PRO FOOTBALL / DAILY REPORT : RAMS : Dome Now Disadvantage for Knox

The Rams through the years have had trouble in the Superdome, trying to hear the snap count when their offense is lined up against the New Orleans Saints’ defense. Coach Chuck Knox said he knows the problem well.

“We had that advantage when we were in Seattle,” said Knox, who coached the Seahawks in the Kingdome for nine seasons before moving to the Rams. “Teams coming in there had to contend with it the same way. We opened down there last year against the Saints. So it’s not like we haven’t been down there before.”

Last year, the Saints barely beat Knox’s Seahawks, 27-24, and Seattle surrendered only two sacks, a far cry from the five New Orleans registered against a tentative Ram offensive line last year in the dome.

“It’s a big factor if you’re in a shotgun formation,” Knox said. “The offensive tackles have a tremendous problem hearing.

“There’s several things you can do. You can have the quarterback up under center all of the time. That takes some things away from your offense. You can go with a no-count, silent count, signal, a rhythmic count. All of those things have been tried.”

As expected, the Rams put running back Robert Delpino on the injured-reserve list because of a strained left knee and activated rookie fullback Tim Lester from the practice squad to take his place. Delpino is expected to miss the minimum four weeks. And because the Rams’ bye date falls on Oct. 25, Delpino may miss only three games.