After Near Misses, the Rams Get a Hit : Pro football: They beat the New York Giants, 38-17, their biggest margin of victory since 1990.
It was a game-long performance so thorough, even Sean Gilbert’s aptly titled “Earthquake” sack dance seemed understated in its debut.
It was a victory so thorough, supporting-act Rams such as David Lang and Pat Carter and Jeff Chadwick and virtually anybody else in uniform on this day had long moments in the spotlight.
It was so thorough, the once-great New York Giants (2-4) seemed like a mediocrity.
Call this a shock to the system; a seismic event not experienced by the Rams in years.
Emerging from successive heartbreaking losses on the road to tough division foes, the Rams (3-4 heading into this week’s NFC West bye) snapped back Sunday, dominating and frustrating the Giants, 38-17, before 53,591 at Anaheim Stadium.
The last time the Rams beat somebody by as much as three touchdowns was in Week 2 of 1990, a 21-point victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“It’s nice to really put it to a team,” Chadwick said.
For the Rams, the easy victory was especially sweet after their three-point losses to the San Francisco 49ers and New Orleans Saints, on the road, the past two weeks.
“That was a real special win for us today because we’ve been so close the last two weeks,” Coach Chuck Knox said. “This is a young football team, and we’re getting better.
“It’s tough to say that sometimes, when you’re losing on the road by three points at two different places.
“But we’re making progress. We’re not there yet, but I like their attitude. I like what they bring to the stadium on Sunday. They’re going to lay it all out there, empty the tank, and they did that today.”
Knox didn’t announce who got game balls, perhaps because the Ram locker room, for a change, was overflowing with choices.
There was quarterback Jim Everett, who completed a personal-best 85.7% of his passes and led the offense to 356 yards. There was tailback Cleveland Gary, who bounced back from a lost first-half fumble to reach personal bests in carries (31) and rushing yards (126).
There was exuberant No. 1 pick Gilbert, who did his improvised fist-pumping, hip-swerving dance after the first sack of his career, in the fourth quarter; and the rest of a youthful Ram defense that held the Giants to 10 points before a score in the last minutes.
And there was Lang, a backup fullback who finished the scoring with a one-yard run and caught two passes for 38 yards; Chadwick, who came back early from a back injury to catch a touchdown pass and a key third-down pass on the Rams’ first drive; and Carter, who chipped in with his own touchdown reception.
Starting wide receivers Henry Ellard and Flipper Anderson combined for one catch for 31 yards, and that came at the end of the game. But when your backups start romping on the Giants, the Rams suggested, victory is not difficult.
“It’s about time that everything has come together,” Chadwick said, “because we’ve been sporadic this year. We knew that we were due for a game like this.
“It turned out, probably the first time in all this year that we took the first drive, went down and scored. And we took our second drive and scored. . . .
“We got on a roll. We played with confidence, and when you play with confidence, you can make things happen.”
Going into this game, the Rams had been outscored in the first quarter, 48-0.
Sunday, they stopped the Giants on their first possession when Matt Bahr missed a 51-yard field-goal attempt. The Rams then scored on four of their first five possessions on drives of 67, 82, 38 and 81 yards.
They did it with Everett looking as comfortable as he ever has in the pocket, completing passes to seven receivers. They did it by slowing Giant tailback Rodney Hampton, who chopped through them early but ended up with only 38 yards in 11 carries after a personal-best 167-yard outing last week against Phoenix.
They did it by turning two errant passes by Jeff Hostetler into interceptions. They have interceptions in each of their seven games.
“The Rams just beat the heck out of us,” Giant Coach Ray Handley said.
After the Giants’ early missed field goal, Everett completed five of six passes and Gary rushed five times into the heart of the Giant defense, culminating in Gary’s third-down scoring run from one yard out.
The Giants answered with a touchdown, finishing a drive with Hampton’s 10-yard run to tie it, 7-7.
But the Ram offense got back into the Giant end zone on nine plays, finished by Everett’s nine-yard pass to Carter, for a 14-7 lead. It was the first time all season the Rams have scored touchdowns in consecutive possessions.
At halftime, after a Giant field goal in the closing minutes, the Rams held a 14-10 lead.
Five minutes later, after the Rams took the second-half kickoff and went 38 yards in eight plays, Tony Zendejas’ 46-yard field goal made it 17-10.
A Giant punt set up what might have been the best drive of the Rams’ season. Given the ball at their 19-yard line, Gary ran seven times for 32 yards and Everett was four of five, including a delicate 19-yard fade pass to a diving Chadwick on third and inches. That made it 24-10, and the rout was on.
The next volcanic moment came when the Rams were ahead, 31-10, after Anthony Newman’s interception set up another short Gary score. Gilbert shot through a gap untouched to pound Hostetler.
What followed was the “Earthquake,” as it was later called by defensive end Warren Powers.
Ram Notes
Ram strong safety Michael Stewart broke a bone in his left forearm and will be out for four to six weeks. . . . The Rams lost the coin-flip again Sunday, meaning they have started all 11 of their regular-season and exhibition games kicking off. The odds against this happening, according to the Rams, are 1,047-to-1.