PRO FOOTBALL / ATLANTA FALCONS 31, RAMS 13 : RAM NOTEBOOK / MIKE REILLEY : Drayton Wants to Play a Bigger Role in Offense

Ram tight end Troy Drayton’s statistics from the Rams’ 31-13 loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday at the Georgia Dome--no catches and one bruised ego.

Drayton, a second-year player who figured to be a go-to receiver for quarterback Chris Miller, has yet to catch a pass in two regular-season games. “You can’t imagine how I feel right now,” Drayton said. “Coming into the season I thought I was going to be a big part of this offense. Now, I don’t know what my status is.

“I don’t know if I have a niche. I don’t know anything. It’s frustrating.”

What can Drayton do to become a bigger part of the offense?

“There’s nothing I can do,” he said. “That’s a question you have to ask the offensive coordinator (Chick Harris) and the head coach (Chuck Knox).

Knox said last week that Miller twice tried to throw to Drayton in the season-opening victory over Arizona. On Sunday, Drayton was open again inside Atlanta’s 15-yard-line, but Miller overthrew him and D.J. Johnson intercepted the pass at the Falcons’ four-yard line.

“I have so much anger and frustration right now,” Drayton said. “Hopefully, as the season goes on, I can be a bigger part of it (the offense).”

Meanwhile, wide receiver Flipper Anderson was a beacon of hope for the Ram offense. Anderson caught five passes for 154 yards, including a 54-yarder from Miller and a 41-yard scoring reception from backup quarterback Chris Chandler in the fourth quarter.

Ram coaches had hoped that Anderson, who caught only one touchdown pass in the final 10 games last season, would return to the deep threat he once was. They thought they remedied the situation when they signed Miller to replace Jim Everett at quarterback.

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On the road again: Cornerback Darryl Henley, playing in his first road game in nearly a year, got into the game in the fourth quarter and finished with one tackle.

The Rams re-signed Henley, indicted on federal drug-trafficking charges, last week after a federal judge ruled that a court-appointed officer would not have to escort the player on trips as part of his bail restrictions.

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Irv Eatman, a backup tackle with the Falcons, took a shot at the Rams for not re-signing him in the off-season. Eatman was the Rams’ starting left tackle last season, but was cut for salary-cap reasons and because the coaching staff wasn’t satisfied with his pass blocking. He later signed with Atlanta, where he lives in the off-season.

“Coach Knox said it was a money thing,” Eatman said. “Looking back at it, it doesn’t make a lot of sense considering that they have a $5 million guy (rookie tackle Wayne Gandy) sitting on the bench and have another guy (veteran Clarence Jones) starting in place of him.

“I was told I played well. But they made the decision based on things other than football.”

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Bad Moon Rison: Former Ram wide receiver James Lofton, now with CNN, attended Sunday’s game and said he thinks Atlanta wide receiver Andre Rison has a great shot at breaking the NFL single-season pass reception record of 112 set last season by Green Bay’s Sterling Sharpe.

“The way he’s going,” Lofton said, “he could have a 140-catch season.”

With 26 catches in his first two games, Rison is on pace to catch 208 passes this season.

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Atlanta players presented Falcon Coach June Jones a game ball in honor of his first NFL victory.

But Jones admitted making a rookie mistake--having rookie wide receiver Bert Emanuel, a former quarterback at Rice, line up at quarterback instead of Jeff George on a third-and-goal situation at the Ram three in the third quarter.

“Bert is supposed to either run or look to Andre on that play,” Jones said. “He could have run it in there. I probably shouldn’t have called that play.”

Notes

Falcon quarterback Jeff George completed 29 of 38 passes for 287 yards, had three touchdowns and no interceptions. He surpassed 10,000 career passing yards and extended his streak of passes without an interception to 277, third-longest in NFL history. . . . Offensive guard Keith Loneker left the game with a sore left arch and tailback Johnny Bailey pinched a nerve in his right side.