Rams Look Just Super

Barring some sort of phantom disaster, the Rams, by way of Cleveland, Los Angeles, Anaheim and St. Louis, are moving toward the Super Bowl, packing the worst NFC record over the last decade, but needing only to score more points than the team with the third-worst mark, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Ordinarily when the Buccaneers and the Rams meet you can toss aside the records because no one cares what happens.

The exception was the 1979 NFC championship game, a snoozer won by Los Angeles, 9-0.

But these Rams are embraceable. They are made for TV, with an overnight hero at quarterback, the cameras panning to his wife in the stands, and a captivating cast of speedy game-breakers, who shredded the Minnesota Vikings, 49-37, Sunday in the Trans World Dome.

With Georgia Frontiere as owner and 23-year-old Tony Horne returning kicks for touchdowns, it’s a heartfelt tale of success appealing to all ages. Marshall Faulk highlights steal the show. Throw in the comeback story of Coach Dick Vermeil, and you also have a real tear-jerker.

“John Wooden told me a long time ago that talent is more important than experience,” said Vermeil, who led UCLA to a Rose Bowl win over Ohio State in 1975. “We have a lot of talent on this football team . . . it’s a very, very good football team right now.”

In the first playoff game played in St. Louis, the Rams staggered the Vikings with a 21-point outburst in the third quarter, ignited by Horne’s 95-yard kickoff return for a score to open the second half.

The Rams and Vikings combined to score the second-most points in NFL playoff history, but it was Kurt Warner’s performance--completing 27 of 33 passes for 391 yards and five touchdowns, one short of the NFL postseason record held by Steve Young and Daryle Lamonica--that will probably be the most vexing to Tampa Bay.

The Buccaneers, who kept Washington from scoring an offensive touchdown, will have the opportunity to put the cliche “defenses win championships” to test because they don’t figure to do it on offense.

“I haven’t seen a defense yet that can do it,” said Warner when asked if his team’s offense can be stopped. “They will have to prove it for me to believe it.”

The Rams, now 9-0 on their fast track at home, have good reason to be cocky after averaging 7.8 yards a play against the Vikings.

St. Louis scored on its first offensive play, a 77-yard touchdown pass from Warner to Isaac Bruce, and then Faulk left a trail of bodies behind on the Rams’ next possession, catching a screen pass and zigzagging 41 yards to score.

The Rams have outscored their opponents in the first quarter this season, 137-52, and have defeated the opposition at home by an average of more than 23 points.

“When you see our team you see great players,” tight end Roland Williams said.

The Vikings, who have a few great players of their own and who set the NFL record for scoring last year, fought back to take a 17-14 halftime lead over the Rams, the first time this season St. Louis had trailed at home after the second quarter.

But Minnesota played cautious in a game that figured to stretch the limits of the scoreboard, settling for a field goal on its first possession with a run on third and 15 at the St. Louis 17-yard line rather than attempt a pass.

The Vikings also took a knee to close the first half rather than make an effort to pad their lead, quarterback Jeff George saying later, “We were happy to be where we were at the time.”

In the Ram locker room, Vermeil advised his players that they had the Vikings just where they wanted them.

“I felt very comfortable at halftime,” Vermeil said. “I told the team we are only down by three, we’ve taken their best shot and the only people that have stopped us [are] ourselves.

“We came out then and Horne scored, and I certainly didn’t expect that, but I appreciated it.”

The Vikings crumbled in the second half, the game turning ugly when George fumbled the snap from center and then pointed to the loose ball rather than fall on it, allowing the Rams to recover.

“It was just a game where they made too many plays,” said Minnesota Coach Dennis Green, 3-7 in the playoffs. “They have a lot of speed and play on a fast surface, and they have a quarterback who throws a nice ball to guys who can chase it down.”

That was supposed to be the Vikings’ recipe for success, but they faltered this season after offensive coordinator Brian Billick left to become head coach of Baltimore.

Although they won nine of their final 11 games, they allowed Tampa Bay to slip by and win the division, eliminating any chance they had of securing home-field advantage.

The Rams, meanwhile, will try to avoid what happened to Minnesota in last year’s title game when Atlanta, lacking the Viking firepower, still managed to pull off the upset win in the Metrodome.

“We did what we thought we should do, what we ought to do,” Vermeil said. “I’ve seen Tampa Bay some and I’ve seen them look awfully good and I’ve seen them look not too good.”

Vermeil, who left pro football after coaching the Eagles from 1976 to 1982, has the experience of taking a team into an NFC title game and winning, defeating Dallas, 20-7, to advance to Super Bowl XV.

“This team is more talented than my Philadelphia Super Bowl team,” Vermeil said. “We have more weapons, more skilled people, more speed than what we had at that time. The same character. That was an outstanding group of character people who worked five years to get there.”

This group has been together for three years, compiling the best record in the NFC this season after a two-year 9-23 run and a training regimen that almost resulted in Vermeil’s dismissal.

It is an amazing turnaround, a season that was filled with promise after the signing of quarterback Trent Green and his standout play in the exhibition season, then seemingly over before it began after Charger safety Rodney Harrison rolled into Green’s leg and knocked him out for the season because of a knee injury.

Warner, pressed into play just as the regular season was about to begin, threw 41 touchdown passes and was named the NFL’s most valuable player. Not bad for a former Iowa Barnstormer who had taken his team to a pair of Arena League championship games, only to lose them both.

“Nobody knew this guy was going to play like this,” said Mike Martz, Ram offensive coordinator, who beat Tampa Bay last season, 20-16, while calling the offensive plays for Washington. “Nobody had any idea he would be this good.”

Skeptics were still not convinced before Sunday, noting that the Rams had lost to Detroit, Tennessee and Philadelphia, while not beating any team that finished the season with a winning record.

Similar questions were raised before Jacksonville’s game with the Dolphins, and after the weekend of play, the Rams and Jaguars combined to score 111 points.

“I saw one sign as I was leaving the field,” said Warner, “that said we still haven’t played anybody.”

Just wait until those powder-keg Buccaneers come to town with their rookie quarterback and thatoffense that’s averaging 16 points a game.

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Finally on Top

Three of the teams that played this weekend had dismal records in the 1990s:

NFC

Rams: 58-102

Cardinals: 58-102

Buccaneers: 67-93

AFC

Bengals: 52-108

Colts: 66-94

Chargers: 74-86