Rams, Cardinals Taking a Similar Path This Season : Pro football: Both teams have been playing well but losing. Everett, Chandler have shown improvement.
The Rams and Phoenix Cardinals, teams that have been busy this season earning respect but losing football games, will play today at Anaheim Stadium with not much more at stake than deciding which one can claim another step toward respectability.
Phoenix is 2-6, but “very easily could be 6-2 at this point,” Ram Coach Chuck Knox says, presumably using a formula for evaluation that erases the Cardinals’ convincing losses to Tampa Bay, Philadelphia and the New York Giants.
The Cardinals did lose narrowly to the Eagles the second time around, coming within one seven-play goal-line stand by the Eagles of winning in Philadelphia two weeks ago. And Phoenix lost by only 10 points to both division leaders New Orleans and Dallas.
The Rams are 3-5, but Phoenix Coach Joe Bugel says, “I think they’re heading in the right direction. They’re kind of like us--they want respect, they want credibility, and they’re playing hard.”
The Rams are undefeated at home, but winless on the road despite three consecutive strong but failed performances at San Francisco, New Orleans and, last week, Atlanta. The Rams lost those games by a total of eight points and have gained a sense of impending success by their competitiveness.
“I think you’re looking at a team that’s competing every game,” said quarterback Jim Everett, who has seen his quarterback rating rise 19.1 points in two weeks. In those two games, Everett has thrown six touchdown passes and no interceptions, increasing his season totals to 11 touchdowns and nine interceptions.
“Last year, (sportswriters were carping) at us for getting blown out,” Everett said. “Now (it’s because the games are) too close. I know we want to win them and answer all these questions.”
Phoenix is coming off of a 24-14 upset of the San Francisco 49ers that might have answered a lot of questions about Cardinal quarterback Chris Chandler and the up-and-down Phoenix defense.
Chandler, who has suddenly come into his own this season and is currently the NFC’s fourth-rated quarterback, threw for three touchdowns, running back Johnny Johnson emerged from limbo to gain 102 yards, and the struggling defense forced four turnovers and had three sacks. “When you play well against a team like that and you beat them, it does nothing but help out your confidence,” Chandler said. “I think we can look at that and say, ‘Well, geez, these guys went to the Super Bowl (after the 1989 season) and we beat them.’ ”
The Cardinals’ other victory this season was almost equally stunning, 27-24 over the Super Bowl champion Washington Redskins on Oct. 4.
“I think we’re a lot better than we were in the first two years I was here,” Bugel said. “We’re in a division where everybody is really improved, and we’re trying to close the gap.
“I’m satisfied with one thing: We’re a very battle-tested football team. We’ve played the best and gone jaw to jaw with them. We’ve been ahead of most of them.
“What we’re trying to learn right now is to finish games, to play at a high level for all four quarters. We have to play near-perfect, and sometimes that’s difficult.”
For the Rams, who continue to trail the rest of the league in rushing defense, the re-emergence of Johnson could be especially nettlesome.
In his rookie season two years ago, Johnson rushed for 926 yards and caught 25 passes for 241 more. But since then, because of injuries and a lack of playing time, Johnson hadn’t had a 100-yard rushing day until last week.
“He’s totally healthy right now and he added a spark,” Bugel said. “We’re kind of a big-back type of offense, and we have the big backs and the medium backs. And what Johnny gives us is a very good power-running game, which we feel we have to have in our division. He played an excellent football game.”
Phoenix uses a Redskin-style one-back attack, and, although several Phoenix offensive linemen are banged up and might not play today, a combination of Chandler’s efficient passing to the Cardinals’ deep receiving corps and Johnson’s running could be very productive.
But the Cardinals also lost by 16 points to Tampa Bay on opening day, yielded 260 yards rushing to the Giants on Oct. 11 during a 31-21 loss, and are surrendering more yards per play, 6.1, than any other team in the league.
“I don’t know whether we’re the underdog or not the underdog,” Knox said. “I know they’re a good football team. They’ve beaten some good football teams.”
Ram Notes
The last time these teams met was Sept. 1 of last year at Anaheim Stadium, the regular-season opener, during which the Rams committed seven turnovers and lost, 24-14. The Rams opened the game by driving deep into Phoenix territory, then set the stage for the rest of the season when Eric Hill picked up a center-snap fumble and returned it 85 yards for a touchdown. . . . Phoenix’s defensive coordinator is Fritz Shurmur, who coached the Ram defense for eight seasons under John Robinson.