Undefeated Rams Hope to Continue Streak Against Buccaneers

TAMPA â€”  Talk about dry spells. Leeman Bennett hasn’t coached a victory in three years.

Giving him the best of it, though, he was out of football the last two. In a way, he still is.

Bennett, formerly an assistant with the Lions and Rams and later head coach at Atlanta, replaced the retired John McKay as field leader of the troubled Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who have continued to lose as if nothing had happened.

“I’m very surprised that we’re 0 and 5,” Bennett said this week. “I don’t think we’re blessed with a great amount of talent, but I think we could have won some ball games.”

That’s Bennett, always looking for the silver lining.

Bennett is the antithesis of his sharp-tongued predecessor, who has withdrawn from his bloody, personal war with the local media to an executive office, where he has closed the door and drawn the shades. Bennett, meanwhile, is his old self--Kentucky friendly, smiling, upbeat.

He doesn’t even cop out on an obvious excuse, a schedule that has overmatched his outfit against five straight winning teams, including the unbeaten Chicago Bears twice.

No excuse, Bennett says. “We’re just making too many mistakes.”

Folks here believe that they will be making their sixth mistake today when they play the National Football League’s other unbeaten team, the Rams. But you want to talk trouble? Ram Coach John Robinson is taking more heat with his 5-0 team than Bennett is feeling at 0-5, all of it concerning the Rams’ lethargic offense.

Tight end Mike Barber, who had caught only one pass all season, suggested to Robinson six days ago that the Rams should pass more, especially to him. Robinson, obliging, said he’d give Barber a chance to catch lots more passes--in Denver.

Reporters invited Bennett into the issue on the phone last week, requesting a comparison between the Rams and the Bears.

“(The Bears) do a lot of things (defensively) that lead to confusion,” Bennett said. “The Rams seem to play a little more of a basic 3-4 defense, rather than what the Bears do. They simply line up and whip you.

“Offensively, no longer are the Bears a one-dimensional type team. They throw the ball very well and make you defend against the pass, and if you start dropping too many people (into pass coverage), they have Payton, who can run at you.

“At one time, we all were aware that if you stopped the running game, you stopped the Bears. No longer is that true.”

It’s still true of the Rams, though. Despite Robinson’s intention to pose a passing threat, Eric Dickerson has been looking at more stacked defenses than the James gang at Northfield, Minn.

“I think we are gonna start taking advantage of it,” quarterback Dieter Brock said. “In the Minnesota game (last week), we really weren’t expecting to get that special defense and hadn’t worked on it, but that’s what we got the whole game. We’ve spent some time preparing for it this week.”

In other words, when the Buccaneers line up the band in front of Dickerson, heavy on the tubas, the Rams may consider their alternatives.

“We have to evolve into a passing team for balance,” Robinson said.

But Robinson also said that the Viking defense wasn’t the only reason Dickerson was held to 55 yards. “One thing we didn’t do was block.”

If the Rams’ offense commands little respect, however, their defensive dominance has given them cause for arrogance. The defense has surrendered a league-low 62 points and last week whipped up a last-second goal-line stand that beat the Vikings, 13-10.

Ram Notes Bill Bain, the All-Pro offensive left tackle, will miss his first start in three seasons today because of being “generally beat up,” Coach John Robinson said. Second-year pro Tony Slaton will start at right guard, allowing the veteran Irv Pankey to move to Bain’s position. . . . The Rams and Washington Redskins are the only NFL teams that haven’t allowed a 100-yard game by an individual runner or receiver. But Tampa Bay’s James Wilder leads the league in rushing with 526 yards and is also the third-leading receiver with 31 catches. . . . Should anything happen to Dieter Brock, Coach John Robinson says the backup quarterback depends on the situation. “Steve Dils is our short-relief man and Jeff Kemp is our long-relief man,” Robinson said. Translation: Dils would be used to control a game, Kemp to play catch-up. . . . Don’t adjust your sets this morning. It’s just Orange Sunday here. Fans have been urged to wear orange, and the Buccaneers will wear their orange jerseys for the first time this season. . . .Eric Dickerson rushed for 191 yards and 3 touchdowns in the Rams’ 34-33 win at Tampa last season. . . . The Rams rank 25th in offense and sixth in defense. The Buccaneers are tied for 14th in offense and 17th in defense.