime loss to Cincinnati.
This year, they’ve taken a different route only to end up in the same place.
“The trouble with us right now is we tease you, but we just don’t get the job done,” Coach John Robinson said.
The Rams have also gift-wrapped victories and handed them out to Phoenix and the Raiders. And they certainly didn’t avail themselves of several opportunities to upset the Saints Sunday.
The Rams dropped the football five times and dropped the opener to Phoenix, but had almost twice as much total yardage (375-193) and twice as many first downs (25-13) as the Cardinals. They also averaged 6 1/2 yards per offensive play, but turned the ball over seven times and lost, 24-14.
The loss to the Raiders was even tougher to take. Ronnie Lott intercepted what would have been a victory-sealing touchdown pass by Jim Everett, and even then it took a pass deflected by the back of Howie Long’s helmet into Lott’s arms to set up the Raiders’ game-winning field goal.
Sunday, Robert Delpino took an Everett swing pass 78 yards down the sideline but was caught from behind at the five by a player he never saw. The Rams ended up with a field goal. Later, Pat Swilling sacked Everett and forced a fumble that ended a Ram drive that had reached the Saint six.
“We’ve let three games get away from us,” Robinson said. “Games where we walked off the field and said, ‘We blew it.’ ”
It all adds up to 3-6, but Robinson doesn’t have the same sinking feeling he experienced last year at this time.
“The difference between this year and last year is a belief,” he said. “I believe we’re at the beginning of the return of this team. Last year, we were just sliding down the toilet.
“It’s been a fast downhill ride for us (since going 11-5 in 1989), but after last year, we said we better not pretend that we’re still that (‘89) team and we’d better start over. Maybe I’m rationalizing, but this club is starting back up the hill, if you will.
“I don’t associate this team with last year’s. We’re starting again with young people and frankly, with the way we went about the decisions we made and the way our team has worked at it, I expected our team to be better right now . . . or have a better record, anyway.”
Maybe the kind of 3-6 record one has doesn’t matter in the standings, but it can make a difference to opposing players who might otherwise take you lightly, and even some fans and--Robinson hopes--certain owners.
Winning Time: Robinson points out that even Magic Johnson, whom he calls the ultimate mental competitor, had to learn how to win. The Rams, however, might be on the verge of getting so frustrated that they fail to pay attention to the lessons.
“Good players leave the bad things behind and keep going forward,” Newman said. “It’s one of those things that if you think about it too much, it’ll hurt you the next week.”
But it isn’t always that simple, is it?
“I think our composure is still intact,” safety Pat Terrell said, “but frustration is setting in. We just have to start doing the little things to win. Sometimes, when you let the little things slip away, it gets pretty frustrating.
“We’ve got lots of talent, we just have to start getting the ball to bounce the right way.”
Robinson believes it’s more a case of making the ball bounce the right way.
“We need to build the ability to make plays in the key times,” he said. “In this league, you’re always one play away from one (winning) or the other (losing). But the winner goes on and forgets that.
“Those aren’t things that you’re born with, and this team needs to learn them. But we’ve got to hurry. You can only keep coming back after losing so many times. You can’t keep taking it on the chin and saying, ‘His arm’s going to get tired and then I’ll get him.’
“There’s only so many Rocky movies where that kind of stuff happens.”
A Passing Grade? Todd Lyght had four solo tackles and knocked down one pass in his debut as a starter against the Saints, but he gave himself a grade of C minus. The rookie cornerback was beaten on a key third-down play and got a penalty for unnecessary roughness when, much to Robinson’s dismay, he “slugged the punter.”
“He said he was defending himself,” Robinson said, laughing. “Against the punter? But I thought he had a good start on his career.”
Lyght credited his teammates with making him feel at home in the starting secondary.
“I didn’t have any butterflies at all,” he said. “I felt real comfortable. All the other players had a lot of confidence in me and they just told me to relax. They said it’s the same game, just a different level.”
The former Notre Dame standout isn’t used to losing and Sunday’s defeat cut deep.
“That loss was a lot tougher for me than any of the others because I started and I could have contributed so much more,” Lyght said. “I didn’t play as well as I had hoped.”