Lang’s Play Proves as Hot as His Foot : Pro football: Running back survives setting his shoe afire to put himself in position to win the starting tailback’s job next season.
The Rams continued to stub their toes Sunday, but David Lang put his best foot forward again, even if it meant setting it ablaze.
Sunday, in the Rams’ frigid 28-13 loss to the Green Bay Packers, the second-year running back provided both the Rams’ highlight play--a 71-yard run--and a show-stopping slapstick routine, unwittingly allowing his right shoe to catch fire when he put his foot too close to a sideline heater.
A day later, away from the frozen field and fateful heaters, Lang got glowing reviews for both performances, and his burned shoe now hangs in a place of honor in the Rams Park locker room.
Coach Chuck Knox, who just smiled and slowly shook his head in deadpan silence when asked about the scorched shoe, said Lang definitely deserves and will get a chance next season to win the starting tailback’s job currently held by Cleveland Gary.
Lang has been the starting fullback since the sixth game of the season, but Knox said the 5-11, 201-pound Lang, possibly the Rams’ most-explosive offensive player, is more suited to tailback--and getting the football as much as possible.
“That is his natural spot,” Knox said Monday. “He gives you the speed that you need at that position. He’s got a great innate running ability. He’s a tough guy. . . .
“Oh, I definitely think . . . you have to give him a shot there, because he certainly has earned it.”
Lang entered Sunday’s game with 78 rushing yards in only 21 carries for the season, but had also chipped in what is now the team’s second-longest gain of the season--a 67-yard touchdown catch and run against the Atlanta Falcons on Nov. 1.
He leads the Rams with a six-yards-per-carry average, and has racked up 251 yards on 16 receptions--a 15.7-yard average.
Knox has talked about Lang’s “burst” throughout this season. He has been the one Ram player capable of outrunning defenders once he gets into the open field.
Asked about his 40-yard dash time, Lang said the NFL test for speed is irrelevant in his case.
“They never told me my 40 time,” Lang said. “It depends because I’m a trackster and I run fast as long as (I am) running against somebody.
“I can’t do it how they do 40s here, running by myself.”
Lang, who returned 12 kickoffs but did not touch the ball from scrimmage last season, was not about to assume anything, even after being told of Knox’s warm comments.
“I don’t have a guaranteed contract, so they can let me go just like anybody else,” Lang said. “So I’ve got to still do my job. If it happens, it happens.”
His shoe fire, however, definitely happened in the first quarter Sunday, and his teammates were still laughing about it Monday.
Lang, by the way, broke off his 71-yard winged-foot dash after the burned-foot incident--with a new shoe and a right foot considerably less frozen than it was previously.
“I was sitting on the bench and Dave was standing up,” said tight end Travis McNeal, credited with first spotting the blaze. “I happened to see him when he put his foot right there on the heater, and I went sniff , sniff , ‘Man, I smell something burning. . . . ‘
“And his shoe was on fire.”
Lang’s nickname among teammates was “Mr. Fast,” a moniker he may or may not have lost after he was caught from behind on his long run by Packer cornerback Terrell Buckley.
“His new nickname,” McNeal said, “is ‘Hot Foot.’ ”
Said Lang: “Just had my foot too close to the heater and ended up catching on fire. The flames, they noticed before I noticed it because my feet were frozen. I didn’t feel (anything) until they said something.”
“Now they got my shoe up there on the (locker room) Hall of Fame or something. . . .”
HIGHLIGHT: STERLING SHARPE He’s got the hands, the height, the strength, and the speed to become one of the National Football League’s all-time great receivers. He already has become the greatest pass catcher in storied Green Bay Packers’ history. Sharpe’s performance Sunday against the Rams was typical. The 6-foot-1-inch, 205-pound University of South Carolina product caught eight passes for 110 yards and two touchdowns and startled Ram defenders with his elusiveness and brute strength after catching the ball. Sharpe needs but five catches against the Vikings Sunday to eclipse Art Monk’s single-season record of 106 catches. He has accounted for 1,406 yards with his 102 receptions for a 13.9 average.
SEASON TO DATE 15-Game Totals (Record: 5-10) First Downs RAMS: 262 OPP: 297 Rushing Yards RAMS: 1,491 OPP: 2,149 Passing Yards RAMS: 3,110 OPP: 2,930 Punts/Average RAMS: 70/41.2 OPP: 61/42.1 Rushing RAMS: ATT: 358 AVG: 4.2 TDs: 9 OPP: ATT: 450 AVG: 4.8 TDs: 22 Passing RAMS: ATT: 477 CP: 278 TDs: 23 OPP: ATT: 460 CP: 274 TDs: 15 Penalties/Yards RAMS: 79/562 OPP: 95/715 Fumbles/Lost RAMS: 28/17 OPP: 24/14 Interceptions/Yds RAMS: 16/258 OPP: 19/305
1 2 3 4 OT TOTAL RAMS 28 73 83 91 0 275 OPP 94 131 57 74 0 356
Possession Time RAMS: 28:16 OPP: 31:44