ANALYSIS : If Everett Says So, Rams Must Have Had a Bad Year

Camelot, if it ever existed at Rams Park, lies in ruins, and Lancelot was not exactly in a forgiving mood as he wandered through the wreckage.

So, when the Rams’ journey from the NFC title game to an 11-loss season ended, the team’s most renowned and most lavishly rewarded soldier stood up, gathered reporters to his locker and delivered his own indictment of the front office.

How better to cap off their 5-11 year and head into 1991 than to have quarterback Jim Everett, the team’s most essential and diplomatic player, give clear evidence the roiling waters that tore apart the Good Ship Ram in 1990 are far from calmed.

“There’s some things I think that management is going to have to change for this team to be victorious,” Everett said, suggesting the team should have been more active in the Plan B market and in getting its current players signed and into camp. “I’m not sure exactly what all those are, but we’re a 5-11 team.

“We have to be aggressive and get some people in here to play. When we do get the people, we have to have them signed and in here playing, especially if we’re asking them to do different things.”

It was as direct and well-planned a broadside as Everett ever will make at the front-office’s perceived penny-pinching--particularly with linebacker Kevin Greene, who held out for all of training camp and couldn’t adapt to the Rams’ new defense once he finally signed.

Everett, who benefited enough from last year’s run to land a $15-million deal, is probably the one Ram who could afford risking management wrath.

The words weren’t exactly vindictive, but given Everett’s history of staying two or three arm-lengths from any hint of controversy, this was revolutionary stuff.

“If you look at our entire year, we were unstable,” Everett said. “We were unstable at running back, we were unstable at where Kevin Greene was going to rush from. . . .

“We were totally unstable, and it reflected on our play. And I think it was totally unfair for Kevin Greene, just asked to come in--what was it, a week or two before the regular season?--and . . . asked to do an entirely new defense. Totally unfair.

“So you put the blame where you want.”

Asked for a response to Everett’s statements, Ram Executive Vice President John Shaw had no comment.

One sure thing to come from this chaotic year is that John Robinson will be back as coach in 1991, probably with increased influence on personnel matters and the knowledge that owner Georgia Frontiere stands behind him.

But Frontiere’s surprise five-paragraph announcement that Robinson would stay and would have more power was made in vague terms last week, and Everett suggested that unless there are changes in the team’s front-office decision-making process to benefit Robinson, he isn’t sure the Rams will ever regain their lost glory.

“There’s still some things--it’s good to know that your coach is going to be back, but there’s some things--that still weren’t explained in that five-paragraph thing, in how much exact control (Robinson has) . . . ,” Everett said. “When those exact things come out and things are spelled out in our organization, I think things can be worked out.”

A few questions:

--Where does Shaw, who was until last week supposed to be the main man among the Rams, fit in a possible front-office shakeup? Does this mean the Rams are committed to paying more money to their players, or is it just status quo with a happy face?

--Who really is in charge of the draft? Will whoever makes the choices repeat the mistakes of the previous several years, when the team failed to recoup dramatic draft results from the blockbuster package obtained for Eric Dickerson?

--What personnel changes is Robinson planning--in trades or involving in Plan B?

--Will he clean house with his coaching staff? Defensive coordinator Fritz Shurmur and the rest of the defensive staff and special teams coach Jairo Penaranda seem the most likely to be removed, offensive coordinator Ernie Zampese the least.

--Which is most indicative of the Rams’ talent level: The dramatic run in the playoffs in 1989 or the march to nowhere in 1990?

“Just last year, if we would have lost to New England (on the final weekend of the season), we wouldn’t have been in (the playoffs or gotten to) the NFC Championship game,” cornerback Jerry Gray said. “It was basically one pass on fourth down that got us in.

“And that’s basically how the season’s been. Instead of making those plays like we did last year, we haven’t made any plays.”

The key word for the off-season appears to be aggressiveness , with Robinson looking to make bold moves to add strength to a team that too often was pushed around.

“The way we played this year, I think there definitely need to be some major changes made,” safety Vince Newsome said. “And there will be changes made. That’s reality.”

For the Rams, this was the dreary reality in 1990:

--On defense, the failures came almost every week, from the opener against Green Bay backup quarterback Anthony Dilweg through Chicago’s Jim Harbaugh and San Francisco backup running back Dexter Carter all the way to last Monday night’s collapse that allowed New Orleans to win the game in the final seconds.

After determinedly sticking to their new four-man front while Greene and defensive end Doug Reed were training-camp holdouts, the Rams had to ditch the system after yielding almost 600 yards to the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 4 because Reed and Greene continued to be confused by the change once they rejoined the team.

But even after reverting to the old 3-4, soft-zone scheme, the Ram defense stayed porous. Where the patchwork defense of 1989 gritted it out and made some key plays in clutch situations, the same basic personnel in 1990 seldom got near enough to the quarterback to mean anything and were beaten consistently in the secondary.

When Gray and Larry Kelm were temporarily lost because of knee injuries suffered in the Rams’ final exhibition game, the defense became a mess of second-line players performing as second-line players normally do.

Even while ranking last against the pass in 1989, the Rams totaled 21 interceptions and 42 sacks, showing they could turn in a big play at least sporadically.

This season, the Rams’ 27th-ranked defense against the pass had only 12 interceptions and 28 sacks, showing that they were both bland and ineffective.

Look for the Rams to add veteran depth with a batch of Plan B free agents on defense, then go after the best quarterback-pressuring defensive lineman or secondary player with their top pick in this year’s draft.

“There definitely needs to be a little more aggressive players, so that playing Ram defense means playing aggressively,” Newsome said. “That wasn’t happening this year.”

--On offense, the failures were subtle but enough to cause Everett and Robinson to talk recently about veering away from what they see as an over-dependence on the big play--and, inevitably, Everett--and going back to the basics of a power running game and short passes.

Everett’s pass-efficiency rating plunged from last season’s 90.6 to 79.3 this season, a reflection of throwing for 321 fewer yards in 36 more attempts and completing only 55.4% of his passes. He was uncomfortable being pressed to throw when the Rams fell behind early, and it showed.

Although Everett led the Rams to several dramatic victories in 1989, the magic was gone in ‘90, typified by the loss in Anaheim to New Orleans when his last-chance pass fell five yards short of Buford McGee, who wouldn’t have come close to scoring even if the pass had been true.

The Rams, after trading away 1,000-yard runner Greg Bell and hoping either Curt Warner or Cleveland Gary could handle the task, failed to come up with a 1,000-yard rusher for the first time in Robinson’s tenure and averaged only 3.8 yards a carry on the ground. Warner was a bust and was released; Gary fumbled himself out of the starting lineup and only five-year reclamation project Marcus Dupree ended the season as a plus.

“I think we have to go back and re-evaluate what our attack is on offense--a little hunt-and-peck type offense,” Everett said, “but still have the ability to go deep because we have the talent to.”

Robinson, in one of his hints about what he’s looking for next season, chose to highlight a return to the power game--with Dupree playing an active part--and away from the bombs-away style the Rams employed this season.

“One of the chief goals we’re going to set for next year is to be able to run the football with power, to go with our passing game,” Robinson said. “Our passing game is very good, and when we don’t overdo the passing game, try to be in a position where we don’t get away from the run, then we bring out the best in Jim Everett.”

--The special teams are the surest bet for sweeping changes. Punter Keith English was mediocre all year, averaging only 31.9 net yards a punt (13th among NFC qualifiers); kicker Mike Lansford made only 15 of his 23 field-goal tries; the Rams had no returners who instilled fear and the coverage squads gave up a spate of disastrous long returns from the middle of the season to the Saints’ 181-return-yard debacle Monday night.

So, after tumbling from being proclaimed the second-best team in football to the fourth- or fifth-worst (pending a coin flip with the Denver Broncos for the No. 4 draft pick), the Rams are trying to revive those Camelot memories for 1991.

“I have no doubt this team will be back,” Everett said. “Nineteen eighty-nine was a year where we made plays, we made things happen, the ball bounced our way. I think that this year was a time where the ball didn’t bounce our way.”

THE RAM NUMBERS RAMS

Category 1989 1990 Rushing Attempts 472 422 Rushing Yards 1,909 1,612 Rushing Avg. 4.0 3.8 Rushing TDs 19 17 Passes Attempted 523 561 Passes Completed 308 310 Passing Yards 4,133 4,016 Yards Per Pass 13.4 13.0 Passing TDs 29 24 Points 426 345 First Downs 321 311 Interceptions 21 12 Fumbles/lost 26/11 25/14 Punts/Average 74/38.3 69/38.6

OPPONENTS

Category 1989 1990 Rushing Attempts 404 427 Rushing Yards 1,543 1,649 Rushing Avg. 3.8 3.9 Rushing TDs 13 17 Passes Attempted 577 501 Passes Completed 345 296 Passing Yards 4,302 3,942 Yards Per Pass 12.5 13.3 Passing TDs 24 30 Points 344 412 First Downs 306 287 Interceptions 18 17 Fumbles/lost 38/15 32/19 Punts/Average 81/41.5 66/41.7