Loss Isn’t a Step Backward, Knox Says : Rams: Coach cites impressive performances by Gilbert, Boutte and Lang as a sign of good things to come.
How far have the Rams progressed under Chuck Knox in 1992?
This year, owner Georgia Frontiere, Knox and the players and coaches posed for the team photo and actually made it through the day without anybody getting discarded along the way.
This is more difficult than you might think.
The 1991 team photo was staged 15 minutes before John Robinson’s formal resignation, signaling the end of an era and freezing one final moment in time of the Rams’ team that used to be.
On Monday, a day after the San Francisco 49ers showed them once again the level of play that the Rams (4-7) haven’t yet mastered, Knox and his players posed for the shot and talked about being poised for future success as a team.
“I think we’ll just continue to work and get better,” Knox said when asked if he thought Sunday’s 27-10 loss was a step backward. “We’re a young football team, we have to learn how to deal with these kinds of games.”
Knox pointed out three young players--rookie defensive tackles Sean Gilbert and Marc Boutte and second-year running back David Lang--who had encouraging performances Sunday, performances that have long-range meaning as the team builds toward 1993 and beyond.
Gilbert, the team’s 22-year-old No. 1 pick from Pittsburgh and the defensive centerpiece, garnered his second and third sacks of the season and easily had his best game of the season Sunday.
Gilbert also had several other pressures of 49er quarterback Steve Young and was all over the field trying to chase down San Francisco ballcarriers.
Boutte also pressured Young at times and was active in the middle. And Lang, the starting fullback, stepped in for ailing tailback Cleveland Gary and rushed 11 times for 62 yards.
“Sean has been getting better every week . . . with experience,” Knox said Monday. “He didn’t play a lot of football at Pitt the time he was there. Boutte, they’re going to give us some young guys who can play in that middle for a long time.
“And David Lang, he’s got that burst. Saw him accelerate, make some things happen.”
Gilbert and Boutte are the bright, shining hopes of a defense that continues to be pounded on the ground. The Rams entered the game last in the league in run defense, and didn’t help themselves by surrendering 213 yards on the ground to San Francisco--163 by tailback Ricky Watters alone.
As those twin 300-pounders grow up, the Rams believe the run defense will grow up along with them.
“Everything will work out fine--just patience, you know?” Gilbert said Monday. “You can’t rush things. You have to let everything take its course, step by step. You can’t sit here and say I could’ve been where I am now back in the beginning of the season. Because what I know now, I didn’t know back then.
“There’s no way I can just turn into Superman.”
Gilbert said he was happier with his pass rushing Sunday than he had been over the past few weeks.
“My pass rush was decent until the off week (Oct. 25),” he said, “but it kind of slugged again when we came back off the open week. It was like I had to start over from there. But it feels like it’s coming back again.”
And though Gilbert’s sacks Sunday came against Young, a quarterback known for turning near-sacks into 39-yard touchdown runs, he said these weren’t any more enjoyable than any others.
“Every quarterback is special,” said Gilbert, who performed a much more restrained sack dance Sunday than his thunderous “Earthquake” dance for his first sack Oct. 18 against the New York Giants.
Boutte, a third-round from Louisiana State, said the two have been waiting to break loose--and they know how much is riding on their development.
The Rams’ defense, as Knox has made clear to them and everybody else, begins with Boutte and Gilbert.
“It’s something we’ve been meaning to do all year,” Boutte said. “If we want to be a good team, it’s up to me and Sean to play great football week in and week out. We can’t play good one week and come back and play mediocre the next.
“Oh yeah, the potential’s there, but we’ve got to stop waiting for it to happen. We’ve got to do it now. We can’t help but look down the road, but it’s only in the back of our minds.
“It is fun, sometimes. I know just about what Sean’s going to do every play. He probably knows about me. We’re two different players, but we try to play together as one.”
Lang, meanwhile, has turned in a series of impressive performances at tailback and fullback and, according to Knox, could be seeing the ball more in the coming weeks.
And at least for now, Knox said Lang is a good alternative if Gary isn’t physically able to go 100%.
“We knew going into the game we had some plays for two fullbacks in there (with Lang and rookie) Tim Lester,” Knox said. “We wanted to get him into the game. So we had a package of those two guys. And with Cleveland not being able to run, being hampered with that ankle injury, he ran very well.”
RAM NUMBERS HIGHLIGHT: RICKY WATTERS Looking at the numbers the Notre Dame graduate has put up in his first season--965 rushing yards in 191 carries for a 5.1 average and nine touchdowns--one has to wonder how the 49ers got to draft him? Or, why the 6-feet-1, 212-pound tailback wasn’t selected until the second round? It was a simple case of pro scouts misjudging his potential, which didn’t completely come to the fore at talent-rich Notre Dame. He ran for 623 yards and nine TDs in his senior season, including a two-touchdown, 174-yard performance against Tennessee. Watters was the 45th player selected overall in the 1991 draft, the 49ers moving up by trading their second- and fourth-round to Cincinnati. SEASON TO DATE Nine-Game Totals (Record: 4-7) First Downs RAMS: 184 OPP: 216 Rushing Yards RAMS: 1,115 OPP: 1,602 Passing Yards RAMS: 2,079 OPP: 2,097 Punts/Average RAMS: 55/41.4 OPP: 44/42.6 Rushing RAMS: ATT: 270 AVG: 4.1 TDs: 8 OPP: ATT: 317 AVG: 5.1 TDs: 15 Passing RAMS: ATT: 313 CP: 186 TDs: 15 OPP: ATT: 353 CP: 208 TDs: 8 Penalties/Yards RAMS: 55/387 OPP: 82/628 Fumbles/Lost RAMS: 19/10 OPP: 16/7 Interceptions/Yds RAMS: 12/207 OPP: 10/191 Scoring by Quarters
1 2 3 4 OT TOTAL RAMS 14 64 59 63 0 200 OPP 75 55 36 67 0 233
Possession Time RAMS: 27:56 OPP: 32:04