Now, It Is Robinson’s Job to Put the Pieces Together

John Robinson will open the Rams’ training camp Sunday with prospects of a new quarterback, a makeshift defensive line and a holdout by Eric Dickerson.

Among these uncertainties is a subtle mandate for Robinson to make beautiful music suitable for the team’s 40th season in Southern California, its sixth in Anaheim. Maybe the owner’s husband, composer Dominic Frontiere, could help.

But what fears can the future hold for a coach who will turn 50 July 25 after having already breezed through a mid-life career crisis by at least restoring the Rams to respectability in his first two seasons?

In a three-month stint as a USC senior vice president of university relations--a fund-raiser--between his coaching jobs with USC and the Rams, Robinson realized that he was too old to adjust to a new life style and too young to retire.

“The thing that shocked me the most was that outside of the sports world, there isn’t the passion for what you do,” Robinson said.

The money was better in coaching, too, so when Georgia Frontiere beckoned, Robinson accepted, and he attacked the job with a purpose.

“I came in the first year, saying, ‘We’re gonna be a tough football team, and we’re gonna tackle you and chase you down and be physical and play special teams hard--and we’re gonna run the football,’ ” Robinson said. “I thought that was the cornerstone of any team, and we’ve done that.”

He says now he wouldn’t do it any other way.

“What I’ve had to do is add stones each year. I wasn’t gonna come in and say, ‘We’re gonna do it all.’ In terms of building things, you can’t try to do it all.

“Now, I have a clearer understanding of the league, but we went from 26th to 8th the first year, so we knew some things. We were on the right track.”

It’s similar to the formula Bill Walsh used to build the 49ers into Super Bowl champions in his third and sixth seasons. Walsh started with what he knew best--passing--and Robinson led with his strength, which is running, ignoring a flock of flashy quarterbacks to draft Dickerson.

But after a 9-7 first season that ended with a wild-card playoff victory over the Dallas Cowboys and the 51-7 New Year’s Day massacre in Washington, the Rams weren’t appreciably better in ’84 with a 10-6 performance and a wild-card loss to the New York Giants.

The latter low point is notable for Robinson’s effort to get tricky on second-and-goal at the four-yard line. He used as a decoy the guy who had just broken O.J. Simpson’s record with 2,105 yards, giving the ball instead to Dwayne Crutchfield, who was dropped for a loss.

Robinson won’t make that mistake again, at least not with Crutchfield. He released Crutchfield and signed Charles White, who at USC helped him win three Rose Bowls. White also won a Heisman Trophy for himself.

White, who played five undistinguished seasons in Cleveland, will be used as a utility back and to return kickoffs, and maybe some of the USC spirit will rub off on his new teammates.

Or White could become Barry Redden’s backup if Dickerson’s new agents--Ken Norton and Jack Rodri--tell him not to report when the veterans are due July 29. They are seeking some financial recognition of the rushing record, but the Rams don’t want to break policy and renegotiate the two years remaining on Dickerson’s contract.

This week in Nevada, the Rams were posted as no better than 15-1 to win the Super Bowl, behind eight other clubs. Robinson agrees.

“We’re still about eighth in the league, in my view,” he said. “What gets you from eight to one? I don’t think you’re gonna have dramatic impact in new personnel. Right now, the growth for us has to be in how we improve within, how we’re able to specifically enhance each man’s skill. For one guy, it’s getting bigger; for another guy, it’s focusing in on something he can do.”

Robinson has called White “the toughest man I’ve ever been around,” but White would need to grow six inches, put on 100 pounds and change positions to become what the Rams really need--instant impact in the defensive line. The draft was of no apparent help.

“Defensively, we need to be able to play in the pass situations, to put pressure on the quarterback,” Robinson said.

By the time the Rams drafted last spring, they had determined that the potential instant starters among the defensive line prospects were gone. So, they selected a defensive back, Jerry Gray of Texas.

With the National Football League’s general price rollback on first-round picks, there won’t be many in training camps for a while, anyway, and one thing the Rams won’t miss is a rookie defensive back. Gray hasn’t signed.

But, especially with Jack Youngblood’s sore back in question, where does that leave the defensive line?

“We’re gonna try to platoon in there,” Robinson said. “We need to create some sort of identity of a pass rusher. We need to take the people we have and get them focused into developing certain skills. We have to get six or seven linemen who all have to play.”

That’s another idea borrowed from Walsh.

“We’re gonna try to copy the 49ers a little bit,” Robinson said. “They did a great job of enhancing a man’s skills and saying, ‘Hey, that’s your job. You go in on third down and get to that guy.’ ”

“(Tight end) David Hill was a good example of us bringing in a player who had a specific skill. He could block. We took that and used that.

“Now, the more specific things we fit into specific notches, the better chance we have. Obviously, there are no pegs to fit into the defensive line holes that are what you want, so there has to be a plan of, ‘This is how we’re gonna make this work.’ ”

Robinson has two other serious considerations.

“I’m looking to solidify the quarterback position,” he said. “We must make the quarterback and the passing game effective.”

To that end, he signed Dieter Brock, at 34 an 11-year veteran of the Canadian Football League who appears to have received an arm transplant from Popeye. Brock must win the job from last year’s stop-gap starter, Jeff Kemp, who took over when Vince Ferragamo injured his passing hand.

Kemp isn’t opening any doors for Brock, but the outcome of the contest seems predetermined. Brock, from Birmingham, Ala., apparently will be Robinson’s ninth starting quarterback in his 10 seasons as a head coach and the Rams’ . . . well, who’s counting?

Ferragamo’s fate was determined the day the Rams signed Brock, and he was told they wouldn’t mind if he didn’t come around for the quarterback workouts anymore.

But trading him has been a problem. Green Bay liked him but not at the price--a second-round draft choice--the Rams were asking. Buffalo was the only other team interested, but those talks have bogged down.

Robinson’s other major problem is one shared by every other coach in the league--adjusting to the NFL’s cutback from 49 players to 45, the minimum allowed by the 1982 collective bargaining agreement. Robinson’s plan is to have 21 offensive players, 21 defensive players, a punter, a placekicker, “and a wild card.”

Competition for the last spot should create considerable conversation over the next several weeks.

Robinson said: “I think it could be a third quarterback, the next-most talented player, the best special teams player. A lot of that will be affected by injuries in training camp.”

The new roster limit also is significant for some veteran players who were accustomed to going for the Gatorade when the kicking teams ran onto the field.

“With the 45-man squad, we need to get our special teams back to the level that they were, with perhaps a different organization,” Robinson said. “Some people that didn’t play special teams are going to have to now.”

So for Robinson, starting his second quarter-century in coaching, it’s upward and onward. He has never coached harder in the off-season than he has this year. He started shortly after the end of last season by bringing in his quarterbacks for special drills and leading the sessions himself.

Because of their union, veteran players are not required to come around for more than a few days during the off-season, but on some days, more than 30 were on the field. It was strictly voluntary, with compensation at about $35 a day, but the unofficial roll call said something about attitude that was not lost on the coaching staff.

No time will be wasted getting players into shape. That’s what the off-season was for.

“It’s going to be a very interesting camp, a very specific camp,” Robinson said.

Ram Notes The first week of training camp will be conducted at Rams Park, where some rookies, the quarterbacks and players coming back from injuries will report first. They’ll move to their usual summer base at Cal State Fullerton July 22, and all players are due in camp by July 29. . . . Like most NFL teams, the Rams will have fewer players in camp than last year, down from 90 to about 83, and there will be fewer than that if they don’t sign their top two draft choices, defensive back Jerry Gray of Texas and wide receiver Chuck Scott of Vanderbilt. Punter Dale Hatcher of Clemson, the third-round selection, and linebacker Kevin Greene of Auburn, picked in the fifth round, signed Friday.