John Robinson

http://articles.latimes.com/1990-12-12/sports/sp-5921_1_cleveland-gary
LA Times
When Gary Fumbles, Everyone Lets Loose
December 12, 1990
|MIKE PENNER

Thought for the day:

“All great backs fumble.”

–Wendell Tyler, Former Ram Fumbler And some others . . .

OK. Let’s get the Cleveland Gary jokes out of the way.

1. Cleveland Gary and Keith Jackson would be great at “Password.”

2. Cleveland Gary played baseball this summer in the Montreal Expos’ farm system. The scouts said he was good hit, no field.

3. 7-Eleven is Cleveland Gary’s fumbles-lost-to-total-fumbles ratio–not his future place of employment.

4. Cleveland Gary can break tackles but can’t hold onto the football. Gaston Green can hold onto the football but can’t break tackles. The Rams have the running back they need; they just don’t have the genetic engineering.

There. Good to get that out of our system. If Gary can get the fumbles out of his, everybody’s happy.

At 5-8, the Rams seem a lock for the franchise’s first losing season since 1972, discounting strike years. In 1972, the Rams finished 6-7-1 during Tommy Prothro’s last season as head coach. Since then, the Rams’ only other sub-.500 finishes have been the strike years of 1982 (2-7) and 1987 (6-9).

Ram MVP, if there is such a beast, ought to be Buford McGee. With fumbles, interceptions and defenses exploding all around him, McGee has been a lonely bastion of reliability. He leads the team with a 5.7-yards-per-carry average, is tied for second with Flipper Anderson with 41 receptions and ranks third in scoring with five touchdowns. He also pass-blocks by the textbook, covers on special teams and even throws the occasional touchdown pass–doing all the little things so many others have ignored in Anaheim.

One more difference between the ’89 Rams and the ’90 Rams: Last season, playoffs included, the Rams were 6-3 in games decided by a touchdown or less. This season, that record is 1-4.

And another: Last season, Jim Everett takes that extra play against New Orleans and finds Pete Holohan in the end zone for the winning touchdown.

And another: Last season, Everett takes the Rams right down and scores right after the Rams win the coin flip to begin overtime with Cincinnati.

Right now, those two games are the difference between the playoffs and playing out the string in 1990.
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http://articles.latimes.com/keyword/cleveland-gary/recent/4
Gary: Fumbles Relapse Will Last Only One Game
November 10, 1992|TIM KAWAKAMI | TIMES STAFF WRITER

This time, Cleveland Gary promised himself and anybody else who would listen Monday, he will not allow his breakthrough season to be ruined by a spree of dropped footballs.

On Sunday, in a reminder of his 12-fumble season two years ago, the Rams’ tailback lost two fumbles to the Phoenix Cardinals, setting up their two winning touchdown drives.

After the game, Gary bolted out of the locker room before anybody could stop him for a public explanation.

But Monday, with his coach and his teammates voicing their support, Gary faced the media, apologized for his postgame duck and said he was too strong to let these most recent fumbles destroy what had been shaping into a Pro Bowl season.

“I want to be a perfectionist when it comes to not fumbling,” Gary said Monday. “Yesterday was a relapse, and I think in order to succeed at anything, I can’t do from a mental standpoint what I did before. . . . I start(ed) thinking about it, and that won’t happen.

“I had one (bad) day. I’m proud of myself, and I’ve learned how to reward myself. I’ve carried the ball a hundred-something times without dropping the football, so what I have to do is put that one day behind me.”

Coach Chuck Knox downplayed Gary’s fumbles on Monday and said he is the team’s tailback, period. Knox said he thought the fumbles were a result of Gary’s trying to make second- and third-effort yards, the kind of running the coach has always admired.

“All I’m going on is what I’ve seen since we’ve been here, and he’s sitting up there (as) about the third-leading rusher in the NFC,” Knox said. “He’s done a good job for us.”

Before Sunday, Gary had fumbled twice–losing one–in 150 carries, and he had come a long way in erasing the memory of his two lost seasons. Last year, Gary fumbled on his second carry of the season, also against the Cardinals, and never got back into former coach John Robinson’s main running rotation.

This year Gary has gained 718 yards in 167 carries and scored eight touchdowns.

Gary’s fumbles Sunday were varied. The first occurred early in the third quarter, when Gary said he was trying to make a big play happen after being held to seven yards on seven attempts during the first half.

He crashed into the line, was slowed, then spun through the pile for extra yardage. But he swung his arm away from his body and exposed the ball for linebacker Eric Hill, who knocked it loose.

“I could’ve very well taken a four- or five-yard gain,” Gary said. “But instead, I spun off, and I put my body in a position maybe I shouldn’t have put it in. I spun off and tried to make something happen.”

His second fumble, which tumbled out of bounds, was similar.

The third, and most costly, occurred when Ken Harvey burst past a block and met Gary moments after he had taken the handoff. “What I have to do (is) go back to the basic fundamentals, get the ball over the pressure points and keep it in,” Gary said. “And what I can’t do, I can’t do.”
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Gary Recovers After Fumbles : Rams: Running back says he has put game behind him and apologizes for behavior.
November 10, 1992|TIM KAWAKAMI | TIMES STAFF WRITER

ANAHEIM — This time, Cleveland Gary promised himself and anybody who listened Monday that he will not allow his breakthrough season to be ruined by a spree of dropped footballs.

Sunday, in a dark reminder of his 12-fumble season two years ago, the Rams’ tailback lost two crucial fumbles to the Cardinals, one of which set up Phoenix’s winning touchdown drive.

After the game, Gary bolted out of the locker room before anybody could stop him for an explanation.

But Monday, with his coach and teammates still voicing their support for him, Gary faced the media, apologized for his postgame duck-and-run, and said he was too strong to let these most-recent fumbles destroy what had been shaping up to be a Pro Bowl-caliber season.

“I want to be a perfectionist when it comes to not fumbling,” Gary said Monday. “Yesterday was a relapse, and I think in order to succeed at anything, I can’t do from a mental standpoint what I did before . . . I start thinking about it, and that won’t happen.

“I had one (bad) day. I’m proud of myself, and I’ve learned how to reward myself. I’ve carried the ball a hundred-something times without dropping the football, so what I have to do is put that one day behind me.”

Coach Chuck Knox downplayed Gary’s fumbles Monday and said Gary is the team’s tailback, period. Knox said he thought the fumbles came as a result of Gary exposing himself trying to make second- and third-effort yards, the kind of hard running Knox has always admired.

“All I’m going on is what I’ve seen since we’ve been here, and he’s sitting up there about the third-leading rusher in the NFC,” Knox said. “He’s done a good job for us.

“I don’t want him to go up in there and just lay down on the ball. You’ve got to go up, take it up in there . . . and he has been hanging onto it. (But) these things happen.

“I still think you’ve got to run up in there as hard as you can run, and fight, get everything you can get–but take the ball with you.”

Before Sunday, Gary had fumbled twice–losing one–in 150 carries. Last year, Gary fumbled on his second carry of the season–also against the Cardinals–and never got back into Coach John Robinson’s main running rotation.

This season, though, with the solid backing of Knox, Gary has gained 718 yards in 167 carries and scored eight touchdowns.

“Yesterday was just an awful experience, but it was an experience that I learned from,” Gary said. “This year, I’ve had so much success pretty much when I’ve wanted . . .

“But yesterday was different.”

On Sunday, Gary’s fumbles were a variety pack of bobbles. The first one came early in the third quarter, when Gary said he was trying to make a big play happen after being held to seven yards in seven attempts in the first half.

Gary crashed into the line, was slowed, then spun through the pile for extra yardage. But he swung his arm away from his body and exposed the ball to linebacker Eric Hill, who knocked it loose.

“I could’ve very well taken a four or five-yard gain,” Gary said. “But instead, I spun off, and I put my body in a position maybe I shouldn’t have put it in. I spun off and tried to make something happen.

“I was pressing it too hard. I was more focused on making things happen than the basic fundamentals. It just left me.”

That was the sort of fumble that plagued Gary in 1990–exposing the ball when he was trying to make late moves. His second fumble, which tumbled out of bounds, was similar.

The third, and most costly, came when Ken Harvey burst past a block and met Gary moments after Gary took the handoff.

“What I have to do (is) go back to the basic fundamentals, get the ball over the pressure points and keep it in,” Gary said. “And what I can’t do, I can’t do.

“I have to keep it there rather than letting it slip sometimes. It got a little comfortable.”

Despite his quick yank last season, Gary said he never feared that Knox was going to pull him for good Sunday, or that his teammates were losing confidence in him.

“That thought never entered my mind,” Gary said. “Coach Knox has judged Cleveland based on what he’s done since he’s been here. Coach Knox isn’t reliving somebody else’s past.

“He looks at a man for his character, the way he is when he sees him.

“I’m grateful that Coach Knox and my teammates haven’t judged me on the past, and I think that’s why I’ve been successful. That has helped my confidence factor tremendously. It gives me motivation to put this garbage behind me.”

And Gary, who said he left the locker room quickly because he was still stunned by his fumbles, made a point of trying to put his Sunday media no-show behind him.

“The first thing I would like to do is apologize for my departing,” Gary said. “It was a mistake. I am human, and I do make mistakes. And one of the mistakes I made (Sunday) was leaving and not facing the media.

“I had a lot on my mind at the time, and I handled it the best way I felt I knew how. And obviously it wasn’t the way I should’ve handled it. I should’ve stayed there.
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