1988 Los Angeles Rams season

The 1988 Los Angeles Rams season was the franchise's 51st season in the National Football League, their 41st overall, and their 43rd in the Greater Los Angeles Area. The team improved on a disappointing 6–9 record the previous year, going 10–6 and qualifying as a Wild Card before losing to the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC Wild Card game.

1988 Los Angeles Rams season
Head coachJohn Robinson
OwnerGeorgia Frontiere
Home fieldAnaheim Stadium
Local radioKMPC–AM 710
Results
Record10–6
Division place2nd NFC West
Playoff finishLost Wild Card playoffs (at Vikings) 17–28


Roster
1988 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

1988 Team Starters

Offense

11 Jim Everett            QB
42 Greg Bell              RB
24 Buford McGee           FB
80 Henry Ellard           WR
84 Aaron Cox              WR
86 Damone Johnson         TE
75 Irv Pankey             LT
66 Tom Newberry           LG
56 Doug Smith             C
67 Duval Love             RG
78 Jackie Slater          RT

Defense

93 Doug Reed              LDE
99 Alvin Wright           NT
98 Shawn Miller           RDE
91 Kevin Greene           LB
55 Carl Ekern             LB
59 Mark Jerue             LB
54 Mike Wilcher           LB
25 Jerry Gray             CB
47 LeRoy Irvin            CB
23 Michael Stewart        SS
20 Johnnie Johnson        FS

Kicking Team

1 Mike Lansford           K
3 Rich Camarillo          P
28 Cliff Hicks            PR
89 Ron Brown              KR

Schedule
Week Date Opponent Result Summary Attendance
1 September 4, 1988 at Green Bay Packers W 34–7 Jim Everett passed for two touchdowns and Rams defense had seven sacks and 3 interceptions.
53,769
2 September 11, 1988 Detroit Lions W 17–10 In a tight defensive struggle, Greg Bell ran for 139 yards and a TD.
46,262
3 September 18, 1988 at Los Angeles Raiders W 22–17 Rams overcame a career-high 375 yards passing from Steve Beuerlein by sacking him nine times. A Kevin Greene sack for a safety in the third quarter broke a 10–10 tie and the Rams took it from there. Bell had 109 yards and another TD.
84,870
4 September 25, 1988 at New York Giants W 45–31 In perhaps his finest performance as Rams QB to date, Everett passed for 236 yards and 5 TD's
75,617
5 October 2, 1988 Phoenix Cardinals L 41–27 Everett had another strong game (25–33 passing, 300 yards, no INT's) and Bell ran for 3 TD's, but the Rams couldn't overcome 519 total yards of offense from the Cardinals. Neil Lomax passed for 342 yards and two touchdowns.
49,830
6 October 9, 1988 at Atlanta Falcons W 33–0 Everett continued to play a hot hand, passing for 3 TD's. Rams defense totally dominated the Falcons, holding them to 150 total net yards (77 passing) and accumulating nine sacks.
30,852
7 October 16, 1988 San Francisco 49ers L 24–21 In an early battle for NFC West supremacy, the Rams were done in by 190 yards rushing and 3 TD's by Roger Craig. Everett kept it close with 3 TD passes, but Rams only rushed for 42.
65,450
8 October 23, 1988 Seattle Seahawks W 31–10 Everett passed for 3 more TD's and Rams picked off 4 passes and kept Seattle offense out of the end zone.
57,033
9 October 30, 1988 at New Orleans Saints W 12–10 Kicker Mike Lansford provided all the points for the Rams is a tough defensive struggle. Saints were driving toward a possible winning TD in the 4th when LB Brett Faryniarz broke through with a sack to force the Saints to kick a FG. Rams held on from there.
68,238
10 November 6, 1988 at Philadelphia Eagles L 30–24 Randall Cunningham's passing (323 yards, 3 TD's) and running (53 yards) helped the Eagles upend the Rams. Everett passed for 377 yards and 2 TD's, but also threw 4 interceptions.
65,624
11 November 13, 1988 New Orleans Saints L 14–10 Saints held Everett in check at Anaheim (198 yds. passing, no TD's) and won a tight defensive contest.
63,305
12 November 20, 1988 San Diego Chargers L 38–24 Lowly Chargers shocked the Rams at home with a kickoff return TD by Anthony Miller, an interception return TD by Sam Seale, and two rushing TD's by former Ram Barry Redden.
45,462
13 November 27, 1988 at Denver Broncos L 35–24 John Elway passed for 3 TD's and ran for another as the suddenly-slumping Rams lost their fourth straight.
74,141
14 December 5, 1988 Chicago Bears W 23–3 Rams broke their losing streak on Monday night with a solid defensive effort. This was QB Jim Harbaugh's first career NFL start.
65,579
15 December 11, 1988 Atlanta Falcons W 22–7 Lansford kicked 3 FG's and Everett passed for a TD. Defense kept Falcons' offense out of the end zone.
42,828
16 December 18, 1988 at San Francisco 49ers W 38–16 Rams qualified for the wildcard and avenged their earlier loss to the 49ers with 4 passing TD's from Everett and nine sacks from the defense.
62,444

Season summary

Week 4
1 234Total
• Rams 7 21710 45
Giants 0 10147 31
  • Date: September 25
  • Location: Giants Stadium
  • Game start: 4:00 p.m. EST
  • Game weather: 64°F; wind 11
  • Referee: Johnny Grier
  • Television network: CBS

[1]

Standings
NFC West
W L T PCT DIV CONF PF PA STK
San Francisco 49ers(2) 10 6 0 .625 4–2 8–4 369 294 L1
Los Angeles Rams(5) 10 6 0 .625 4–2 8–4 407 293 W3
New Orleans Saints 10 6 0 .625 3–3 6–6 312 283 W1
Atlanta Falcons 5 11 0 .313 1–5 4–8 244 315 L3

Playoffs
Week Date Opponent Result Attendance
Wildcard December 26, 1988 at Minnesota Vikings L 28–17
57,666

Awards and records
  • Greg Bell, NFL Leader, Touchdowns, 18 TD's [2]
  • Greg Bell, NFL Comeback Player of the Year
  • Jerry Gray, NFC Pro Bowl selection
  • Pete Holohan, Franchise Record, most receptions by a tight end (59)

See also
Other Anaheim–based teams in 1988

References
  1. Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2015-Oct-02.
  2. NFL 2001 Record and Fact Book, Workman Publishing Co, New York, ISBN 0-7611-2480-2, p. 447
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