There’s Little Defending Ram Season : Pro football: Injury-weakened defense has earned its spot as last in NFL.

Bill Hawkins and Brian Smith were part and parcel of the Rams’ best-laid plans, which opposing quarterbacks have made go awry.

The Ram coaches had hoped that Hawkins and Smith, 6-foot-6 second-year defensive linemen, could step into the middle of the defensive line on pass downs and cause chaos with their long arms and aggressive play.

Nobody was expecting miracles, but the anticipation was for something more than the zero sacks and 14 tackles the two injury-weakened defensive linemen have so far produced.

Now, four games and three defeats into the season, the Ram defense is ranked last and Hawkins and Smith clearly are feeling the heat.

Just this week, Coach John Robinson called the tandem’s lack of progress “the most disappointing thing” about a disappointing defense.

Without Hawkins and Smith providing an inside push from the tackle spots, quarterbacks have been free to sit back in the pocket and wait for a receiver to break clear.

And there is a real sense that until Smith and Hawkins start pushing around pass blockers, the Rams will be a defense without damage. So the Rams wait, worry and wonder why.

“Yeah, (there’s) definitely a lot of pressure on us to rush the passer,” Smith said. “But that’s just how it is. I mean, it has to fall on somebody.

“When things aren’t going well, everybody wants to know what’s going on or what’s happening or why this isn’t getting done or why that isn’t getting done. And the pressure has to be put on somebody. Somebody has to step up and do it.”

As the Ram coaches try to come up with a pass rush--plan more blitzes, consider moving players around--Smith says he knows it is still basically up to him and Hawkins.

“I’m not begging down from it,” Smith said. “I feel like I can do it. But so far it just hasn’t been going, for whatever reason, I don’t know. I feel the pressure, but it’s not something I’m afraid of.”

Hawkins, who attributes almost all of his problems to the knee injury he suffered at the end of last year and is still limited by it, says he is sure that the absence of a Ram rush is not permanent.

So far this season, the Rams have only eight sacks and Hawkins, who plays on most passing downs, has two tackles and no sacks.

“Do I feel like I’m letting down the team?” Hawkins repeated pointedly, “No, because I’m trying my hardest. I hope they (understand). I think it’s more than just one guy or one position or a couple guys inside.

“You always want to go out there and get 10 sacks, but you can’t dwell on the negatives of it. You’ve got to keep pushing, keep getting stronger.”

Hawkins was the Rams’ No. 1 choice from the University of Miami in last year’s draft and played in the first 13 games before hurting his knee. Smith was the second of three second-round selections that year, coming into the pros as a rangy stand-up end from Auburn who had to learn how to play defensive tackle.

Both were college-tested sackers, and both seemed to fit a scheme that featured linebacker Kevin Greene from the outside and tall, strong tackles coming from the inside.

They were supposed to develop together, transform the Rams from passive to aggressive. Instead, they have stalled together, and the Rams defense has stalled with them.

Defensive coordinator Fritz Shurmur said: “The only thing we did do when we developed the scheme was to say, ‘Hey, we’ve got some young guys we can put in this spot, make them productive as pass rushers and play the run OK.’ And obviously, we haven’t been productive in that area.

“What you’re looking for is production. Go in the game and make plays. Get to the quarterback, tackle the ballcarrier. That’s what the deal is.”

Hawkins says that up until about three weeks ago, he couldn’t even bend the knee, and was unable to get any kind of push on the pass rush.

He says he is coming along better now but acknowledges that this recovery is taking far longer than anybody expected and perhaps longer than the Rams can afford.

“I thought I was going to be ready for mini-camp,” Hawkins said. “In the beginning, up to about three weeks ago, it was the hardest thing I ever went through.

“But now I’m coming out here, getting the offensive guys mad at me a little bit. That’s when you know you’re doing something right.”

Robinson kept both Smith, who was nursing a series of little injuries after suffering a knee injury in the exhibition season, and Hawkins out of practice the week before the bye weekend, hoping they would come out of that layoff fit and ready to attack quarterbacks. Then came the Bengals last week, and neither was a factor.

Now, Robinson seems almost ready to move on without them. Thursday he conceded that the team isn’t going to spotlight the two so much on pass downs and that fellow second-year defensive tackle Mike Piel, a third-round pick who had a sack last Sunday, will play more.

“They’ll be more integrated in the group, but I think we’re going to keep that group playing,” Robinson said. “(But) where we were featuring them to a degree, (thinking that) hopefully they’ll develop into something, now we’re kind of backing off of that.”

But Piel, who wasn’t a big pass rusher in college, is coming off a serious elbow injury and is clearly a second choice. Hawkins and Smith were--and continue to be--the Rams’ major hope as big-time pass rushers.

“Of course it’s disappointing,” Smith said. “You like to feel like you’re putting yourself in position to help the team, and we feel like we aren’t. It’s just how it goes. When things aren’t going well, that’s just how it is.”