Rams Strike Back at Falcons, Critics : Pro football: A 44-24 victory over Atlanta puts L.A. on a verbal offensive against doubters of defense.

Six weeks it took. Six weeks of doubts and dreary performances and whispers that the Rams’ castle was about to topple.

Six weeks and four losses, and the Rams are beginning to feel whole again, starting to snap back at those who point out that 1-4 was not the way to start a Super Bowl run.

You did know that these Rams had those critics right where they wanted them, right?

Six weeks is how long it took the Rams to finally meet and proceed to defeat the Atlanta Falcons, 44-24, before 54,761 at Anaheim Stadium Sunday afternoon, raising the Rams’ record to 2-4 and their expectations back to winning it all. This year.

“We went back to playing the kind of football I think we’re capable of playing,” Coach John Robinson said after his team put away Atlanta by scoring on eight consecutive possessions from the second quarter on.

“This football team, I believe, stuck together throughout this period of difficulty for us. We were mystified and shocked by some of the things that happened, but we stuck together throughout. There was no finger-pointing or no stepping away or no downcast eyes away from each other. I think we all shared in our misery.”

And Sunday afternoon, looking confident, calm and quite capable of scoring at will, the Rams, after again spotting their opponents a quick lead, shared in making the Falcons both miserable and 2-4.

Falcon Coach Jerry Glanville, always quick to seize on the proper (if not-so delicate) metaphor, explained it pretty clearly after the loss as he stood in a puddle in a tunnel of the stadium.

“How appropriate our locker room is backed up with sewage . . . ,” Glanville said, exaggerating some. “Before you enjoy the good times, you have to suffer. We need leaders to come in and pull us out of a locker room that’s full of locker and human waste. That’s what leaders do.”

Although Robinson and the Rams chose not to put it so colorfully, they for the most part acknowledged that their season was in trouble.

After snapping their three-game losing streak, they highlighted the positives of the day’s work and pointed out that in any 16-game season, a little rain must fall. And they assumed that, coming off Sunday’s performance in their first division game, their time to get drenched is over.

“What, we have 10 (games left)? We’re in the playoff hunt, just like everybody else,” Robinson said, denying that the Rams had made this week their last stand. “I mean, those are things that you all said. Those are not things we said. Because you all say them . . . doesn’t make them true to us.”

More than anything else, more than the 44-point output (the most they’ve scored since their 45-31 drubbing of the Giants in 1988), more than receiver Henry Ellard topping Elroy Hirsch to climb to the top of the Ram receiving list for a career, the Rams took time out to salute their defense--rewarding each of the team’s defensive coaches with game balls.

It is no coincidence that the defense in general and defensive coordinator Fritz Shurmur in particular bore the brunt of internal and external criticism about the 1-4 start.

Against the high-flying, high-scoring Falcon offense, the Rams buckled briefly, surrendering 10 points in the first quarter, then held relatively tight the rest of the way. That allowed the Ram offense to churn away unimpeded by worries of playing game-long catch up.

And that gave Ram defenders a chance to defend themselves and their coaching staff from recent articles that brought up Shurmur’s job security.

If you thought the Rams gave Falcon quarterback Chris Miller (14 for 24 for 170 yards) trouble, you should have seen the way they went after their critics.

“Seemed like a lot of the press was accusing the coaches of having bad game plans or whatever--had a lot of heat on Fritz Shurmur, our defensive coordinator,” said linebacker Kevin Greene, who forced a fumble that set up a touchdown when he sacked Miller in the second quarter.

“And I think everybody thinks that’s pretty much bogus. Fritz is the last person in this world worried about his job. He wants for this team to be winning, and he wants our defense to have a lot of pride.”

Said Robinson: “Obviously, criticism’s been focused on individuals when things go poorly, but again, we never saw it as any individual or individuals. It was all of us not doing very well.

“I think our defense was dominant in this game. They played together, they played well and they played each play.”

But to feel so proud, the Rams’ defense had another test of their fortitude when it got to be 10-0 and the Rams’ offense hadn’t scored in its first three possessions--a similar scenario to the early-game debacles in the Rams’ three-game skid.

“We’re getting used to getting behind,” defensive end Doug Reed said. “But we didn’t think, ‘Oh, God, here we go again.’ It was, ‘Hey, let’s hang in there.’ ”

Suddenly, the Rams not only began to hang in there against the Falcons, they began to stop them and started pouring in a lot of points against a surprisingly docile Falcon defense.

After those first three failed possessions, the Rams scored on eight consecutive drives, taking them from 0-10 to 44-17.

Quarterback Jim Everett, after starting off one of seven, hit on 23 of his final 31 pass attempts for three touchdowns. Overall, he threw for 302 yards.

Meanwhile, the Rams got their first 100-yard rushing day of season with Cleveland Gary bashing out 102 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries in a little more than three quarters of work.

The Rams began the onslaught by marching 80 yards on 11 plays, culminating in Gary’s 23-yard touchdown burst through the middle, the longest touchdown run by the Rams this season.

“It was a big, big thing for us,” Robinson said of the first score. “I think it got us going. I think our offense, for the first time this year, began to look like the offense that we had planned on having.”

On the next possession, Ram punt returner Mickey Sutton set up Mike Lansford’s game-tying 46-yard field goal up with a 22-yard punt return.

After stopping Atlanta on fourth and short, the Rams found themselves fourth-and-goal from about the Falcons’ two-inch line. They took the lead when Everett found tight end Damone Johnson wide open in the right corner of the end zone.

At the half, after another Lansford field goal, it was 20-10, and the Rams were about to really get going.

The defense had a momentary stumble when it let Falcon receiver Andre Rison free for a 71-yard touchdown pass, but the offense had it back under control after a 77-yard touchdown drive in which Everett was four of four for 77 yards, including a 35-yard touchdown strike to Henry Ellard.

That catch made it 27-17 Rams, and also pushed Ellard past Elroy Hirsch into first place on the Rams all-time receiving yardage list. Hirsch had 6,289 yards in his Ram career, and by the game was done, Ellard had 6,312 after catching six passes for 109.

“Just the name Elroy Hirsch is big time for Henry Ellard,” Robinson said, “just to be standing there thought of in the same breath as Elroy.”

Everett threw one more touchdown to Flipper Anderson, Gary had one more scoring run from two yards out and Lansford had one more field goal from 32 yards.

That made it 44-17, and the Rams were talking about getting back in rhythm, and marching all the way into January with a swagger.

“We never put the pressure on ourselves,” cornerback Jerry Gray said. “We were 1-4, and maybe people thought we were going to fold our tent and go home. But wait until January and see what our record is, that’s all I’ve got to say.”

Said Anderson: “This is us . This is who we are. This is the Ram football we expect to see for the rest of the season.”

Ram Notes

The Rams de-activated tackle Robert Cox and defensive back Alfred Jackson. . . . Aaron Cox was listed as probable before the game with a sore hamstring, but played. . . . The Rams, who had been outscored 59-35 in the second quarter this season, outscored the Falcons 20-0 Sunday. . . . Injury Report: Guard Tom Newberry (bruised right calf), running back Robert Delpino (bruised left hip), and linebacker Paul Butcher (mild left knee sprain).

* EVENING THE SCORE: Jim Everett hasn’t forgotten what Jerry Glanville has said about him. Mike Penner’s story, C14.