1985 Los Angeles Rams season
Logo commemorating the Rams' 40th season in the Greater Los Angeles Area
OwnerGeorgia Frontiere
General managerJohn Shaw
Head coachJohn Robinson
Home fieldAnaheim Stadium
Results
Record11–5
Division place1st NFC West
Playoff finishWon Divisional Playoffs
(vs. Cowboys) 20–0
Lost NFC Championship
(at Bears) 0–24
Uniform

The 1985 Los Angeles Rams season was the franchise's 48th season in the National Football League and their 40th in the Greater Los Angeles Area.

In the playoffs, the Rams shut out the Dallas Cowboys 20–0 in the Divisional playoffs, advancing to the NFC Championship Game, but were shutout themselves by the eventual Super Bowl champion Chicago Bears 0–24. Eric Dickerson rushed for 1,234 yards in 1985 while missing the first two games while in a contract dispute. He missed the Pro Bowl for the first time in his short NFL career. He did, however, go on to rush for a playoff record 248 yards against the Dallas Cowboys in post-season play.[1]

It was also the last time the Rams would win an NFC West divisional title when based in Los Angeles until 2017, and the last NFC West title until 1999 while they were in St. Louis.

Offseason

NFL Draft

1985 Los Angeles Rams draft
Round Pick Player Position College Notes
1 21 Jerry Gray *  Cornerback Texas
2 50 Chuck Scott  Wide receiver Vanderbilt Made roster in 1986
3 77 Dale Hatcher *  Punter Clemson
5 113 Kevin Greene * †  Linebacker Auburn
6 161 Mike Young  Wide receiver UCLA
6 162 Damone Johnson  Tight end Cal Poly Made roster in 1986
7 189 Danny Bradley  Running back Oklahoma
8 218 Marlon McIntyre  Running back Pittsburgh
9 245 Gary Swanson  Linebacker Cal Poly
10 274 Duval Love *  Guard UCLA
11 285 Doug Flutie *  Quarterback Boston College Signed with New Jersey Generals (USFL)
11 301 Kevin Brown  Defensive back Northwestern
      Made roster    †   Pro Football Hall of Fame    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

[2]

Personnel

Staff

1985 Los Angeles Rams staff
Front office

Head coaches

Offensive coaches

 Defensive coaches

Special teams coaches


Roster

1985 Los Angeles Rams roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers

Tight ends

 Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

 Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams

 Reserve lists


Practice squad



Rookies in italics

Regular season

Schedule

Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Recap
1 September 8 Denver Broncos W 20–16 1–0 Anaheim Stadium Recap
2 September 15 at Philadelphia Eagles W 17–6 2–0 Veterans Stadium Recap
3 September 23 at Seattle Seahawks W 35–24 3–0 Kingdome Recap
4 September 29 Atlanta Falcons W 17–6 4–0 Anaheim Stadium Recap
5 October 6 Minnesota Vikings W 13–0 5–0 Anaheim Stadium Recap
6 October 13 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers W 31–27 6–0 Tampa Stadium Recap
7 October 20 at Kansas City Chiefs W 16–0 7–0 Arrowhead Stadium Recap
8 October 27 San Francisco 49ers L 14–28 7–1 Anaheim Stadium Recap
9 November 3 New Orleans Saints W 28–10 8–1 Anaheim Stadium Recap
10 November 10 at New York Giants L 19–24 8–2 Giants Stadium Recap
11 November 17 at Atlanta Falcons L 14–30 8–3 Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium Recap
12 November 24 Green Bay Packers W 34–17 9–3 Anaheim Stadium Recap
13 December 1 at New Orleans Saints L 3–29 9–4 Louisiana Superdome Recap
14 December 9 at San Francisco 49ers W 27–20 10–4 Candlestick Park Recap
15 December 15 St. Louis Cardinals W 46–14 11–4 Anaheim Stadium Recap
16 December 23 Los Angeles Raiders L 6–16 11–5 Anaheim Stadium Recap
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 1

1 234Total
Broncos 0 1600 16
• Rams 3 7010 20

Rams overcame 2 touchdown passes by John Elway with a late comeback led by "old" rookie QB Dieter Brock, who passed for 174 yards and a touchdown in his first NFL start. Backup RB Charles White ran for the winning touchdown in place of holdout Eric Dickerson.

Week 2

1 234Total
• Rams 10 007 17
Eagles 3 300 6

Rams defense sacked Randall Cunningham 5 times and picked off 4 passes and White ran for 144 yards and a touchdown. Henry Ellard added an 80-yard punt return touchdown.

Week 3

1 234Total
• Rams 7 01414 35
Seahawks 0 7314 24
  • Date: September 23
  • Location: Kingdome
  • Referee: Fred Wyant
  • TV announcers (ABC): Frank Gifford, Joe Namath, and O. J. Simpson

Dickerson celebrated the end of his holdout by rushing for 150 yards and 3 touchdowns in this Monday Night matchup.

Week 4

1 234Total
Falcons 0 330 6
• Rams 0 1070 17
  • Date: September 29
  • Location: Anaheim Stadium
  • Referee: Jim Tunney
  • Television network: CBS

Rams continued to dominate on defense and Brock passed for two touchdowns.

Week 5

1 234Total
Vikings 0 073 10
• Rams 0 670 13
  • Date: October 6
  • Location: Anaheim Stadium
  • Referee: Red Cashion
  • TV announcers (CBS): Tom Brookshier and Dick Vermeil

Rams stayed unbeaten despite being outgained in yards 306–188.

Week 6

1 234Total
• Rams 0 14107 31
Buccaneers 7 1307 27

In a nip-and-tuck game, the Rams had two interception return touchdowns in the second half, by LB Carl Ekern and the winning touchdown by CB Leroy Irvin.

Week 7

1 234Total
• Rams 0 1330 16
Chiefs 0 000 0

Dickerson ran for a touchdown and Mike Lansford kicked three FG's. Rams' opportunistic defense intercepted Todd Blackledge six times. Brock passed for only 68 yards.

Week 8

1 234Total
• 49ers 14 1400 28
Rams 0 077 14
  • Date: October 27
  • Location: Anaheim Stadium
  • Game start: 1:00 PST
  • Referee: Gene Barth
  • TV announcers (CBS): Tom Brookshier and Dick Vermeil

Rams were knocked from the unbeaten ranks at home as their offensive failures came back to haunt them. Joe Montana passed for 3 touchdowns and led the 49ers to a 28–0 lead. Brock passed for 344 yards (most of them late) and two late touchdowns.

Week 9

1 234Total
Saints 0 073 10
• Rams 7 777 28
  • Date: November 3
  • Location: Anaheim Stadium
  • Referee: Tom Dooley

Rams were totally dominant at home as Brock passed for 2 touchdowns and Dickerson (108 yards rushing) and White each had a touchdown run. Rams picked off 3 passes and had nine QB sacks.

Week 10

1 234Total
Rams 7 633 19
• Giants 0 7107 24

Giants fought back from a 16–7 early 2nd half deficit behind 2 touchdown runs by Joe Morris.

Week 11

1 234Total
Rams 0 0014 14
• Falcons 10 1037 30

Surprising blowout by the 1–9 Falcons behind three rushing touchdowns by Gerald Riggs and a Falcons' defense that held the Rams to only 45 yards rushing.

Week 12

1 234Total
Packers 0 1070 17
• Rams 7 7713 34
  • Date: November 24
  • Location: Anaheim Stadium
  • Referee: Pat Haggerty

Dickerson had 150 yards and a touchdown, but the real hero was Olympic sprinter-turned-WR Ron Brown. Brown returned two kickoffs for touchdowns and caught a touchdown pass.

Week 13

1 234Total
Rams 0 300 3
• Saints 6 3020 29

Saints got their revenge for the earlier blowout by sacking Brock nine times and recovering 3 fumbles. Bobby Hebert passed for a touchdown and LB Jack Del Rio returned a fumble for another. || Louisiana Superdome

Week 14

1 234Total
• Rams 0 3717 27
49ers 0 767 20
Scoring summary
Q214:54SFClark 7 yard pass from Montana (Wersching kick)SF 7–0
Q28:52LALansford 25 yard field goalSF 7–3
Q314:46LABrown 86 yard kickoff return (Lansford kick)LA 10–7
Q313:10SFRice 66 yard pass from Montana (kick blocked)SF 13–10
Q49:32LALansford 29 yard field goalTie 13–13
Q45:38SFCraig 1 yard pass from Montana (Wersching kick)SF 20–13
Q45:08LAEllard 39 yard pass from Brock (Lansford kick)Tie 20–20
Q43:24LAGreen 41 yard interception return (Lansford kick)LA 27–20

In this road Monday Night matchup, the 49ers looked to be in control until Henry Ellard scored on a tipped pass and CB Gary Green returned an interception for the winning points. Montana passed for 328 yards and 3 touchdowns. The Rams clinched a playoff spot with the win.[3]

Week 15

1 234Total
Cardinals 7 070 14
• Rams 13 2373 46
  • Date: December 15
  • Location: Anaheim Stadium
  • Referee: Chuck Heberling
  • TV announcers (CBS): Jack Buck and Hank Stram

Brock picked the right time to have his best game as a Ram as the Rams clinched their first NFC West Division crown since 1979. Brock passed for 4 touchdowns, Dickerson ran for 124 yards and two more, and the Rams rolled up 425 yards of offense.

Week 16

1 234Total
• Raiders 0 6010 16
Rams 0 330 6
  • Date: December 23
  • Location: Anaheim Stadium
  • Referee: Ben Dreith
  • TV announcers (ABC): Frank Gifford, Joe Namath, OJ Simpson

In a somewhat lackluster performance at home on Monday Night, the Rams could only muster two FG's and Brock was sacked 6 times.

Standings

NFC West
W L T PCT DIV CONF PF PA STK
Los Angeles Rams(2) 11 5 0 .688 3–3 8–4 340 277 L1
San Francisco 49ers(5) 10 6 0 .625 4–2 7–5 411 263 W2
New Orleans Saints 5 11 0 .313 2–4 5–7 294 401 L3
Atlanta Falcons 4 12 0 .250 3–3 4–8 282 452 W2

Statistics

Passing

PlayerGames PlayedCompletionsAttemptsYardsTouchdownsInterceptionsRating
Dieter Brock152183652658161382.0
Jeff Kemp516382140149.7

[4]

Rushing

PlayerGames PlayedAttemptsYardsTouchdownsLongest run
Eric Dickerson1429212341243
Barry Redden1487380041
Charles White1670310332
Dieter Brock152038013
Lynn Cain7114609
Mike Guman8113206
Jeff Kemp55003
Henry Ellard1638016
Ron J. Brown1321309
Steve Dils152−40−2

[4]

Receiving

PlayerReceptionsYardsTouchdownsLongest reception
Henry Ellard54811564
Tony Hunter50562447
David Hill29271137
Bobby Duckworth25422342

[4]

Playoffs

Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Recap
Divisional Playoff January 4, 1986 Dallas Cowboys W 20–0 1–0 Anaheim Stadium Recap
NFC Championship January 12, 1986 at Chicago Bears L 0–24 1–1 Soldier Field Recap

Divisional

1 234Total
Cowboys 0 000 0
• Rams 3 0107 20
Rams' running back Dickerson (29) rushing the ball through the Cowboys' defense in the 1985 NFC Divisional Playoff Game.

Running back Eric Dickerson led the Rams to a victory by scoring two touchdowns and recording a playoff record 248 rushing yards. After the first half ended with a 3–0 Los Angeles lead, Dickerson scored on a 55-yard touchdown run early in the third period. On the ensuing kickoff, Kenny Duckett fumbled, and the ball was recovered by Vince Newsome to set up kicker Mike Lansford's second field goal. In the fourth period, Tony Hunter recovered a fumbled punt to set up Dickerson's 40-yard rushing touchdown. The Rams' defense dominated the Cowboys' offense all afternoon as the Cowboys never got inside the Rams' 20-yard-line. This was the last home playoff game for the Rams in Los Angeles until 2017. This was also the last playoff game in which Tom Landry coached.[5]

Conference Championship

1 234Total
Rams 0 000 0
• Bears 10 077 24

The Bears defense dominated the game by limiting Rams running back Eric Dickerson to 46 yards rushing, and holding quarterback Dieter Brock to just 10 completions out of 31 pass attempts for 66 passing yards. Los Angeles only gained 130 yards of total offense. The Rams had a chance to get back in the game as they got inside the Bears' 15-yard line in the waning moments of the first half, but poor play calling and clock management, as well as a controversial call by the officials on the last play of the half, resulted in the clock running out. Officials' ability to review plays (via instant replay) was not made available until the following season.

Awards and records

Milestones

Gary Jeter, NFL Comeback Player of Year.

See also

Other Anaheim–based teams in 1985

References

  1. ↑ Eric Dickerson: Pro Football Hall of Fame, http://www.profootballhof.com/hof/member.jsp?PLAYER_ID=55
  2. ↑ "1985 Los Angeles Rams Draftees". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved February 13, 2022.
  3. ↑ "Rams get rid of their bum rap." The Miami News. 1985 Dec 10.
  4. 1 2 3 "1985 Los Angeles Rams Statistics & Players". Pro-Football-Reference.com.
  5. ↑ "Rams meet Dallas Cowboys in NFL playoffs for first time in 33 years". OC Register. OC Register. January 8, 2019. Retrieved July 30, 2019.
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