PRO FOOTBALL ’94 / SEASON PREVIEWS : Handle With Care : Miller’s History of Injuries Looms Over the Rams’ Season

Maybe it was a rite of passage for former Oregon quarterbacks in the NFL, but Dan Fouts doesn’t remember having any say in it.

Neither does Chris Miller.

Fouts was pounded by defenders in his 15 seasons with the San Diego Chargers, something Miller understands in six years with the Atlanta Falcons and now with the Rams.

There was only one difference: Fouts kept coming back, game after game.

Considered one of the league’s toughest quarterbacks, Fouts started 74 consecutive games with the Chargers before a shoulder injury forced him to sit one out in 1983.

But injuries have prevented Miller from starting an entire NFL season, a streak he hopes to end this season despite playing behind a shaky Ram offensive line.

“Only two (quarterbacks) have played every game the past two years (the Buffalo

Bills’ Jim Kelly and the San Francisco 49ers’ Steve Young),” Miller said. “That’s a pretty amazing statistic.

“You have to think, these guys are out here chasing you around and burying you every week, and sooner or later your body is going to give in.”

And Miller’s has given in, several times.

He has undergone two knee operations in the last two years--the result of a non-contact injury--and has sat out parts of the last seven seasons because of a bruised chest, cracked ribs, a sprained ankle, a sprained knee and a broken collarbone that required a steel plate.

“Chris has had it a lot rougher than I ever did,” said Fouts, a Hall of Famer who set 19 passing records at Oregon, many that were later broken by Miller.

“He’s a big ‘if’ with those knees. And as for all his other injuries, I think Atlanta’s offensive line didn’t give him the best protection, and that’s tough in an offense like the run-and-shoot.”

Miller’s most serious injury came when he was eluding a tackle by Ram safety Anthony Newman, his former college teammate, in a 1992 game at Atlanta.

One of Miller’s feet got caught in a seam of the Georgia Dome’s artificial turf and he suffered a severe knee injury.

A four-inch scar starts above Miller’s right knee and stretches over the top of the kneecap, an incision that allowed surgeons to remove tendon, chunks of bone, shin and kneecap to repair the left knee.

Two screws remain in that knee, which required a second operation last October.

“I have had plenty of time to get it strong,” Miller said. “The key thing for me was I had a good surgeon (for the second surgery).

“The first surgery, the techniques were in question and the knee wasn’t as strong as it could be. But I was comfortable with the second surgery and the rehabilitation.”

So were the Rams, who signed the free-agent to a three-year, $9-million contract after he cleared an extensive examination by team doctors.

The Rams are banking on him to complement tailback Jerome Bettis by throwing high-percentage passes to the running backs, tight end Troy Drayton and occasionally wide receiver Flipper Anderson.

In 1991, Miller passed for 3,103 yards and 26 touchdowns. In three exhibitions, Miller completed 28 of 43 passes for 280 yards, but has yet to throw a touchdown pass.

“There are only two quarterbacks who can go out and win a game for you--Steve Young and John Elway (of the Denver Broncos),” former Ram quarterback Pat Haden said. “There are a handful who can dominate a game. Then there’s another tier of good quarterbacks, and Chris is at the top of that.

“He’s really accurate, and I think there will be a dramatic improvement in the play of the quarterback this season for the Rams. But the big ‘if’ is, can he stay healthy?”

Only seven quarterbacks started all 16 regular-season games last year--Elway, Young, Kelly, Rick Mirer of the Seattle Seahawks, Brett Favre of the Green Bay Packers, Boomer Esiason of the New York Jets and Phil Simms of the New York Giants.

Jeff Hostetler of the Raiders, Craig Erickson of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Neil O’Donnell of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Jim Harbaugh of the Chicago Bears, who is now with the Indianapolis Colts, each started 15 games.

“I can play 16 games,” Miller said. “That’s the bottom line. If you don’t want to play that many, you’re entering the season with the wrong outlook.”

If Miller is sidelined, the Rams have veteran Chris Chandler and third-year player Tommy Maddox of UCLA waiting on the sidelines.

With Bettis, the Ram coaches have built a conservative, run-oriented offense that uses occasional play-action passes, which they hope will keep Miller out of harm’s way.

With an aging Jackie Slater protecting Miller at right tackle and Giant castoff Clarence Jones at the other tackle, some of the top defensive ends and linebackers in the league will be bearing down on Miller in the first six weeks of the season:

Week 1--the Arizona Cardinals’ Clyde Simmons.

Week 2--the Falcons’ Chris Doleman.

Week 3--the 49ers’ Richard Dent.

Week 4--the Kansas City Chiefs’ Derrick Thomas.

Week 5--Doleman again.

Week 6--the Packers’ Reggie White and Sean Jones.

Where’s Gerald Perry when you need him?

“I feel good about our (offensive) line,” Miller said. “There was a little skepticism at first about how they were going to come together.

“But to their credit, a lot of them haven’t worked together before, and continuity is a key at that position. The longer they work together out here, the better I’ll feel with them.”

Miller has a tendency to hold onto the ball until the last second before throwing it, often leaving himself vulnerable to pass rushers.

A hit from a Washington defensive end in college left Miller unconscious, with a five-inch gash on the side of his helmet.

A few years ago, the Bills’ Bruce Smith hit him on a touchdown pass, and Miller had to call a timeout to clear his dizziness before holding on the extra-point kick.

“As far as being a tough man (goes), there’s not too many quarterbacks who can stand there and stand there and wait until the last second and not get happy feet,” the Rams’ Newman said. “A lot of quarterbacks will get jittery and take off here or there, but Chris will stand there forever, throw the football and take a shot.

“Every time we played against Chris (when he was a Falcon), it was like, ‘God, I hit him, I hit him right when he threw the ball.’ But he threw it and he completed it for a touchdown. That happened how many times when we went against Chris? I don’t know.

“That’s a sign of toughness right there. I’ve been his teammate and I’ve played against him, and I’ll tell you, he’s the real deal.”