Bettis Blasts His Way Into Record Books

How many times have the Rams begun a game this way--fumble by the tailback on the fourth play from scrimmage . . . recovery and touchdown return by the opposition . . . Rams down, 7-0, before the first commercial break?

Dozens, did someone say?

Isn’t that why they benched Cleveland Gary?

Yes, they did, and today, the nation understands why.

How many times have the Rams ended a game this way--tailback making like a runaway train down the right sideline for 71 yards and a touchdown . . . tailback making like a snowplow for 212 yards on 28 trips through the enemy line . . . tailback making all the plays required for the upset of the week, if not the season, and bringing tears of joy to the head coach’s face?

Not since Eric Dickerson, and not before Jerome Bettis, two names now linked in Rams lore by more than Position Played.

Dickerson used to be the only Ram to have rushed for 1,000 yards in his rookie season.

Now there are two.

Dickerson used to be one of only five Rams to have rushed for more than 210 yards in a single game.

Now there are six.

Dickerson and Bettis.

Is is too early to mention them in the same sentence?

Not if Irv Eatman is doing the construction.

“If Jerome stays injury-free,” says Eatman, the Rams’ veteran left tackle, “he can literally be one of the best who ever played.”

Eatman laughs a lot, but he was stone-faced serious here.

“Nothing stops him,” Eatman said, shaking his head in amazement. “Nobody, I mean nobody, is strong enough to tackle him with his arms. Not unless he wants a dislocated shoulder.

“Being a lineman, I don’t get to see it very often, but I sure hear it. You hear guys going, ‘Ughhh!’ all over the field.

“That’s Jerome punishing them.”

And that’s where Bettis differs from Dickerson and all the great movers and shakers who have gone before him, save for maybe Bronko Nagurski and the four-wheel drive Ford Bronco.

Dickerson with the ball was an evasive maneuver. He ran like a man trying to catch a bus in a minefield, high-stepping his way around danger.

Bettis is a mine-sweeper. He not only greets danger head-on but leaves it on its back, eight yards downfield, with cleat marks on its chest.

“I like to have them suffering out there a little bit,” Bettis said, the corners of his mouth twisting upward at the very thought.

“It really throws a defense off. The guy’s partners say, “Ooh, he just smacked the mess out of that man. Let’s rethink this.’ ”

Sunday, the New Orleans Saints played the re-thinking man’s game. Bettis knocked them dizzy, but the Rams’ 23-20 victory had the Saints questioning their very existence.

What in the world were they doing, losing, inside the Superdome, to a 14-point underdog who hadn’t beaten an NFC West rival on the road since 1990 and hadn’t beaten New Orleans anywhere since 1989?

Two months ago, the Saints clocked the Rams in Anaheim, 37-6, but that was back when Bettis was still learning the playbook, instead of owning it, as he does now. Knox had to delight in designing this game plan: Tailback right, tailback left, tailback up the middle. Why, Knox hadn’t had this much fun since he and John L. Williams were boring them stiff in Seattle.

But on Sunday, with a green quarterback attempting to brave the din of the Dome for the first time, Knox figured he had no other choice. So he instructed T.J. Rubley to keep it simple and, when in doubt, to remember what those initials stand for.

To Jerome.

Bettis got the ball on the first play of the game. And the second. And the third. He lost it on the fourth play, spinning into the line just as Saints linebacker James Williams reached for the ball, knocking it loose and into the arms of teammate Sam Mills, who then carried it 30 yards for a 7-0 New Orleans lead.

“That upset me,” Bettis acknowledged. “Four plays into the game and it’s 7-0. I gave them a touchdown. I knew I had to dig deep and profit from it.”

By the end of the first quarter, Bettis would have 125 yards, 71 coming on a pitch back and a sprint down the right sideline that startled Saints and Rams alike.

“Everybody on the damn team was chasing him,” Eatman said, “and the Saints have some pretty fast guys. But Jerome was not going to be caught. Look at the way he runs, how big he is. That run shocked me.”

Eatman was not alone, a circumstance that seemed to amuse Bettis.

“Aww, these guys didn’t think I can get around the corner,” Bettis said with a laugh. “I keep telling them, ‘Just a minute, just a minute, it’s a long season.’

“They get on me in practice, but I tell them, ‘Hey, I’m not trying. If I’m trying, I’m gone.’ But I finally had to show ‘em. I can outrun a few guys. I got a little burst in me.”

Bettis’ 212-yard performance was the seventh-highest in Ram history. His 1,106 yards for the season rank him 13th in Ram history, but with three games remaining, 1,400 yards and fourth place--Dickerson ranks 1, 2 and 3--are well within reach.

Bettis has done this as an asthma sufferer, no less. He keeps an inhaler on the sideline and had to leave the game in the second quarter after a hit by Saints safety Gene Atkins knocked the breath out of him.

But Bettis was back in the backfield to start the third quarter, prepared to pound the ball 16 more times for 87 more yards.

“Unbelievable,” Eatman said. “I can’t even find a way to describe him.”

Rookie of the year?

“You show me one better,” Eatman said.

Man or machine?

Eatman wasn’t quite sure, although late Sunday afternoon, he was leaning toward the latter.

“Usually,” Eatman said, “things that run like that have a catalytic converter.”