Lang Now Hangs On as a Starter : Rams: 12th-round pick knows his time as No. 1 fullback probably will end soon. But he says he’s happy to fill in.

They came and they went, every one of them believing they could play for the Rams, and some more certain than ever when they first saw the competition.

David Lang is a 5-foot-11, 201-pound 12th-round pick. Since the beginning of the exhibition season, five backs have tried--and failed--to gain a spot in the Ram backfield, while Lang has held onto his locker at Rams Park.

At the moment, Lang is the Rams’ starting fullback, but his job security has been similar to a guy with no seniority at an aerospace plant.

Marcus Dupree gained almost three times as many yards as Lang in the preseason, but Dupree was waived. Rookie Joe Campbell, the Rams’ sixth-round pick this year, was cut Aug. 25. Derek Loville, who played for Coach Chuck Knox in Seattle and was signed during the Plan B period, and Ernie Thompson, who saw some action as a rookie last year, were released Aug. 31.

The Rams weren’t through shopping for backs, though. Two days later, they claimed Troy Stradford from Kansas City off waivers. Stradford was gone in three weeks, but by then Anthony Thompson had been picked up after he was released by Phoenix.

Lang, meanwhile, who has hung on mainly because of his versatility as a pass catcher and special-teams player, was practicing hard and trying to stay in his lanes on punt and kickoff coverages. Then Robert Delpino injured his knee against San Francisco, and Lang became the starting fullback.

“He’s certainly been playing well for us,” Knox said. “He’s done a good job in what we’ve asked him to do.”

Lang had three carries for five yards and a touchdown and two catches for 38 yards during his first two starts, but the Rams got more than they were asking of him Sunday in Atlanta. Cleveland Gary was doing fine running the ball--130 yards in the first half--so Lang had only one carry. But he caught two short passes and turned one into a vapor-trailed 67-yard touchdown.

Lang, with Falcon linebacker Jesse Solomon just a yard or so behind, was able to put a move on another would-be tackler without letting Solomon make the tackle.

“Through the whole game, we were running belly plays and I was blocking,” Lang said. “On that play, I went in there and faked like I was going to block and then went out for a pass.

“After I caught it, I felt somebody behind me, so I just tried to find a second gear and I was able to score.”

He came close to enjoying a two-touchdown third quarter. About four minutes after he scored, Lang took a screen pass 17 yards before he was pushed out of bounds at the Atlanta 10-yard line.

“It was a fake pitch and they weren’t looking for me to come from the far side, so it worked like it was supposed to,” he said. “If Jim (Everett) would have thrown it to me a little quicker, I might have scored on that one, too.”

Lang laughed, but those two plays may have gone a long way to securing his future role. Delpino will begin running in practice today and Lang says he believes Delpino will be ready to play Sunday against Phoenix. The Rams might be opting for a more cautious approach, partly because of Lang’s recent performance.

“Lang has excellent running ability and good speed,” Knox said. “You saw him take that pass. You saw him take that screen. He’s got talent and he is a tough, tough guy.

“It’s just a question of maturing. He’s in his second year and he played very little last year. And we’re playing him at a fullback position, when in reality he should probably be a tailback.”

Lang, who worked mostly at tailback during training camp, says he is beginning to feel comfortable at fullback, but doesn’t plan on getting too comfortable.

“I’m starting to get the game plan down, but it’s still Bobby’s position,” he said. “I’m just trying to do the job to the best of my ability until Bobby comes back. I’ll do whatever I can to help the team until he comes back.”

And after Delpino does come back?

“I don’t know what that means, how they’re going to do it, but whatever happens, I’ll do it,” Lang said. “I guess I’ll be back concentrating on special teams.”

Maybe he’ll have to guess again. As far as a decision on Delpino goes, Knox is in a wait-and-see mode.

“He’s going to start trying to do some running,” Knox said. “He’s not ready right now, but he could be ready.”

In any case, Lang insists he won’t be disappointed. He may not have been given the ball that often during his brief tenure as a starter, but he feels as if he’s made the most of his opportunities.

“I got in there and got a chance to show them that I can work with the team and do my part,” he said. “I’m second string, but I look at it like I got a shot to show them what I can do, and now whatever happens, happens for the best. Now we’ll just wait and see. But I think I did pretty good.”

Lang assesses his team’s overall performance with the same words--”pretty good”--and thinks the Rams must concentrate on their progress and forget the litany of close defeats.

“I’d rather have gotten beat like we did at Buffalo (40-7) than to have worked this hard and then not been able to pull it off,” he said moments after Sunday’s loss in Atlanta. “This hurts, but we’re all strong men and we can bounce back. It’s over. It’s behind us. We’re finished with it and we’ll get ready for the next one.”

The next one is Sunday against the Phoenix Cardinals at Anaheim Stadium. Don’t be surprised if the starting fullback is David Lang. Explosive speed is an attribute football coaches seldom ignore.