Face Lift Good for the Rams : Shuffling of Players Gives Team Versatility on Offense, Defense

The uniforms are the same--blue and gold with horns on helmets--but everything else about the Rams these days is different.

Remember when a “way out” offensive formation meant Eric Dickerson shifting his hands from his hips to his knees before taking a pitch?

Now, you can’t tell the players without a program director.

It was more like musical Rams in Sunday’s 34-7 victory over the Green Bay Packers, a real shuttle from the huddle.

Let’s take Pete Holohan, for example. By trade he’s a tight end. By the second quarter, though, he had lined up at fullback, H-back, wide receiver and point-man behind two backs in something that looked like an inverted wishbone. There’s allegedly one formation where Holohan pretends to hand out towels before ducking over the middle for a pass.

Buford McGee, the fullback, was also McGee the wide receiver. So was fullback Robert Delpino. Tailback Greg Bell said there are six more formations involving him that no one has seen yet.

“We’re kind of like (old) San Diego and L.A. combined,” Bell said of the offense.

What’s it all mean? Well, on Sunday, seven Rams had receptions and six players had at least one rushing attempt.

The offense has come a long way from 47-Gap.

“We had all those formations last year,” said Coach John Robinson, who hired offensive coordinator Ernie Zampese before the 1986 season. “But so many things stopped our progress.”

Mr. 47-Gap (Dickerson) was only one of the things.

Robinson still insists that when the going gets rough, the Rams’ ground game will have to get going, something it didn’t do against the Packers (only 114 total yards). So there’s still hope, all you eight-minute drive lovers. But maybe it all proves that you can teach an old coach new tricks.

“We played for years with one arm tied around our back,” Robinson said of his team’s inept passing game. “We’ve got to use both hands.”

The only question seems to be which has changed more, the offense or defense? Does this sound like an Entertainment Tonight poll?

Robinson thinks too much is being made of the new Eagle defense, though he admitted his team was in the alignment about 40% of the time against the Packers.

“I don’t want to give the impression that suddenly we’re a different defensive team,” he said. “We’re back playing defense the way we played it up until last year, in terms of intensity, aggressiveness. I think we’re back to getting the best out of ourselves. Last year, we were all a little hurt--startled at times when people referred to us as the porous Ram defense.”

Robinson’s point: The Rams were the National Football League’s fifth-ranked defense in 1986 before slipping to 21st a year ago.

“It isn’t the scheme that’s doing it,” he said. “That gets overdone. It’s not some new idea, it’s how hard they’re playing. If we just played that (Eagle) scheme 80% of the time, we’d get beat most of the time. It’s the mixture, aggressiveness and efficiency that make us good.”

Of course, if the players want to think the new defense is the reason, so be it.

Cornerback Mickey Sutton, 5-8 and 165 pounds, is the tiniest Ram. And maybe the luckiest. He probably made the team in 1986 only because of Henry Ellard’s prolonged holdout. Sutton also returned punts, Ellard’s job. Sutton made the team and has held on since.

It’s easy to get overlooked when you’re 5-8.

“You don’t have that same trust in him before you know him,” Robinson said. “You’re judging size-speed ratios and natural gifts, and those kind of guys come up short.”

Just a slip of the tongue. Sutton was a big man Sunday, handling six punts cleanly in tricky winds, and setting up his team’s second touchdown with a 46-yard punt return to the Green Bay 11.

And for a little guy, Sutton also plays a pretty mean cornerback.

“He’s in your face, man, he doesn’t care who you are,” Robinson said. “He’s going to bite you right in the nose. It’s just his attitude. He plays with great confidence.”

In other words, Robinson’s glad he kept him.

“He wasn’t the last cut this year,” he said. “There was no way I was going to cut him.”

Ram Notes

There are still about 22,000 seats available for next Sunday’s home opener against the Detroit Lions at Anaheim Stadium. . . . Coach John Robinson said outside linebacker Mel Owens played one of his best games as a Ram. Owens had a 10-yard sack, a fumble recovery, 3 tackles and 1 pass defended. . . . Linebacker Kevin Greene’s sprained ankle is not serious and he’ll be at practice Wednesday. . . . About the only negative aspect of Sunday’s game was the Rams’ kickoff coverage team, which didn’t do much covering. “Somebody said we should just kick the ball out of bounds and let them have it at the 35,” Robinson said. “We’ll get it straightened out.” Note: That usually means personnel changes. . . . Henry Ellard is supposed to start returning punts soon, though Robinson seems in no hurry after the way Mickey Sutton handled the job Sunday.