RAM NOTES : Long Game Gone, So Everett Returns to Tried and True

Jim Everett had a couple of near misses Sunday when going for the long ball to Flipper Anderson, but when it came to key situations, the Ram quarterback looked for his favorite target over the years, Henry Ellard.

Ellard had five catches for 89 yards and all were good for first downs. He probably would have had six receptions and a touchdown, but Saint cornerback Toi Cook was called for pass interference at the Saints’ nine-yard line on one play.

Ellard’s catches went for 15, 22, 18, 14 and 20 yards. The 18-yarder, which came on a third-and-six situation, was the 500th catch of his career.

“I’m sure it’s something I’ll appreciate once I retire, but right now it’s just a number,” Ellard said. “The Saints did a lot of things coverage-wise to take the deep ball away from us.

“Tonight, we just caught them in the right coverages when I got the ball. It was just a matter of the play being called in the huddle and Jim throwing the ball to me.”

It’s never really that simple, though. When Ellard and Everett are working in unison, the game films could be used for a clinic in the finesse passing game, an offense built around intricate timing between quarterback and receiver.

On most of his catches Sunday night, the ball was already in flight long before Ellard turned and came back to the spot where the ball was headed.

Many unhappy returns: The Saints return game was running at high speed, setting up the offense with good field position a number of times, including late in the fourth quarter when New Orleans only had to move the ball 24 yards to get the game-winning field goal.

The Saints had one punt return for 34 yards and another of 38 yards which was called back because of a penalty. They had three kickoff returns for 90 yards.

Morten Andersen’s 30-yard field goal that gave the Saints’ the 13-10 victory came after Marcus Dowdell, a rookie receiver from Tennessee State who was activated off the practice squad last week after Louis Lipps was injured, took a Don Bracken punt and sprinted 34 yards to the Rams’ 37-yard line.

“I was a little worried about him,” Saint Coach Jim Mora said. “Here’s a guy in his first NFL game, on national television in a big game in front of a lot of people, but I think he did an exceptional job.

“He made good decisions when he decided to make a fair catch and he held onto the ball the one time he got clobbered right away. He seemed very poised and very confident.”

The Saints’ kick returners--Fred McAfee and Dalton Hilliard--also had big nights.

McAfee’s 38-yard return late in the second quarter helped set up another Anderson field goal, a 26-yarder that gave the Saints a 10-3 lead. And, after the Rams tied the score, 10-10, Hilliard returned the ensuing kickoff 48 yards to put New Orleans back in control in the battle of field position.

In a hole: The Saints drove 84 yards for a touchdown on their first possession, marking the fifth time in six games that the Rams have allowed an opponent to score on its first or second possession.

Buffalo scored a touchdown on its second possession, the New York Jets settled for a field goal on their first, Miami scored a touchdown on its first and the 49ers scored a touchdown on their second.

The only team the Rams stopped in the early going was New England, a 14-0 loser Sept. 13 at Anaheim Stadium.

The Rams have now been outscored, 48-0, in the first quarter.

Not dead yet: Everett, who has been noticeably feisty in his postgame locker room appearances this season, Sunday night let it be known that he did not appreciate in the least Cook’s suggestion that the Rams might be a team ready to roll over.

In Sunday’s Times-Picayune, Cook was quoted as saying the Rams, coming off two horrendous seasons, could be prone to quitting if the Saints got an early lead.

“Toi Cook doesn’t know crap about this team, doesn’t know crap about where we’re going,” Everett said when asked about Cook’s comments. “He plays for a darn good football team. But there’s another good football team right here, which is us.”

Everett also explained why he pumped his arms in the air in celebration as he was running out of bounds after converting a crucial third-and-seven situation with a 10-yard scramble to the Saint 22-yard line.

“Just trying to convert a third down,” Everett said. “That’s a good football team we played. I was pumped up about that. You’ve got to be able to convert those to score.”

The Rams did end up scoring on that drive, a 30-yard field goal by Tony Zendejas to bring the score to 7-3 Saints in the second quarter.

Keying on Flipper: Everett tried a handful of times to connect deep with Anderson, missing each time except for one 44-yard strike, the longest Rams pass play of the season.

It was Anderson’s only catch of the night, a departure from his record-setting 15-catch, 336-yard night three seasons ago against New Orleans in the Superdome.

“I’m sure they’re as conscious of Flipper Anderson as we are of Pat Swilling,” Everett said. “You have to make a certain number of plays against a team like this. We just didn’t get those done.

“You have to play a darn good game to beat these guys, especially when they have such a ball-control offense. When you have your shots, you’ve got to make them.”

Jim Everett was 11 of 20 on the night for 165 yards and threw one interception. . . . The only Ram listed as injured after the game was free safety Pat Terrell with a hip pointer. . . . The Rams lost the game-opening coin-toss for the sixth consecutive time Sunday night. They have kicked off in each of their six games this season.

Times staff writer Tim Kawakami contributed to this story.