Ram Notebook : Lansford Wouldn’t Mind a Bit More Leg Work

There have been busier seasons for Ram placekicker Mike Lansford. Take last year, when Lansford made 22 of 29 field-goal attempts and added 38 extra points. Except for the seven missed field goals--four of them from 40 or more yards--Lansford couldn’t have been happier.

So along comes the 1986 season and, well, some unexpected vacation time. Entering Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Saints, Lansford had tried only 14 field goals, an average of about 1.3 attempts a game. New England Patriot Tony Franklin, who leads the National Football League in placekicking, does that in a quarter.

But Sunday was a welcome change for Lansford. Four field goals in four attempts (32, 47, 29 and 44 yards) saw to that.

Now, Lansford is 13 for 18, which means he still has to try about three field goals in each of the next four games to match last season’s number of attempts. So? says Lansford.

“(The Saints’) Morten Andersen, Tony Franklin . . . those guys are getting in two, three times a game,” he said. “You develop such a rhythm, a strong confidence. You can go out there and you basically feel you can make it.”

Lansford said he feels the same way, though he has been tested by a variety of dilemmas this year. There’s the usual last-second-kick stuff, such as the one he converted against the San Francisco 49ers Sept. 14 (the only other time this season he has attempted four field goals) and again against the Chicago Bears Nov. 3. And, of course, the inactivity hasn’t helped. “I haven’t had that many opportunities,” he said.

On occasion, Lansford must also overcome a phobia of sorts: the right hash mark.

“I have had more success from the left,” he said. “From the right hash, I’m afraid of really hooking the ball. I lead the ball to the right and I hit that upright quite a bit in practice.

“You look back to the New Orleans game and I hit the upright and last week (against the Patriots) I was afraid of hitting the upright, so I hooked it. So I was a little indecisive out there and I started guiding it. I really worked on the right hash this week.”

Given a choice, Lansford would prefer to kick from the left side of the field (he didn’t miss a kick from the left hash last season). He said he wouldn’t be surprised if Ram coaches consider this as they decide their plays, especially, he said, “if it’s a real crucial kick.” Remember, the last-second field goal to beat the Bears earlier was from the left hash mark. “Yes, Coach (John Robinson) knows my percentages.”

Lansford, who has never made more than four field goals in a game (he had four against the New York Giants Nov. 10, 1985), almost was given a fifth chance late Sunday. But Robinson, with the Rams comfortably ahead and time running out, decided against risking a blocked field goal. “I was ready for (No. 5),” Lansford said. “But I can see where John was coming from. If I make the kick, fine. If I miss the kick, then I give them an opportunity.”

Ram running back Mike Guman will undergo arthroscopic surgery this morning to repair an injured medial collateral ligament in his right knee and “apparently” is lost for the remainder of the season, Robinson said.

Guman suffered the injury on Eric Dickerson’s four-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. Ram trainers later said that a New Orlean Saint player fell on Guman’s knee on the play. The extent of the injury isn’t yet known.

“We’ve lost Mike,” Robinson said, “and that’s a blow to us.”

Last season, Guman tore ligaments in his right knee and missed eight games.

Leave it to Ram cornerback LeRoy Irvin to promote next Sunday’s game against the 10-1 New York Jets. Not only did he manage to slight the much-improved Saints, but he also offered a prediction for the Jet game.

“New Orleans is a good team and we respect them and everything and they’re going to be a fine football team, but our big game is next week,” he said. “This game was a big game for now, but it wasn’t really that big of a game, really. This game this week is the big game. We’re gonna be ready for this one.

“(The Jets) have a legitimate team, they have a legitimate shot at the Super Bowl and we’re gonna beat them now and we’ll probably beat them in Pasadena, too. We have to beat them this week, we have to. I only have a few more good years left. I’ve got to get to Pasadena sooner or later, this might as well be the year.”

Irvin has a theory: The more outrageous the statement, the better he plays come game day. Ram defensive coordinator Fritz Shurmur isn’t fond of such talk, but sometimes Irvin can’t help himself. For instance, LeRoy, what about Jet wide receivers Al Toon and Wesley Walker?

“(Toon’s) a great player,” he said. “I admire him. I admire Wesley Walker, too. I think they’re great guys. But me and (cornerback Jerry) Gray are coming to town and we have to show the world who’s robbing the train. Me and Jerry will rob the train.”

And how about the victory against the Saints?

“Their season was riding on today,” he said. “They knew they had to win today to stay alive. They’re a good team, not a great team. They’ll be reckoned with.”

Boxing is alive and well . . . at Anaheim Stadium. According to Anaheim Police Department Sgt. Ray Welch, who oversees crowd control at the stadium, there were 14 fights in the stands Sunday. By game’s end, police had made 2 arrests, issued 8 citations and ejected 19 people. The last two minutes of the game were especially action-packed as at least three fights broke out in the stands.

How did it compare with other Ram crowds?

“In fact, it was less than what we had last week,” Welch said.

The totals last Sunday: 4 arrests, 7 citations and 21 ejections.