Seeking the Road to Playoffs : Rams: The team seems relaxed after a victory following two near-misses.
Chuck Knox strolled around wearing a crooked grin and a soft brown sweater, which together made him look like Bing Crosby in a devilish mood.
His players cavorted on the practice field like fraternity brothers, only louder.
Monday was a festive day at Rams Park, a dreary place for most of two years, but now the home of this suddenly competitive 3-4 football team.
One day after their 38-17 victory over the New York Giants and--because of the NFC West bye weekend--with 13 days until their next game, the Rams seemed relaxed, refreshed and redeemed.
“I want to win more games,” cornerback Darryl Henley said. “I want to get to the playoffs.”
For a team that lost 24 games in its previous two seasons, this all is heady stuff: a 3-0 record at home; four consecutive solid performances sullied only by three-point losses to two tough divisional rivals; steady, successful play from quarterback Jim Everett and tailback Cleveland Gary; ad continued development by rookie defensive tackles Sean Gilbert and Marc Boutte.
Of course, the Rams were also 3-4 at this point last season and heading into what turned out to be a disastrous trip to Atlanta, which began the slide that took them to 3-13.
But Knox suggested that the team’s growth since the opening week blowout in Buffalo shows that the team is not headed for a fast fall.
Everett, after struggling early in the season, has played as well as he did during his standout year of 1989, and, Knox says, that is partly because of the blocking the remixed offensive line is giving him and the crucial yards Gary is gaining.
Everett, who completed 18 of 21 passes Sunday, has climbed to a 74.5 quarterback rating. He was below 50 a month ago.
Gary, meanwhile, is the NFC’s third-leading rusher after gaining a career-high 126 yards. His 519 yards rushing leave him behind only Emmitt Smith and Rickey Watters in the NFC and he is ahead of such notables as Rodney Hampton, Barry Sanders and Neal Anderson.
Everett and Gary have triggered an offensive renaissance. The Rams are averaging 24 points a game since Oct. 4.
“The same people who have been killed in the paper, they’re the guys that are taking it all on, shaking off the punches, and they’re playing well,” Henley said. “Cleveland, Jim, Bill Hawkins, Larry Kelm. . . . Our front seven, they played well (Sunday).”
The defense is still last in the league against the rush at 5.2 yards per carry, but has forced 17 turnovers--third most in the league--and that’s while living with some of the mistakes of Gilbert and Boutte and second-year defenders Roman Phifer and Robert Bailey.
“You know you’re going to have problems along the way because of the youth,” Henley said. “But what you hope for is for people to come along fast. And the faster they come along, the more of a chance you have of being in a game and winning it.”
In the three home games, the Ram defense has given up a combined 27 points and forced 11 turnovers.
“Those things are just vital to us in order to have the kind of base--solid base--we need to build on here,” Knox said.
Last week, Knox showed some concern over the team’s consecutive losses to the San Francisco 49ers and New Orleans Saints, conceding that the young Rams might be getting frustrated by coming so close in defeat.
“I think it can give something to grow on,” Knox said of the victory. “Sometimes you’re out there, and you’ve lost two tough ballgames by three points, and you’re a play here, a play there from winning those games and you say, ‘Oh, here we go again.’ ”
The attention swings from getting over the hump to possibly getting into the playoff race.
After Atlanta (2-5), the Rams will play host to Phoenix, travel to Dallas, then play San Francisco and Minnesota at Anaheim.
“If we win these next couple of games, we’re in the hunt,” Henley said. “And we’ve played the Niners and the Saints, and we felt we could have won, and we know we can beat them here.”