Opening Act Was Great, but They Closed Show

Everything was beautiful. The Rams looked for their tight end. They found him. Touchdown. But a penalty was called on the play. So, the Rams called the same play again. They looked for their tight end. They found him. Touchdown.

A tight end is like a mind. It’s a terrible thing to waste.

Me, Troy Drayton said. Throw the ball to me. Here I am. You can’t miss me. I’m 6-3. I’m 255 pounds. Look at me in this mellow yellow uniform. I’m easy to spot. I look like a big canary.

Very next drive, they found him again. A pass to midfield for seven yards. Then another pass to the 49er nine, this one for 19 yards.

Not two minutes into the second quarter, and the Rams were moving and grooving. They were playing the Drayton Game. They were picking bachelor No. 1. They were finally throwing footballs to lonesome Troy.

And they never threw him another.

Not once during the final 43 minutes of Sunday’s game at Anaheim Stadium did either of the Ram quarterbacks, Chris A or Chris B, get the ball back to Drayton’s waitin’ fingers.

And San Francisco rolled, 34-19.

It was a game the Rams played on even terms until they stopped using their large tight end as a target.

A game that Drayton personally tied at 7-up with an Act 1, Take 2 touchdown catch. A game that became tied again at 10-10 after Drayton personally dragged tacklers such as Ken Norton Jr. inside the 49er 10, setting up a chip-shot field goal.

Me, Drayton said. Don’t forget me.

This was all he wanted--to catch a lousy pass or two. To feel useful. To do something positive against the San Francisco 49ers, who love their own tight end so much.

“I watch the balls Brent Jones catches and I just wish it was me,” Drayton said later.

Jones already has 16 catches this season. Drayton has three.

The restless Ram had been so encouraged by the way Sunday’s game began. People even came up to him afterward, patting him on the back, congratulating him, even though he spent the entire second half waving his arm and yelling yoo-hoo, here I am, only to be ignored.

“Thanks,” Drayton said. “I wish we won, of course. We fought our guts out. That was the best we looked so far.

“As for my own self, right now I can’t complain. I was pretty happy, because I’d been beginning to doubt myself. I just hope this isn’t just some one-week thing. I want them to look for me every week, not yes one week and no the next week.”

On their opening drive, already down, 7-0, the Rams dazzled the 49ers with their complex offensive scheme. They ran Jerome Bettis up the middle for eight yards, then Jerome Bettis around right end for five yards, then Jerome Bettis around left end for four yards, then pulled a trick out of their old helmets and ran Jerome Bettis up the middle for no gain.

Drayton’s request during the week, to become more involved, apparently was still under discussion.

Out of a shotgun formation, Chris Miller passed to a running back, Johnny Bailey, for 16 yards. Then he passed to a wide receiver, Willie Anderson, who drew an interference call against the 49ers. The football was placed one measly yard from the goal line.

Me, Drayton said. How about me?

“Chris Miller told me it was my time,” Drayton said.

From a yard out, he might have expected Bettis to be the beneficiary. Not so. Miller lobbed the ball into the left corner of the end zone to Drayton, who caught it, considered spiking it, then tucked it away to go hand to somebody for a keepsake.

This time it was his teammates who yelled yoo-hoo. Troy got called back to the huddle. Seems rookie tackle Wayne Gandy had committed the silliest of penalties--lining up as an eligible receiver but neglecting to report into the game--and the Rams had to do it over.

“I saw that flag,” Drayton said. “I thought it was a face mask thing on them . I got my mask grabbed on the catch.”

Take Two:

The Rams, choosing from their cornucopia of plays, ran Jerome Bettis up the middle for two yards.

And then, to the astonishment of Troy Drayton, the people of Orange County and the civilized world, they called their tight end’s number again for a four-yard score.

“Finally,” Drayton said. “An opportunity to showcase what I have.”

Then he watched the 49ers call plays for Jerry Rice, John Taylor, Marc Logan, Ricky Watters and Jones, showcasing what they have. It wasn’t complicated. Somebody threw them the ball.