Rams Reach End of a Long Exhibition Season

A longer-than-usual exhibition season will mercifully end tonight for the Rams, who will play the Washington Redskins at Anaheim Stadium before moving on to better things--a regular season, for one.

The better game between these teams is nearly three months away, when the Redskins and Rams meet Nov. 23, a Monday night.

Tonight’s matchup promises to be a pattycake, watered-down version in comparison.

Coach John Robinson, in fact, would like it very much if his players practiced the art of self-preservation against the Redskins.

“I don’t want us to get hurt,” he said, revealing his game plan.

If the Rams can manage to win in the process, fine. But more important to Robinson are names that might appear on Sunday’s injury report, which would be a real killer considering that this game does little to explain either team’s place in the standings or the universe.

Remember, this now becomes the extra game for the Rams. Because of an early exhibition excursion to London, the Rams prepare for their fifth exhibition game, one more than the normal limit.

It all adds up to nervous time for Robinson, who may pull out his starters earlier than he did last week.

“As far as getting a full game from our starters, I don’t see it,” Robinson said. “You start to get into that third quarter and I turn chicken.”

In other calendar settings, this game would mean different things.

Redskin Coach Joe Gibbs can’t wait to get a look at the Rams’ new offense under Ernie Zampese, who worked with Gibbs in the late 1970s when they were assistants in San Diego.

Gibbs is predicting great things for the Rams.

“I think everybody is picking them to be one of the teams to beat to go to the Super Bowl,” Gibbs said. “The Rams already had one of the best coaching staffs in the league anyway. And now you add a guy like this (Zampese) to it; I think that’s a bad omen for everyone else.”

But Gibbs doesn’t expect to see much of Zampese’s offense tonight.

“Right now, they’re pretty much under wraps,” Gibbs said. “It’s preseason and it’s fairly basic.”

It’s not much different than the approach Gibbs will take, though the Redskins seem to have fewer weapons from which to choose.

Not making the trip for Washington were defensive end Dexter Manley and linebacker Neal Olkewicz, who have knee injuries, and tight end Clint Didier, who has a pulled hamstring.

Also not expected to play is running back George Rogers, who reinjured his left big toe after four carries in the Redskins’ 17-10 loss to Tampa Bay last week.

Gibbs isn’t saying how much he’ll play starting quarterback Jay Schroeder and others.

“It depends on how I feel,” Gibbs said.

For the Rams, this seems the perfect time to get another long look at quarterback Hugh Millen, who has looked good in two games, completing 12 of 15 passes for 152 yards. He sat out last week’s loss to Denver.

Robinson said that Millen may enter the game in the third quarter, before backup Steve Dils.

“I just want to see him play,” Robinson said.

Ram Notes Player representative Carl Ekern said Friday that the Rams are a strong union team and he believes all team members would support a strike, if it came to that. “I would assume so,” he said. “I haven’t talked to every guy on the team about it, but I would assume they would.” Ekern will attend a meeting of player representatives from the 28 teams in Washington Tuesday. . . . Running back Buford McGee, who came to the Rams in the Barry Redden trade with San Diego, may test his sore hamstring tonight. Big things were expected of McGee in the new Ram offense, but the injury six weeks ago has made him almost a non-factor. “We have to push it one way or another,” Robinson said of McGee’s injury. “Either he gets well or he goes on IR (injured reserve).

Charles White missed Friday’s practice because he was in West Covina taking his daily drug test. White usually returns from testing at 1 p.m. By that time, though, the team’s light Friday practice was nearly over. . . . Cornerback LeRoy Irvin is out of the lineup again. This time it’s because of groin and hip injuries. “I’m all screwed up,” Irvin said. . . . Eric Dickerson, who has sore hamstrings, didn’t practice but he’ll be in the starting lineup tonight. . . . Defensive end Shawn Miller said he wasn’t playing tonight because of his foot injury. Robinson said later that he was.

Tonight’s game matches the NFL’s fastest man in 1986, Redskin cornerback Darrell Green, with this year’s winner, Ram receiver Ron Brown. It was Green, remember, who caught Dickerson from behind during last season’s wild-card playoff game. Green didn’t compete in the fastest-man competition this year because of an injury.