Injuries Slow Ram Secondary : Pro football: San Francisco’s high-powered offense to face defense that’s missing two starting cornerbacks.

With a mob of reporters around him in the San Francisco locker room, wide receiver Jerry Rice filed his official complaint with the Rams secondary.

Rice whistled the Rams for too much taunting and trash-talking in an attempt to intimidate him during a 40-17 49er victory Oct. 31.

He complained that strong safety Michael Stewart “messed with my leg” on an 18-yard reception in the first quarter, an accusation Stewart later denied.

“That really ticked me off,” Rice said. “He tried to intimidate me on that play.”

Rice said he expects more of the same Sunday at Anaheim Stadium, where the 49ers go against a Ram secondary butchered by injuries in personnel losses the past few weeks.

“It’s going to be that kind of ballgame,” he said. “I have a lot of respect for their secondary. They play aggressive football and Stewart is a great hitter. The thing is, I’m sure they’ll try to come out and shake me up a little bit because if they can get me out of my game, then why not try it?”

So what did Ram free safety Anthony Newman think of Rice’s complaint?

“If he can’t take it, and he don’t like it,” Newman said, “then maybe he had better step down.”

Not this week. Not with Rice and quarterback Steve Young ready to carve apart a limping Ram defense that ranks 18th in the league in pass defense.

After Sunday’s 10-6 victory over Washington, the Rams were left with only three healthy cornerbacks--Steve Israel, Wymon Henderson and Courtney Griffin. In desperate need of depth, the Rams went shopping Tuesday and signed free agents Dexter Davis and Sam Seale.

The reason for all the lineup shuffling? Take a look at the missing-in-action list:

-- Starting cornerback Darryl Henley, who started four games at right cornerback before leaving the team in early October because of a federal investigation into his alleged role in a cocaine distribution network.

-- Starting cornerback Todd Lyght, who started every game until injuring his left knee during warmups for Sunday’s game against Washington. He underwent arthroscopic surgery Monday to repair cartilage damage and was placed on injured reserve Tuesday.

-- No. 1 nickel back Robert Bailey, who is out four to six weeks with a strained knee.

-- Backup safety Pat Terrell, who pinched a nerve in his shoulder against Washington and is out for Sunday’s game.

“There’s a sense of urgency (with the team) right now,” Ram Coach Chuck Knox said, “because the 49ers are coming in here, and because we think they have the best team in football. And we have to get ready with whatever we have. The players we got off the street, they may have to play. You might say that’s not fair, but that’s the game.”

Young threw for 245 yards and a touchdown, and Rice broke out of an early-season slump to catch six passes for 63 yards against a healthy Ram secondary four weeks ago. Young enters Sunday’s game with 172 consecutive completions and 12 touchdowns without an interception, and Rice caught two touchdown passes in the 49ers’ 42-7 romp over New Orleans on Monday night.

“Even with all your guys healthy, San Francisco is going to test you anyway,” Henderson said. “This puts a little more pressure on us to perform this week.”

If anyone knows, it’s Henderson. He played in the Denver Bronco secondary that Rice burned for 148 yards receiving and three touchdowns in San Francisco’s 55-10 victory in Super Bowl XXIV. Henderson was on the 49ers’ injured list in 1986 and was in their 1985 training camp, Rice’s rookie season.

Henderson, a seven-year pro who started most of his career until joining the Rams, became a starter last week as a last-second replacement for Lyght, who hurt his knee in warmups. Cut by the Broncos at the end of training camp, Henderson signed with the Rams as a free agent Oct. 8 to replace Henley.

“My second year in Denver (1990) was a little like this, with all the injuries,” Henderson said. “Tyrone Braxton got hurt and there were a lot of other injuries along the way, so it was kind of a makeshift lineup. But I don’t think I’ve been in a situation to this degree, with three guys out like this.”

The Rams have started four cornerback combinations this season, with Lyght being the common denominator in each until his injury. Two starters and a key reserve were lost in seven weeks. Defensive backs Coach Rod Perry just shakes his head.

“This is very new to me,” Perry said. “It’s a difficult situation, and everybody is going to have to pick it up a little more.”

Israel, a part-time starter until the rash of injuries made him a full-timer, says he has never seen anything like it.

“You just never know in this game,” he said. “It just happened all at once--the situation with Darryl, then Robert hurting his knee and Todd hurting his, it’s like, “Wow, what’s next?’ But you can’t think about things like that. All you can do is concentrate and take care of what you’re responsible for.”

Henderson was responsible for five tackles and deflecting a key third-down pass to Desmond Howard in the fourth quarter. Griffin came off the bench to contribute eight tackles, seven unassisted. Israel defensed two passes and finished with five tackles (three solo).

“Wymon and Courtney were excellent Sunday,” Israel said. “A lot of the fans wouldn’t know about them because they’re not at practice during the week.

“They don’t know what Courtney’s capable of because he’s not a regular starter. But Wymon’s a veteran, and everyone knows what he’s capable of. That type of game is to be expected of him.”