This Time, It’s the Saints Who Get Their Kicks, Not Rams, 6-0
The people here have never forgiven the Rams for the last game of the 1983 season, when Mike Lansford kicked a last-second field goal that kept the Saints from the playoffs and their first-ever winning season.
So it was with considerable pleasure Sunday that the Saints beat the Rams, 6-0, before a crowd of 62,352 at the Superdome.
Never mind the aesthetics of it all.
What a joy it was for people to witness Eric Dickerson and the Ram offense struggle as they did.
What great comfort they would take in knowing that the mighty Dickerson was so beaten and tired afterward that he could barely part his lips and utter a comment.
“I’m exhausted,” said Dickerson, who was held to just 57 yards in 21 carries. “I’m not talking.”
What a switch it was to see a punishing Saint defense sending some of the other guys to the trainer’s room with an assortment of light concussions and bruised ribs.
And whose kicker is smiling now after making second-half field goals of 20 and 22 yards to win the game? Not Lansford. Try Morten Andersen.
But, mostly, what a thrill to see Lansford himself, standing out there alone in the first quarter, his 37-yard field-goal attempt having bounced off the right upright in what would be the Rams’ greatest scoring chance of the afternoon.
The Rams should have known then that things were not meant to bounce their way, that it would be their fate to slip on one banana peel after another.
The loss dropped the Rams to 7-3 and cut their lead in the NFC Western Division to just one-half game over the San Francisco 49ers. And look who’s charging from the outside? Could it possibly be the Saints at 5-5?
“I think we’re going to win our next six games and end up 11-5 and go to the playoffs,” New Orleans linebacker Rickey Jackson said.
Jackson, obviously, wasn’t a Saints’ history major in college.
But who’s to say at this point?
The Rams thought they had their division in a choke-hold after last Monday night’s dramatic, 20-17 win over the Chicago Bears.
“We had great momentum after Monday night,” Ram Coach John Robinson said. “But maybe the reality of this league is that unless you’re one of those really super teams, maybe you don’t put (together) three wins in a row. We’ve never claimed to be a great team. I don’t think that adjective has ever been used.”
Ram fans may have found a few other adjectives to describe their team Sunday.
The Rams stood afterward and swore on a stack of Cajun pancakes that a week on Bourbon Street had nothing to do with their three fumbles, one interception and first regular-season shutout since the 1981 season.
And, really, how was this offensive performance (172 total yards) that much different than any of the rest?
In its previous three games, the Ram defense had spotted the offense the first touchdown of the game.
So where were scoring threats LeRoy Irvin, Mark Jerue and Nolan Cromwell when the Rams needed them?
Actually, the defense and special teams did their best to get the Ram offense its weekly point injection.
Early in the first quarter, Irvin intercepted a Dave Wilson pass at the Ram 26-yard line. That drive ended with a resounding punt.
Later in the quarter, Kevin Greene recovered an Eric Martin fumble on a punt return and ran the ball 13 yards to the Saints’ 22-yard line.
Then came Lansford’s missed field goal.
Cornerback Jerry Gray saved a Saint touchdown in the second quarter when he slapped the ball out of Martin’s hands at the Ram two after a 48-yard reception and run. Irvin recovered at the four.
Later in the quarter, safety Vince Newsome intercepted another Wilson pass and returned it 11 yards to the Ram 42 with 32 seconds left in the half.
But the Rams turned right around and gave it back, on a Mike Guman fumble at the Ram 46.
The Saints had five turnovers in the first half, the Rams two.
“It was very clear we had the ball in their scoring area,” Robinson said. “We just didn’t get it in.”
So a scoreless first half spilled over into the third quarter, when the Saints set out on the most impressive drive of the day. They started at their own 26 and kept the ball for 16 plays and nearly 11 minutes (10:50) before settling for Andersen’s 20-yard field goal.
On the next series, Ram quarterback Steve Dils fumbled a handoff to Dickerson, with James Haynes recovering for the Saints at the Ram 14, leading to a 22-yard Andersen field goal with 12:31 left in the game.
“It’s got to be my fault,” Dils said of the fumble. “It happened so quick. The ball slipped and hit him (Dickerson) high. To tell you the truth, I really don’t know what happened.”
With all the mistakes, the Ram offensive machine never got out of first gear.
“We like to beat people down,” tight end David Hill said. “On those couple of drives, when we turned over the ball, we just gave them more energy.”
The Saint defense played as if it had collectively stuck a finger in a light socket.
The Saints, led by linebackers Jackson (10 tackles) and Sam Mills (11 tackles) were on a mission to stop Dickerson. And they did just that, holding him to eight yards rushing in the second half.
“Most of what we did on defense we’ve been doing all season long,” New Orleans Coach Jim Mora said.
The Saints, in fact, have allowed only two runners (Cliff Austin of Atlanta and Washington’s George Rogers) 100-yard rushing days this season.
The Rams, trailing 6-0 in the fourth quarter, made their one and only serious drive to win with 8:13 remaining.
Dils, who completed 16 of 34 passes for 134 yards, finally was allowed to attack the Saint defense with something other than the Rams’ “Horizontal Bop,” the game plan which states that no forward pass may cross the line of scrimmage.
Dils took the Rams from their own 20-yard line to the Saints’ 21. Dils had big third-down completions to Henry Ellard for 22 yards and to Michael Young for 13.
But on first down at the 21, a Dils pass intended for Ron Brown was intercepted by cornerback Dave Waymer at his own nine-yard line. He returned it 17 yards to the 26 with 2:52 remaining.
“I threw it too early,” Dils said of the pass, “And I threw it behind him (Brown).”
The Rams got the ball back at their 20 with 39 seconds left, but were out of timeouts and, in reality, much hope.
So, instead of a doubleheader sweep of Chicago and New Orleans, the Rams come home with only a split. And a splitting headache.
“It’s the roller-coaster life,” Ram guard Dennis Harrah said. “One minute you’re so high and the next you’re so low. It’s a horrible feeling. I don’t feel too good right now.”
Neither does Lansford.
And guess which city in the south with all that good food and jazz couldn’t give a hoot?
’. . . maybe the reality of this league is
that unless you’re one of those really super teams, maybe you don’t put (together) three wins in a row. We’ve never claimed to be a great team. I don’t think that adjective has ever been used.’--JOHN ROBINSON
