Rams 1989 Season, A Fight to the Finish | LA Rams Yearbook

in August of 1989 the Los Angeles Rams traveled west 5,000 miles west to Tokyo the capital of Japan a city fast becoming the financial and industrial capital of the world [Music] the Rams received a grand welcome steeped in time-honored tradition the Rams and the National Football League had succeeded in stretching the helping hand of friendship across the ocean and rams owner and president Georgia frontier II has long realized that on the world stage football can be more than a game I've always felt that world peace would be helped and enhanced by young people who do things together competing are performing and now football I think because it is so typically American most of the countries are very interested in seeing what the Americans do and how they play for a full week The Ambassadors from Los Angeles honored their hosts by passing along the finer points of a great American game for the first time under the NFL's new international policy an officially sanctioned NFL game was held in Asia with the Tokyo Dome as the venue the game had long been a dream of the many fans of American football in the Far East a game that further the development of sports exchanges and mutual friendship between the United States and Japan Rams beat the 49ers in overtime but the team came home with much more than the winner's trophy it's something intangible you just know that it's happening that we've shared some common experience and with with excitement and joy yes the sharing it's a thrill for me to see another country like Japan become so excited and so enamored of something that we can give them it was it was quite a thrill as Georgia frontier a begins her 12th year as owner and president of the Rams she looks back on more than a decade of distinction during which she has provided leadership and direction she heads up a management team that works 12 months a year fashioning a championship game plan [Music] in 1989 the Rams were one of the NFL's elite teams and under head coach John Robinson they returned to the playoffs for the sixth time in seven years [Music] it was the Rams fate to tease and torture in 1989 they played nine games that were decided in the final minutes six of them in the last 16 seconds five as time expired they were six and three in those clothes down to the wire games backed into a corner in december the rams traveled east on three successive weeks as they clinched a playoff berth in new england smothered the eagles in philadelphia and then counterpunch their way to an overtime victory over the Giants in new york the road warriors from Los Angeles had traveled long and hard before they finally hit the canvas against archrival San Francisco at the final Bell the 49ers were crowned champions and the Rams were declared the number one contender the pieces are in place and the best is yet to come throughout the 1989 season from the first round to the last the Los Angeles Rams suffered the hard times and enjoyed the high times in a furious fight to the finish [Music] you a successful five-game pre-season got the Rams down to fighting weight the seasons opening bell then sounded in Atlanta where Rams defenders registered five sacks and running back Greg Bell came out of his corner swinging with 128 yards and two touchdowns in the Rams 31 - 21 win [Music] at home the following week Henry Ellard caught 12 passes for 230 yards and three touchdowns to key a 31 to 17 win over the Colts [Music] Mackowski again sets fires up and out to the right intercept in this time picked up the Rams defense went on the offensive the next weekend against Green Bay when safety Vince Newsome returned an interception 81 yards for the first touchdown of his career [Music] Rams forged a 31 to nothing lead after Greg Bell erupted for a 45-yard touchdown bells 221 yards rushing were the fourth highest in team history and his drive sustaining runs in the fourth period help the Rams escape with their third straight win 41 to 38 [Music] next up the 49ers rolls right to throw fires deep down the rifle flipper Anderson open caught at the 20 15 10 5 Willie Anderson caught the first touchdown pass of his career while the defense kept the Niners out of the end zone still the ram's trail 12 to 10 what would three minutes left in the final period the Rams forced the family quarterback Jim Everett then engineered a brilliant nine play 72 yard drive two of his passes found tied and Pete Holohan good for 47 yards the drive ate up all but two seconds on the clock to set up the game-winner [Applause] [Music] 26-yard thirteen [Music] from training camp until the conference title game injuries played an inconsistent Rams defense number 93 Doug Reed finished the season on injured reserve and depended on men like Sean Miller Mike peel and Alvin right to pick up the slack linebacker Kevin Green led the team in sacks for the second straight year and was joined by Fred Strickland Larry Kelm mark Messner Melo ins Frank stands Mike will chair and rookie George Bethune the special teams and secondary had their share of heavy hitters with the likes of Anthony Newman Vince Newsom Leroy Irvin Darrell Henley Alfred Jackson James Washington Jerry Gray and Mike Stewart [Music] in 1989 kevin green made his first trip to Honolulu for the Pro Bowl he has emerged as one of the league's finest and fiercest pass-rush specialists the best offense against greens tenacious charge is illegal even though opposing lineman may outweigh him by as much as 50 pounds greens assault never ceases in the offseason Green is a captain in the Army Reserve where he drives a tank on the football field he plays like one only his specialty is demolishing quarterbacks in the last two seasons no NFL player has had more sacks than Kevin Green [Applause] as Green has become one of the NFL's best at rushing the passer his unique blends of athletic ability and enthusiasm has helped make the Rams defense one of the league's most explosive the second Sunday in October found the Rams at home and alone atop the NFC West [Music] [Music] [Applause] hence the visiting Falcons the Rams never trailed from their first touchdown by Pete Holohan to their lives by Acrobat fullback Robert Del Pino the wind left the ranch at 5:00 and dull the only undefeated team in the NFL but in the weeks to come they saw themselves as far from perfect [Music] a 78 yard touchdown pass from Jim Everett to Willy Anderson didn't hold up as the Rams fell to the bills in the final second loss at home to the Saints was followed by another in Chicago the Rams played the Bears to a 3-3 tie late in the third quarter but the defense could not do it alone as the offense sputtered in the 20 to 10 loss [Music] the story was much the same in Minnesota the defense did not allow a touchdown with the Vikings one with seven field goals a safety and the occasional freak play before agonizing weeks the Rams couldn't catch a break or a victory they were at the crossroads it was time to stand up and find out what kind of team they were on November 11th the New York Giants found out the Rams laid their four game losing streak to rest with a 30 one to 10 market Jim Everett completed a club record 18 straight passes the left side the second-best toefl of all time against Phoenix the Rams got back into the hunt for a division title with one of their most convincing victories of the year pressure it fires up to the left side intercepted picked off by Michael Stewart at the 35 30 25 20 down to the tenth out of the five touchdown Los Angeles jumped out to a 24 to nothing halftime lead and never looked back in defeating the Cardinals 37 to 14 in a rematch with the Saints in New Orleans the Rams trailed 17 3 in the fourth quarter then closed the gap to 1710 on a 5 yard run by Buford McGee the ran still trailed despite a masterful performance by second-year wide receiver Willie Andersen on this historic day Anderson caught 15 passes for a league record 336 yards [Music] bribing get in the end zone slot left wide right flipper Ennis America throw fires for Anderson we want old to left it is Anderson's touchdown catch that sends the game into overtime and the Rams win 20 to 17 it is both the most exciting and frustrating game of the year our comeback of monumental proportions one that features the single greatest pass receiving performance in the 70 year history of the National Football League in only his fourth season in Los Angeles Jim Everett has become one of the NFL's elite quarterback he's brought up quickly and with maturity comes patience and the ability to see all of the field evaluate all of the options and deliver the ball in 1989 Everett was the only NFL quarterback to throw for over 4,000 yards and he led the league with 29 touchdown passes among Everett's targets are two of the NFL's premier receivers Willie Anderson and Henry Allen who became the second all-time leading Rams receiver with 70 catches for 1300 82 yards and eight touchdowns a hamstring injury prevented elet from starting four games still he turned in five 100-yard games and earned his second straight trip to the Pro Bowl Willie Anderson attacked the game with Ellen's fearless approach the 170-pound Anderson is tougher than a 50-cent steak and opponents who tried to stop him find they've bitten off more than they can chew Anderson and Ehlert became the most lethal tandem in the NFL when they combined to average over 22 yards of catch no two teammates in league history can make that claim Ellard and Anderson two for the road and the future a national television audience looked on as the rams met the defending world champions for the second time [Music] Los Angeles built a 17 to nothing lead while allowing the 49ers just seven offensive plays [Music] the Rams took a twenty seven to ten lead into the final period but there was a bad moon rising over Anton and yes there was trouble on the way the 49ers scored 20 unanswered points to win by three and to earn a wild-card spot in the playoffs the Rams had to win their last two games victim number one the New York Jets rookie Cleveland Gary scored his first NFL touchdown and linebacker Brett Baron has earned Defensive Player of the Week honors with three sacks and two fumble recoveries in the 38 the 14 LA win that left the Rams one win short of the playoffs they would have to clinch that spot on the road in New England in the dead of winter on Christmas Day 20 degrees below zero wind chill but this was Rams weather and it didn't bother cornerback Jerry Gray who returned one of three Rams interceptions for a touchdown and it couldn't stop Greg Bell who ran and ran for 210 yards and the game-winning touchdown with less than two minutes to play so the Rams had survived to play another day and earned another cross-country trip this time to Philadelphia and this time in the rain and fog the rams stood up to one of the seasons severus tests offensive lineman ERV panky Tom Newberry Doug Smith Tony Slayton Duvall love and Jackie Slater neutralized the favored Eagles and gave Jim ever at the time he needed to pass for 288 yards and two touchdowns equal 39 Everett back to throat sex looks fires up the right side to the 10 5 touchdown 39 yards [Applause] ever back to throw over the middle and cut for the [Applause] Defenders Kevin green Fred Strickland and company through a net around Randall Cunningham and held the Eagles to just seven points [Music] hey do some good this time Hey the Rams finally through their knockout punch in the fourth quarter when Greg Bell ripped off a 54-yard run to the Eagles ten 40 35 30 25 20 15 finally written down around the ten nine yard line to give the Bell up into the middle Bell struggling gets down to around the one-yard line and head for the touch with their 21 to 7 win the Rams earned the right to move another rung up the ladder so it was back to Los Angeles before returning East for the third straight week never in NFL history has a West Coast team made three straight trips East and won all three the Rams character and commitment was on the line against the New York Giants a team they had beaten in their two previous meetings the Giants easily won the first few rounds and pounded out a six-point lead when Jim Everett became an easy target for blows from Lawrence Taylor [Music] [Applause] with 24 seconds left in the half the Rams swung from the heat [Applause] the Giants countered with a 14-play third-quarter drive that put the New Yorkers back on top 13 to 7 to ram field goals in the fourth period sent the game into overtime [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] the crust a little quicker can't get it I feel that a white was hanging on his back apparently there at the giant 25-yard line interference [Applause] this bout this fight to the finish would go on an extra round and that is when the Los Angeles Rams delivered their final flurry and drove the Giants into the ropes [Music] [Applause] the coverage up the sideline and put it a 30-yard strike it was the Rams sixth trip to the playoffs in seven years and it may well be their most satisfying simply because they had fought so hard to attain it the arms of the Los Angeles Rams should be raised high as the NFL's number one the heavyweight contender a team that fought the good fight a fight to the finish [Music] you you

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Keywords: nfl, football, rams, la rams, los angeles rams, Rams 1989 Season, 1989 NFL Season, NFL Season, Rams Playbook, Rams Yearbook, Yearbook, NFL Footage, NFL Archives, NFL Rams, Rams Archives, Rams Wildcard, Rams Playoffs, Wild Card, Rams Throwback, Jerry Gray, Rams vs. Giants, Rams, John Robinson, Lawrence Taylor, NFC Wild Card, NFC Divisional, Rams vs. Eagles, NFC Championship, Rams vs. 49ers, int, clutch interception, Jim Everett, Flipper Anderson, NFC West, Flipper

Id: WEs39XXlVgA

Length: 21min 54sec (1314 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 16 2020