A Good Time Overdue for Irvin, Rams

WASHINGTON — LeRoy Irvin, like the Rams themselves, has been up and down, in and out. When he celebrates Thanksgiving, he will not be certain whether to be thankful for life’s blessings and bounty, or to permit somebody else to carve the bird, thereby keeping himself away from sharp objects.

Over the course of one unfinished football season, LeRoy has considered boycotting camp, then reported to camp, then walked out of camp to walk a picket line, then walked back into camp, then was ordered to leave camp, then was welcomed back into camp. Not even figure skaters get spun around like this.

After Monday night’s satisfying 30-26 win over the Washington Redskins, preserved by his last-minute interception, LeRoy looked understandably happy. He had just made what he, himself, hardly humbly referred to as the Rams’ “biggest play of the season.”

Right he was, although any play that improves a football team’s season record to 3-7 is not exactly going to be mentioned through the ages in the same breath as Jerry Kramer’s block in front of Bart Starr, or Franco Harris’ immaculate reception.

What Irvin did was not what one would call acrobatic. He happened to be in the neighborhood with less than half a minute to play when Doug Williams’ long haul came down in the direction of Art Monk in the end zone. Somebody tipped it, LeRoy was not even sure who, and next thing he knew, it fell right into his sticky fingers.

“I was just in the right spot, and got the garbage,” LeRoy said, invoking a basketball rebounding term.

Garbage, schmarbage. It was definitely a big play. Yes, maybe the big play. Because the Rams were due for some good news in the final minute of a football game after those two hard-luck losses before the strike, the ones to Houston and Minnesota from which the Rams and their replacement players, the Also-Rams, never did recover.

“If we had won those first two games, gone 2-0 instead of 0-2, it wouldn’t have hurt so much when the new guys lost three in a row,” Irvin said. “We’d still be in the playoff picture.”

Instead, the team turned into a loser, so roundly booed for its bad play and criticized for its handling of the Eric Dickerson matter that a producer could have made a TV movie about it: “Anathema in Anaheim.”

Not everyone agreed with certain observers, such as newspaper columnists (ahem) and ABC-TV analyst Dan Dierdorf, that the deal the Rams made with Indianapolis was a beauty, not a beast. Some thought that for the second time, counting the Carroll Rosenbloom-Robert Irsay swap, the Rams had given the Colts the whole franchise.

The popularity of the Rams may be rising, though. After all, the players of the last two weeks have stopped giving games away, doing some of their best work in the final portion of those game. They pounded 95 yards in 11 minutes to get the best of St. Louis, and fended off the advances of Washington’s Williams to hold onto a lead that the defense and specialty teams had arranged.

The Redskins were eager to show off their new offense Monday, one engineered by Williams, who was making his first start in place of the slumping Jay Schroeder. To a man, the Washington and Los Angeles players were effusive in their praise of Williams afterward, and Irvin made a point of seeking him out and saying, “Good luck the rest of the season, and I hope you kill everyone.”

What mistakes Williams did make were arguably his own fault, but more than likely were manufactured by the Ram defense, which--as the TV boys say--really came to play. Whether it was 6-foot 3-inch defensive end Doug Reed batting down two of the 6-foot 4-inch quarterback’s passes, or 32-year-old Nolan Cromwell sacrificing his old bones for his third punt block of the season, or defensive back Vince Newsome playing as fiercely as if he were auditioning for the Pro Bowl, the Ram defense was rocking and rolling.

They were pumped. Linebacker Mike Wilcher was so happy to be playing within blocks of his childhood home that he yanked a fumble away from Williams and ran for a touchdown with it, 95 seconds into the game. Linebacker Kevin Greene was so jazzed up that he socked Redskin center Raleigh McKenzie in the chops, and linebacker Norwood Vann grabbed a rookie safety named Steve Gage by the face mask and tried to drag him across the field like a hoe.

The Rams were overdue for such a good time, and in time for Thanksgiving, they were grateful for small favors. Quarterback Jim Everett’s knee injury was not a replay of the Monday night mauling that ended Joe Theismann’s career, and most of the Rams walked away from the game uninjured. That, itself, is something for which to be thankful.

LeRoy Irvin, more than some, left the place a happy man. Or at least, a happier man. He is back playing again, starting again, no longer a pariah, no longer in the coach’s doghouse. Maybe he doesn’t make the money he deserves, but maybe he will work that out at the proper time, with last-minute interceptions to use as references.

He was so happy that when someone wondered whether he would receive a game ball for Monday’s performance, LeRoy didn’t even want one. “I don’t need it,” he said. “I’ve already got plenty.”

Happy Thanksgiving, LeRoy.