Ellard’s Streak Is Over, but Ram Wide Receiver Doesn’t Live in the Past : Pro football: After ending an 82-game string with at least one catch, he has caught 15 in four games.

The streak snapped, but Henry Ellard didn’t.

For 82 consecutive games, the Rams’ 31-year-old wide receiver caught at least one pass in each--through rain or snow, sickness or health, through the dark of last season’s 13 losses or the glory of his two Pro Bowl appearances.

Then last month, in the Rams’ 14-0 defeat of the New England Patriots, Ellard was shut out for the first time since 1985, and, on the heels of his two-catch, eight-yard outing the week before, the hard questions began:

At 31, in his 10th year, had Ellard lost a step? With new, conservative Coach Chuck Knox, was Ellard being slowly phased out of the offense?

Was he a wide receiver whose time had come and gone?

Faced with all of these issues, either out in the open or implied by the nature of the questions, Ellard stayed upbeat, kept any frustrations to himself and generally shooed away anybody who wanted to make a bigger deal out of his situation than was absolutely necessary.

He stayed quiet, calm and, as always, confident that his abilities would speak loud and clear.

Even in the good times, Ellard is at best a reluctant, if good-natured, interview, preferring to leave the talking to others. In the down time, Ellard was consistent.

“I think once you start trying to draw attention to yourself, you have to stay on (stage) all of the time,” Ellard said. “(If) you draw attention, they’re going to demand it.

“If you’re consistent, I think, everything will take care of itself. I let my actions do the speaking for me, rather than jumping around and creating any kind of attention toward myself.”

And, as usual, Ellard was right.

In the four games after that shutout, Ellard has caught 15 passes for 245 yards, jumped back into a receiving rhythm that could result in his fifth consecutive 1,000-yard receiving season and, last Sunday night, became the 31st NFL receiver with 500 receptions.

Come and gone? Ellard is still here and now.

He concedes he was rusty and out of rhythm in the early going because of a hamstring problem he aggravated while trying out for the triple jump at the U.S. Olympic trials last summer. Ellard missed most of training camp, and when he returned was not quite hitting the precise timing routes he runs in the Ram offense.

And Ellard agrees that the Rams’ passing attack is emerging from the long slumber of the past two seasons.

“It’s starting to come back around here,” Ellard said. “Coming out of the route, the ball’s right there. All that’s finally starting to come back into play. It’s just a sign of us getting better week by week.”

Now, with Week 2 a distant and fading memory, Ellard still says he never worried that his role in the offense was in a steady decline.

“It wasn’t like that at all because the way we had it in practice, I knew we were still going to throw the ball,” Ellard said. “It was just a matter of getting everything together.

“I know myself and how I feel. (Talk about losing a step) doesn’t bother me at all. People always talk, and I can’t get caught up into what people are saying. As long as I know how I feel and how the body feels, that’s my main concern. And (I have to) just go out and do what I can do.”

Can he do everything he used to be able to?

“I don’t see why not,” Ellard said. “I feel like I can. I don’t think anything’s changed as far as that goes. It’s just a matter of getting the opportunity to do that.”

And Ellard says he can keep going for several years.

Last Monday night, Art Monk, the Redskin receiver whose quiet nature is similar to Ellard’s, broke Steve Largent’s all-time NFL record for receptions with his 820th.

“Wow, 800 catches, I don’t know about 800 catches,” Ellard said. “But you know, it’s a challenge.

“My main goal is to keep myself healthy and just do what I can help this team get some wins under our belt.”

His position coach, Milt Jackson, said a big part of Ellard’s longevity is his Monk-like mental approach to the game: Stay quiet, listen and take advantage of every opportunity.

“Everybody knows Henry’s a good player,” Jackson said. “The thing about the good players that last a long time, they’re very smart players. When maybe they lose a step in speed, what they’ve learned about the game helps them a little more. They’re a little more witty about how to do things, a little smarter at looking (at) coverages and dealing with things like that.

“Henry’s as smart as any player that I have coached. Whether it’s (the) game plan, whether it’s on the field, whether it’s being a professional off the field, Henry’s a real pro.

“There are a lot of guys that play this game that are good players that aren’t (real pros), and it catches up with them real fast and they don’t last as long. The real pro can last a little longer, even though they’re losing some of the physical skills.”

Jackson, while quick to say Ellard is still in the prime of his career, said he thinks Ellard’s approach will keep him in the league long after his skills begin to erode.

“He doesn’t talk very much unless he’s got something to say or he’s got a question,” Jackson said. “If he’s got something to say, he’ll say it. If you ask him a question, he’ll answer it. Or if he’s got a question, he’ll ask it.

“Other than that, he doesn’t talk very much. But if he asks Ernie (Zampese, the offensive coordinator) a question when Ernie’s putting something up on the board, it’s a good question. He’s not just going to chatter.”