PRO FOOTBALL ’92 : Knox Knows There’s No Easy Answer : Rams: He specializes in quick turnarounds, but rebounding from a 3-13 season might be his toughest challenge.

No stranger to bad football teams, Chuck Knox has looked hard at his new Ram team, peered into the future that awaits it and decided that this reclamation project might be his most difficult.

Twice before, in different decades, Knox has been a fast worker, turning losers into playoff participants in one season.

He did it nine years ago, transforming a 5-9 Seattle Seahawk team to a 9-7 AFC wild-card team.

And in 1973, as a rookie NFL head coach, Knox took a different Ram team from mediocrity to a division title in one season.

Now 60 and inheritor of a team that has gone through one of the worst two-year periods in the franchise’s 65-year history, Knox does not even try to argue that a quick improvement is a possibility.

The Rams, 3-13 last season, have major questions involving their running game, quarterback Jim Everett and the role of their passing game, their offensive line, defensive line and linebackers.

“I think overall, the team that I took over 19 years ago here was a more talented team,” Knox said. “They had a losing season the year before we got here, but they had won six games that year with a 14-game season.

“This team only won three games last year and five the year before. Obviously, the talent level is not what it should be. It’s going to take some rebuilding.

“It’s not a magic-wand situation.”

Knox has gone back to basics, working step by step to revive a team that last season was undone by a rash of errors.

The Rams fumbled six center-snap exchanges, threw 20 interceptions, gave up crucial fourth-quarter sacks and back-breaking second-half touchdown bombs.

For Knox, the first step is to cut down on the mistakes. Sticking to that idea in the exhibition season, the Rams turned the ball over seven times and took the ball away nine times in four games, the key to their 3-1 record. Last year, the Rams gave the ball away 40 times and forced only 19 turnovers.

“I feel for us to go in and be competitive, we’re going to have to minimize our errors and our mistakes, because we’re not a good enough football team that we can go out there and make a lot of errors and expect to win,” Knox said.

“If you’re a great football team with great personnel, you can make mistakes and still find a way to win. We don’t have that kind of talent.”

Said offensive tackle Jackie Slater, who has seen the team rise and fall and rise and fall over 17 NFL seasons: “As we execute the little things, then the big picture starts to fall in place.

“And we’ve realized that in the preseason games. If we can just continue to do that and not feel like we’re some world-beaters, that we’ve got this great team all of a sudden . . . I think we’ll be all right.”

And though no Ram says it on the record, many concede that “all right” probably means a .500 season.

Here is a rundown of the team, which opens the regular season Sunday, at Buffalo, against the back-to-back Super Bowl runner-up Bills.

OFFENSE: Suddenly, the Rams are a passing team again, which is how they have gotten into trouble in the past.

Last year’s offense tried but could not run the ball, averaging 3.3 yards per carry and giving Everett far too many third and longs to face.

Knox had planned to run the ball often to take the pressure off Everett but subsequently bowed to the inevitable: The Rams don’t have the power running backs or blockers to be a running team.

So they enter this season planning on using a pass-oriented one-back attack, featuring the running and catching of Cleveland Gary, who two years ago scored 15 touchdowns but fumbled 12 times; and Robert Delpino, who accounted for a combined 1,305 yards from scrimmage and 10 touchdowns but averaged only 3.2 yards per carry.

Although the Rams will play some two-back sets, it’s unlikely either back will carry the ball enough to gain 1,000 yards, and Everett has suffered mightily when he doesn’t have a strong runner carrying the offense along with him.

But the Rams had no other choice, except perhaps to keep Marcus Dupree and let him try to pound it out on his own.

Knox is counting on a comeback season from Everett, and if that happens, receivers Flipper Anderson and Henry Ellard could be ready to recover from last season’s less-than-scintillating performances.

The long-range development of the offense could hinge on how Knox, a former line coach, and current line coach Jim Erkenbeck refashion an aging line that lacked physical snap in ’91.

DEFENSE: This is where the talent is threadbare and where Knox has focused the most attention.

The Rams are staying in the four-man front they played last season, but beyond that, everything has changed.

Last year, in an aggressive, attacking system that lacked aggressive, attacking players, the Rams managed only 17 sacks, last in the league, and surrendered 3,657 passing yards.

The defensive line was more often than not populated by undersized players the Rams plucked from the waiver wire.

This year, the blitzing scheme has been replaced by a more basic zone-coverage system that relies on the intelligence of its players and a big pass rush out of the front four.

The centerpiece is No. 1 draft choice Sean Gilbert, a wide-load with quick feet. But beyond him, 300-pound third-round pick Marc Boutte could be a force at left tackle, and the team is counting on 6-foot-6 second-year left defensive end Robert Young, who showed pass-rushing promise as a tackle last season but has been nursing a sore shoulder.

Behind the line, the Rams have some talent that hasn’t quite jelled. Back in a comfort zone at left linebacker, Kevin Greene has a chance to erase the memories of last season’s three-sack vanishing act as a defensive end.

There is plenty of talent in the secondary, led by last year’s No. 1 pick, left cornerback Todd Lyght, and last year’s best overall defensive back, right cornerback Darryl Henley, who had three interceptions in this exhibition season.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Knox has put special attention on the return game, drafting Steve Israel and Todd Kinchen, two talented return men, and bringing in Troy Stradford.

It will be hard to get any better production out of kicker Tony Zendejas, who set an NFL record by converting all 17 of his field-goal tries last season, including five from 40 yards or beyond.

Punter Don Bracken is a steady veteran who survived six frigid seasons kicking in Green Bay and probably can be counted on to provide a more consistent punting game than last year’s main man, Dale Hatcher, who statistically was the league’s worst and whose short punts often pushed the already shaky Ram defense into an immediate panic.

BACK TO WORK: William Perry of the Chicago Bears and Eric Allen of the Philadelphia Eagles end their holdouts and report to camp. Pro football report, C6.