For Rams, It’s Return of a Long Line : Pro football: For years, the offensive line was the heart of the team. Then came 1991. Now they are putting it together again.

Before last season, you could trace the Rams’ recent history by their usually fine offensive line. It continued unbroken from Tom Mack to Rich Saul to Dennis Harrah to Jackie Slater . . .

Other facets of the team went up and down, other stars emerged and flamed out, but the Rams’ offensive line was the consistent, workaday heart of the team, the dependable definition of what was best about the franchise.

Mack made the Pro Bowl nine times as a guard. Saul six times at center. Harrah six times as a guard. Slater, to date, has made seven trips to Hawaii as the league’s most enduring right tackle.

For 24 years, the Rams sent at least one offensive lineman to the Pro Bowl, from Mack’s first trip in 1967 to Slater’s most recent in 1990, and for most of 24 years, the Rams were able to play games knowing their running backs would have places to run and their quarterbacks would be safe from serious harm.

Then last season, with their running game slowed to a crawl, their passing game torn apart by the heat defenses were putting on quarterback Jim Everett and the offensive line a mess, the Pro Bowl streak ended.

Their front line devastated by injury, position switches and uninspired play, the Rams’ limping offense was largely responsible for the team’s 3-13 record, and for a change, the offensive line got a big share of the blame.

“For years and years, we were one of the dominant units on our football team,” Slater said. “Certainly one of the dominant ones in the National Football League.

“We produced 1,000-yard rushers, just spit them out. And all of a sudden we weren’t able to run the football, we weren’t able to pass-block as well as we’d like, and it was very frustrating because we had a lot of guys who were used to being successful.”

Heading into this season, Chuck Knox’s first as coach, it looked as if the line would have to undergo a major, prolonged restructuring to get it anywhere close to where it had been.

Last year, because of injuries and other problems, the Rams didn’t have a lineman who started all 16 games at the same position.

Slater turned 38 this year, left tackle Gerald Perry was coming off a roller-coaster first season protecting Everett’s blind side, Bern Brostek was starting his third season but still hadn’t played a full year at any spot, Tom Newberry was a Pro Bowl guard who had been moved to center who was moving back to guard, and right guard Joe Milinichik missed most of 1991 with a serious shoulder injury.

Not exactly a prescription for dominance. But under new line coach Jim Erkenbeck, with Brostek, Newberry and Milinichik solidifying the once-shaky middle, the Rams’ offensive line isn’t the weak link any longer.

Everett, looking poised and confident, a change from last season, has completed 75% of his passes in the last three games. And tailback Cleveland Gary is on pace--519 yards in seven games--to become the Rams’ first 1,000-yard rusher since Greg Bell in 1989.

“Those are the rewards we get, because, you know, at this position, there’s not a whole lot of recognition unless you’re doing something negative,” Perry said.

“But that’s a great sense of pride to have your running back carry the ball for over 100 yards, Jim to throw 18 out of 21. Those are accomplishments for us.”

Said Erkenbeck: “I’d say, right now, the way we’re performing, we’re an above-average offensive line with the opportunity to be a real good offensive line.”

Erkenbeck says the biggest and easiest change he and Knox, an old offensive line coach, had to make was ending the failed Newberry-to-center experiment and locking him back in place at left guard. That freed Brostek, who struggled at left guard last year, to move back to center, his college position.

“There was not even a question in my mind or Coach’s mind (about the move),” Erkenbeck said. “We had to make it right. And that’s what we thought was right.”

With Newberry and Brostek comfortable and knocking out holes in the middle, and Perry and Slater--after some early-season troubles for both--keeping outside rushers out of Everett’s hair, the Ram offense has snapped to life.

The other key, according to Erkenbeck and his linemen, has been the injury factor. By this time last year, the Rams had lost Slater for three games, Milinichik for the rest of the season and were about to lose Perry for the final leg of the season with knee troubles.

This year, with a practice routine designed to keep the players crisp and off the injured-reserve list, the offensive line has escaped last year’s perpetual chaos.

“Knock on wood, none of our starters have missed any game time at all,” Erkenbeck said. “I think the way that we’ve practiced affords for continuity as well as stability as well as keeping them healthy. I think that’s really important.”

Perry, who has had frequent knee operations the last few years, and Brostek, who had nagging injuries last year, both seem to be thriving in the new atmosphere.

“I think it’ll remain a tradition. It always has been, and I don’t see any reason why it’ll change,” Slater said. “The Rams’ offensive line will always be one of its strengths.”