Rams May Employ a ‘Prevent Offense’ Against the Vikings : Pro football: Central Division-leading Minnesota’s defense has been ‘unbelievable,’ scoring six touchdowns in the last four games.
Sometimes, as the Minnesota Vikings are showing anybody who pays attention, the best offense is a good defense. One that creates lots of turnovers that become touchdowns.
Sometimes, it doesn’t matter who the Viking quarterback is--Rich Gannon the previous weeks, Sean Salisbury this week--as long as the defensive players have their touchdown dances ready.
The Ram offense, which usually has trouble enough figuring out how to score, recognizes that today at Anaheim Stadium, its deeper worry probably will be keeping the Minnesota defense out of the end zone. The NFC Central Division-leading Vikings have scored six touchdowns on defense in the last four games.
“Yeah, they’re unbelievable,” Ram offensive coordinator Ernie Zampese said. “Six defensive touchdowns the last four games. . . . Isn’t that something?
“Hell, they expect to get them. Once they get on a roll, I think they expect to do it. It’s amazing--the one in the Cleveland game (last Sunday), Cleveland’s up 13-10, they throw a flat pattern, the tight end comes out, ball hits him in the hands, bounces up in the air, the corner’s standing back here, dives, gets it, stands up and runs the ball into the end zone, 17-13, it’s over.
“Amazing.”
Ever heard of a “prevent offense?” This might be the week the Rams unveil their version of pure Ft. Knox ball control. No risky passes, no deep balls late over the middle, nothing that could incite the Viking defense.
The last thing the Rams want to do is give away this game by giving the ball up.
“I think the stats would indicate that if you turn the ball over against them, you’re going to be in trouble,” Coach Chuck Knox said. “I don’t think there’s any question about that.
“That’s true in just about every game--it’s especially true against a team like the Vikings. They thrive on that.”
Ram quarterback Jim Everett, for the most part, has stayed away from throwing the risky pass--he has thrown six interceptions in his last 10 games--and has relied on short, safe passes to his tight ends and running backs.
But if Minnesota can take away those routes, and still come at him with defensive end Chris Doleman, defensive tackle John Randle and the rest of their quick-strike pass rush, Everett might not have many choices. Doleman has 12 sacks, Randle eight.
This is a Viking defense that leads the league with 31 take-aways, including 21 interceptions. This is a Viking defense that has scored as many touchdowns, seven, as the entire Seattle Seahawk team.
Cornerback Audray McMillian, who scored the winning touchdown against Cleveland, leads the conference with seven interceptions. Strong safety Todd Scott is second in the NFC with five. Linebacker Carlos Jenkins already has two returns for touchdowns.
This is a Viking team that has been led to its current perch three games ahead in the NFC Central by a defense that gets after the quarterback and thinks touchdown every time it touches the ball.
The Ram defense says it realizes the challenge to match the Vikings big play for big play.
“We have got to outplay their defense if we expect to win this football game,” said Joe Vitt, the Ram assistant in charge of the defense. “It’s one of our keys, and it’s one of the things that we’ve talked about with our players.
“It’s going to be a slugfest and, hey, if our offense goes three and out, then we’ve got to go in there and put their offense three and out. If they force a turnover, we’ve got to force a turnover.
“We’ve got to make things happen defensively, force the big turnover, make the big interception, give our offense good field position. And you have to outplay their defense to do that.”
With former USC quarterback Salisbury getting his first NFL start, taking over for an increasingly shaky Gannon, the Rams say they might have a chance to make some things happen this week.
“We know something about him, because we had him (and cut him) in Seattle,” Vitt said of Salisbury, who was released by Knox in 1987. “He was a very efficient quarterback for us in the preseason.
“I don’t know how well he’s going to go under fire, and how he’s going to play when the lights go on. We’ve got to assume he’s going to execute their offense, and he’s going to do all the things that Gannon can do, although he’s probably not as good a scrambler.
“I would think that they’d try to mix more possession-type passes in with some play-pass and try to give him some nice, positive passes to hit early on us.”
Salisbury has avoided throwing an interception in 68 passes this season, and is known as a careful quarterback. He has tailback Terry Allen, who has gained 720 yards rushing and 303 more receiving, and a stable of talented receivers in Cris Carter, Anthony Carter and tight end Steve Jordan.
But even the Rams’ defensive coaches found their attention increasingly pointed toward the Viking defense, and used it as an example of where the Rams would like to be.
“They’ve got some great athletes,” Vitt said. “What they’re doing right now, they’re playing with tremendous confidence. They’re doing the things right now that we hopefully will be able to do in the near future--force the turnover, get the pass rush, stop the run, play the ball when it’s in the air, make the interception.
“They’re an 8-3 football team, they’re winning that division by three games, they’re a team that’s certainly headed for the playoffs. They’re playing with confidence, and that’s what we need to do.”
