RAM NOTEBOOK : Anderson Invisible in Sputtering Offense

The Rams continue to be puzzled by what has gone wrong on offense and wide receiver Flipper Anderson continues to get the cold shoulder.

Is this a coincidence?

Anderson, who is the Rams’ only legitimate deep threat, caught one pass for 19 yards Sunday against the Cardinals.

In the team’s last four games, Anderson has caught nine passes for 139 yards and no touchdowns. This season, the team’s big-play maker has 26 catches for 439 yards and three touchdowns.

“I don’t have a comment,” Anderson said, while dressing quickly to leave the locker room. “I didn’t do anything today. Ask somebody who played.”

Why wasn’t Anderson more involved against the Cardinals?

“Your guess is as good as mine,” said Anderson, who has not caught a touchdown pass since Oct. 14. “I don’t know what’s going on. I’m just out there running around.”

Wide receiver Henry Ellard, who caught three passes for 83 yards, including a 54-yarder from a scrambling T.J. Rubley, was trying to beat Anderson’s hasty retreat from the locker room.

“I don’t have anything to say,” Ellard said.

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Ouch: Ram kicker Tony Zendejas gave Phoenix tackle Keith Rucker a field-goal facial.

Rucker said he used his head to block Zendejas’ 56-yard field-goal attempt early in the third quarter. Literally.

“The ball hit me right in the face,” he said. “It was a low kick because he had to get a drive on it to get it through.

Asked if he considered jumping to block the kick, Rucker, 6 feet 4 and 360 pounds, smiled.

“I didn’t jump because I didn’t get a chance to,” he said. “The ball was low, and I didn’t even have time to get my hand up in front of my face.”

The Cardinals’ Chris Oldham returned the block 11 yards to the Ram 30-yard line, and tailback Ron Moore scored on a 19-yard run up the middle three plays later.

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Call it a draw: Which was going to happen first? Sean LaChapelle’s first NFL catch or Cleveland Gary’s first fumble of the season?

Both came in the fourth quarter of the 12th game of the season, with LaChapelle hauling in a 14-yard reception and Gary fumbling the ball out of bounds.

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Suspect play-calling: The Rams trailed the Cardinals, 14-3, in the second quarter, but they were on the move.

Running back Jerome Bettis already had run four times for 49 yards on this drive, and now the Rams had a third and two at the Phoenix 20-yard line. Time to hand the ball to Bettis--right?

Wrong. The Rams had Rubley, who had been off-target much of the first half, attempt a pass downfield to tight end Pat Carter. Rubley’s pass, however, was behind Carter, and after it bounced off his hands, it landed in the arms of Phoenix safety Lorenzo Lynch.

“It was just a coaching decision,” said Bettis, who averaged 7.2 yards per carry. “You can’t really say what would have happened. They just felt that was the best play for us.”

The Rams were confronted with a third and two at their 33-yard line in the third quarter and had Bettis run right. Bettis gained one yard, and the Rams were forced to punt.

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Contract run: Bettis has gained 891 yards this season, and has four games remaining to hit the 1,000-yard mark.

However, he undoubtedly will have his sights set on the 1,200-yard mark. When Bettis signed with the Rams, he accepted a five-year deal, although he preferred four years. He won a clause in his contract from the Rams, though, that allowed him to negate the fifth year of his deal if he managed to top the 1,200-yard mark twice during the first four years of his contract.

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Add Moore: The rookie from Pittsburg (Kan.) State scored touchdowns on three one-yard runs and the 19-yard run after Rucker’s block, becoming the first Cardinal to rush for four touchdowns in a game since Wayne Morris did so against the New Orleans Saints on Oct. 23, 1977.

Moore also was the first tailback to score four touchdowns in a game against the Rams since Buffalo’s Thurman Thomas ran for three and caught a touchdown pass in the 1992 season opener.

“We anticipated being able to move the ball against them,” Moore said. “They had been tough against the run, but the games we watched in the film room, there was a lot of people running up and down the field on them.”

Moore was a third-round selection in last spring’s draft, two rounds after the Cardinals took star tailback Garrison Hearst of Georgia. Hearst is out for the season with a knee injury.

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Running on empty: Cardinal defensive tackle Michael Bankston sacked backup quarterback Jim Everett for a 19-yard loss in the third quarter, forcing Everett to fumble. Bankston came up with the ball, then returned it seven yards before rookie guard Keith Loneker brought him down at the Ram 11.

“I head-faked Loneker and beat him around the corner,” Bankston said. “Everett saw me coming and started running out and I got him from behind. I looked up, saw the ball, picked it up and all I saw was end zone.

“I tried to high-step it out of there, but I couldn’t.”

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Battering Ram: Did anything go wrong for the Cardinals Sunday? Bankston found one flaw--they couldn’t stop Ram tailback Jerome Bettis, who finished with 115 yards in 16 carries.

“The defensive line and the linebackers are disappointed because Bettis got 100 yards,” Bankston said. “We have work to do on that.

“I hate to give him credit, but you have to with him. He’s a great back.”

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Injury update: Linebacker Shane Conlan suffered a sprained medial collateral knee ligament and appeared in serious pain after the game.

Safety Michael Stewart sprained an ankle and defensive lineman Sean Gilbert suffered a groin injury.

Times staff writer Mike Reilley contributed to this story.