RAM NOTEBOOK / MIKE REILLEY : Quarterback Situation Rapidly Deteriorating
The Rams’ quarterback options look pretty bleak this week after Sunday’s 8-5 loss to Atlanta.
Coach Chuck Knox’s choices:
--Chris Chandler, who stood in the locker room with the help of crutches after Sunday’s loss and offered no prognosis on his sprained left ankle.
--Chris Miller, a former starter and now emergency quarterback who got a pain-killing shot in his right shoulder at halftime Sunday but still didn’t play.
--Tommy Maddox, who struggled in his Ram debut after replacing an injured Chandler with 4 minutes 27 seconds left in the second quarter.
Chandler was hurt when Atlanta safety Ron George hit him from behind just as he let go of an incomplete pass to Flipper Anderson on a flea-flicker play. Chandler was taken off the field on a cart and although X-rays showed no serious damage, he looks to be in no shape to practice anytime soon.
“It didn’t break, so that’s the good news,” Chandler said. “We’ll see how it is Monday. They shot it up and it feels decent right now. Hopefully, it’s something that’s not too serious.”
“He (George) pulled me straight down and twisted me as I went down. I could feel it coming. I’m just glad it wasn’t my knee. When I was going down, I thought for sure it was something like that.”
The Rams billed Maddox as their quarterback of the future when they acquired him from Denver in August. He was inactive and ran the scout squad until shoulder and rib injuries slowed Miller two weeks ago.
Maddox, battling the flu, had only a handful of snaps in practice, and completed only seven of 15 passes for 86 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions Sunday. He killed the Rams’ final drive when he was intercepted by the Falcons’ Kevin Ross at the Atlanta 38.
Miller had warmed up on the sidelines in the second half after taking a shot for his pinched nerve at halftime. But he and Knox were reluctant to have him play on the Rams’ final drive.
Miller said Knox told him Friday that he would be inactive for the game, saying he needed another week to rest his injured shoulder. Miller started the first three games before sore ribs and the shoulder sidelined him.
“It definitely wasn’t strong enough to play in a game situation,” Miller said. “If I go in there and get hurt and buried, it doesn’t do any good.
“I’ve got to heal. If I go in and I’m not ready, I’m useless.”
The Rams will try to get Miller ready this week. But Miller doesn’t expect to practice until Wednesday.
“Maybe we’ll pump something in there to get it going,” Miller said of his shoulder. “Maybe some Kryptonite.”
Wait a minute, didn’t Kryptonite make Superman weaker?
*
Lost in America: NFL security detained the Falcons’ bus driver, who turned a 10-minute ride from the team’s Anaheim hotel into a 90-minute sightseeing tour that stretched all the way to Long Beach.
Two team buses left the hotel Sunday morning, but only one arrived at the stadium on time. The other bus driver got lost, and despite getting directions from Falcon officials, continued making wrong turns.
*
Temper, temper: Chandler had some angry words for wide receiver Todd Kinchen on a miscommunication in the first quarter. After throwing an incomplete pass to Kinchen, Chandler ran up to the wide receiver and screamed in his face as he walked off the field.
Kinchen said he thought Chandler had audibled to a running play and was blocking instead of running his pass route.
“It was hard to hear at that point,” Kinchen said.
Kinchen also was called for a costly 10-yard offensive pass interference penalty on the Rams’ final drive, moving the ball from the Falcon 27 to the 37, and right guard Leo Goeas followed with a five-yard false start penalty.
*
You make the call: Ram safeties Marquez Pope and Anthony Newman might want to add this pass route to their playbook--14-special Z-under. That was the pass route the Falcons’ Ricky Sanders beat them on over the middle for the game-winning, 13-yard touchdown reception with 3:14 left.
*
Falcon starting quarterback Jeff George suffered a concussion and a possible broken nose when hit by defensive end Fred Stokes in the third quarter.
“I remember him coming at me and then I don’t remember anything else,” George said. “It took me a while to get my vision back. I wanted to go back in, but it just didn’t happen.”
*
The Falcons, though, did have the perfect backup. Bobby Hebert is 7-0 as a starter at Anaheim Stadium, including a 13-0 victory last season. He was 6-0 as a member of the New Orleans Saints.
Hebert completed 10 of 14 passes for 122 yards and led the Falcons on an 89-yard drive for the winning touchdown. Hebert threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Ricky Sanders.
“I’ve never had a close game here,” Hebert said. “We always beat the Rams by two or three touchdowns.”
*
A fire near an Anaheim Stadium parking lot Sunday afternoon caused an estimated $15,000 damage. Anaheim firefighters responded at 1:51 p.m. to a fire on property adjacent to the 2100 block of E. Katella Ave. Firefighters found six palm trees and about 150 feet of grass ablaze. Fire and heat extended to some 35 vehicles in a dirt field adjacent to the lot. Firefighters knocked down the fire and confined the damage to what had already burned. Authorities say the fire remains under investigation.
Times staff writer Chris Foster and T.J. Simers contributed to this story.