It Wasn’t Pretty, but Rams’ Win Was Worth Wait : Football: Despite conservative offense and Zendejas’ misses, 14-0 victory over Patriots ends 11-game losing streak.

ANAHEIM —  How long? Some of the Rams didn’t remember, some didn’t care, and some remembered the last time they had tasted victory in excruciating, bittersweet detail.

How long? After the Rams completed their 14-0 victory over the New England Patriots Sunday, they acted like little boys let loose in a long-quiet house, flashing smiles that had been pent up for 11 games.

How long? They waited more than 11 months for this, endured almost a year’s worth of complete failure, and although it came in a quirky fashion, for the Rams, it was everything they had been missing since last Oct. 13. It was a victory, their first shutout since Oct. 9, 1988, when they beat the Falcons, 33-0, in Atlanta.

Tony Zendejas, the kicker who did not miss once in 1991, missed three field goals Sunday, but the Rams won. They took advantage of a Patriot quarterback who was suffering from a shoulder separation almost the entire game.

They totaled only 13 first downs, but they are 1-1 and tied for first place--and last--in the NFC West.

No one is nominating them as the league’s new superpower, and a few may point to the Patriots as its new doormat. But the Rams still won.

Maybe those lucky teams who win more than three or four times every year or so can be cool about the whole victory thing, but for the Rams, this was a shutout to shout about.

“Man, you bet I knew we had lost 11 straight,” said cornerback Todd Lyght, who intercepted two passes Sunday. “It got so I didn’t know if we were ever going to win a game here.

“So right now, I’m just thrilled. I’m so happy I don’t know what to do.”

The Rams, who started the season with an embarrassing 40-7 loss in Buffalo last Sunday, snapped back with their best defensive performance in years in front of an Anaheim Stadium crowd of 40,402.

An imposing pass rush--and when is the last time that was said about the Rams--netted seven sacks and harried Patriot quarterback Hugh Millen into four interceptions.

For a Ram defense that garnered only 17 sacks and 11 interceptions for all of 1991, this qualifies as a rampage.

“The monkey’s off our back,” said Ram quarterback Jim Everett, who, sticking to a conservative game plan, completed only 10 of 22 pass attempts for 130 yards. He had no touchdowns, but most importantly, no interceptions.

“We needed a win, and somehow, someway, our defense stepped up to the plate and hit some home runs for us. They did a fantastic job,” Everett said.

“A victory. It’s just amazing how things might just start rolling once you start winning. We’ve had a lot of criticism about us, we had a tough one the first week. You come back and get a win, that’s kind of nice.”

Millen, by the way, separated his left shoulder in the first quarter, and played like it the rest of the game, completing only 18 of 32 attempts for 145 yards.

But when you lose your last 10 consecutive games to close 1991 and lose Game No. 1 of the Chuck Knox Era II by 33 points, you take a wounded quarterback and four interceptions and seven sacks and you run.

And you jump and you yell and you laugh. Which is exactly what this young Ram team did.

“I just think this is more of a moral victory than anything,” cornerback Darryl Henley said. “It’s been a long, long road.

“Some people could look and say, ‘Well, they’re 1-1, they’re acting like they just won the Super Bowl.’

“But you’re talking about a team that has just been struggling up hill for a year and a half, (was) anxious to play and then when you get your chance to play, you go and you get cracked in Buffalo your first game.

“To get this victory, well, it’s been a long time.”

It was a long time before the Rams could actually score points of their own against the Patriots’ defense, but they eventually came in the second half.

Determined to run the ball more than they did last week and keep Everett protected from error-forcing pass rushers, the Rams used a lot of two- and even three-tight end sets and gave the ball to Cleveland Gary and Robert Delpino a combined 27 times for 121 yards.

Gary took care of the scoring, punching in one- and nine-yard touchdown runs.

The Rams’ defense made the safe-and-sane offensive game plan work, mainly with constant pressure from linebacker Kevin Greene (three sacks in this game, three sacks all of 1991) and defensive lineman Mike Piel (two sacks in the game, one last year).

After a scoreless first half which featured the first field goal Zendejas has missed in his year-plus career as a Ram--and ended his flirtation with an NFL record for most field-goals made in a row--the Rams’ defense set up a scoring situation for the struggling offense.

On the first play of New England’s second second-half possession, defensive end Gerald Robinson knocked the ball from Millen’s grasp and into the hands of linebacker Roman Phifer.

One play later, from the Patriot 39, Everett threw to Flipper Anderson in the end zone, and only obvious pass interference by cornerback Jerome Henderson prevented the score. That was handled soon enough by Gary’s one-yard plunge after the penalty was assessed.

The Rams’ defense continued to pound New England, which did not get past midfield in the second half. But the offense didn’t put the game away until deep into the fourth quarter, set up once again by a turnover--this time Lyght’s second interception of the game, which he returned to the Patriot 11.

Two Gary carries later, it was 14-0 and the Rams’ only remaining goal was to keep that zero on one side of the scoreboard.

“It’s not even the shutout,” Piel said. “It’s just getting that win. And earning it. We felt like we really earned it. It was just hard-nosed football, just keep after them and try to keep them out of the end zone.”

And after last week, anything resembling a rout of the Rams was sure to make the criticism harsher and the burden of a losing streak heavier.

“If we don’t win, all we’re going to read about, hear about every day is the same old show, same old routine,” Knox said in a rare concession to outside influences. “So I think the win was important for us.

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