Shurmur’s Soft-Zone Strategy Hits the Rams Hard : Cardinals: Scheme backfires in L.A., but he takes it to Phoenix, and it works like a charm in Sunday’s victory.

ANAHEIM — He was the sacrificial Ram, the scapegoat for a 5-11 season during which the Rams allowed an average of 30 points in the games they lost. Fritz Shurmur and his soft zone defense simply had to go.

After the disappointment of that 1990 season, former Coach John Robinson decided an aggressive, attacking defense would return the Rams to the lofty pinnacle on which they were perched at the end of the 1989 season when they were one victory shy of a trip to the Super Bowl. So he fired defensive coordinator Shurmur and hired Jeff Fisher to bring in the Philadelphia Eagles’ brand of beat-’em-up, bad-boy defense.

The Rams were just plain bad, however, plummeting to 3-13 last year. So now Robinson is doing television commentary and the Cardinals are using Shurmur’s pliable zone to beat the Rams.

Sunday at Anaheim Stadium, the Cardinals pulled to a 20-14 lead late in the fourth quarter, but the Rams had the ball and enough time--1 minute 51 seconds--for Jim Everett, who had completed his last eight passes in a row, to traverse the 67 yards to the end zone.

Given the circumstances, Phoenix had just the defense they needed, thanks to their defensive coordinator, Fritz Shurmur.

“We said, ‘Hey, we’ll make them go the long way,’ ” Shurmur said. “They needed a touchdown, and so we were willing to give them the stuff in front of us. And they can do it to us a lot of times if they’re good enough to get in without making a mistake. That was it in a nutshell. We didn’t get greedy and we didn’t blitz and we didn’t play man-to-man.”

What they did was drop back into that bland, bend-but-don’t-break zone. And Everett and Co. went to work.

Everett completed a pass to Aaron Cox for seven yards. Then one to Jim Price for three. One to Flipper Anderson for seven, a couple to Cleveland Cary for 13 and nine and another to Cox for 14.

Short, but still sweet, and the Rams were down to the Phoenix 27-yard line. Then, with 12 seconds remaining, Everett made the mistake of trying to take more than the Cardinals were giving.

Gotcha!

Linebacker Jock Jones ignored a player cutting in front of him and dropped to his designated spot in the zone. He stood there in disbelief as Everett threw a perfect spiral right at him.

“I couldn’t believe he threw it,” Jones said. “We were in our two-deep zone and their receivers were trying to get behind (the linebackers) because they (didn’t) think we (could) get back fast enough. He tried it earlier when I didn’t roll back fast enough, but it was an incomplete pass. When he threw this one, I couldn’t believe it. I just sat there and waited for it, telling myself, ‘Catch it, catch it. Don’t drop it.’

“They didn’t do anything that we hadn’t been prepared for. They ran their offense and we played our defense the way we’re supposed to, and it worked out. One of the main reasons I made that interception was because Fritz had us studying those routes all week and I knew exactly what they were going to try to do.”

Shurmur had the Cardinals similarly prepared for last year’s season opener when the Rams committed seven turnovers and Phoenix came up with key interceptions near the end of the half and at the end of a 24-14 victory.

If Shurmur harbored any emotion for revenge, it was exorcised then. He will celebrate this victory, to be sure, but not any more because it came at the Rams’ expense.

“The team is different, it’s a different situation,” Shurmur said. “And anyway, I know a lot of good people here and it was a great nine years here. There really isn’t any particular satisfaction beyond the fact that we did it on the road, we did it against a very good offensive team and our (defensive) guys came up with some of the plays that made the difference, putting our offense in a good position to score.

“All of those things are very gratifying because our guys have worked really hard and, on a lot of Sundays, have come away with nothing.”

Wherever he goes, Shurmur knows he faces a tough sell. It’s difficult to persuade naturally aggressive defenders to play what is inherently a passive scheme that allows receivers to catch short passes and works to prevent the big play at all costs.

In a world of mayhem and semi-controlled chaos, Shurmur is preaching discipline and patience. And it becomes even more difficult to reach the congregation when you get off to a 1-6 start. None of the faithful will be sleeping in the film room today, however. He’ll be able to roll the videotape, flash a Cheshire-cat grin and say, “Told you so.”

“We’ve played some really good teams, and maybe we’ve been learning some lessons a little faster than you’d want to,” Shurmur said. “Anyone can coach and play when you’re winning. That’s easy. But it’s tough when you show up on Monday and say to yourself, ‘Oh crap, here we go again.’

“But we haven’t cracked under the pressure of that. We’ve stayed with it. We still have a long way to go, but the last two weeks, getting a little something to show for all that is really significant. There’s always doubt when you lose and there’s very little doubt when you win.”

After Sunday’s victory and the upset of San Francisco last week, the Cardinals are fast becoming true believers.

“We know this defense pretty well now and we’re learning that as long as you play it as it’s supposed to be played, you’ll be fine,” Jones said.

So, for the time being, Fritz’s faithful are sticking to the scheme and sticking it to the opponents, killing them softly, but killing them just the same.