Willie Flipper Anderson

Flipper should have been a Dolphin. How many passes did Mark Clayton catch Sunday for Miami? Only four? Poor baby. How about Mark Duper? What's that? Three! Three lousy passes? Flipper caught 15. Do you know how many passes the entire Miami Dolphin team completed against Pittsburgh? You got it--15. The same number Willie (Flipper) Anderson latched onto for the Rams in Sunday's 20-17 overtime party at the expense of the where'd-he-go-now New Orleans Saints.

Wide receiver Flipper Anderson, who decided to continue playing football despite a painful back injury, was advised by team physicians beforehand that he risked no neurological damage by remaining on the field. "You have to hand it to him," said Dr. Neal ElAttrache. "When it was explained to him that he wouldn't cause himself any damage, but might have some pain, he was able to overcome the discomfort and play. "What he was asking us was, 'Am I going to risk paralysis by playing?'

Ram receiver Henry Ellard knew the hamstring injury he suffered in practice Friday was going to keep him out of Sunday night's game against the Saints. Willie (Flipper) Anderson knew it too. But the Saints didn't, because the Rams listed Ellard as probable. "We didn't want it to get public," Anderson explained. "We didn't want them to be able to prepare for us not having Henry." As it turned out, the Saints would have gladly dealt with Ellard.

Flipper Anderson, a scared but committed Flipper Anderson, played against the Atlanta Falcons last week despite having broken a bone in his back a week earlier in the victory over the Kansas City Chiefs. Ram officials, concerned that Anderson might become a marked man for the opposition, kept his injury a secret. When he missed practice a week ago Wednesday, it was announced he had flu. "The team needed me," Anderson said, discussing the injury for the first time Wednesday.

Flipper Anderson's set-up man, Jim Everett, was so lost in the landscape of Anderson's record-breaking receiving performance against New Orleans that it took a night's sleep and a film session to comprehend Everett's role. Now, brace yourself for the two greatest single feats ever witnessed by a coach on the same night. Move over, Flipper. "I think Jim Everett played his best game ever as a pro," Ram Coach John Robinson said.

Midway through the plot of a real turkey-- Reversal of Fortune: The Rams in 1990 --John Robinson punched the eject button and dug out an old favorite to pop into the VCR. Robinson loved the cast: Jim Everett, Flipper Anderson, Mark Collins. Loved the story line, too: Bomb down the right sideline And, best of all, there was the outcome: Touchdown, Anderson. Victory; Rams.

A little ragged around the corners last year, the Rams were one for two in getting their projected starting cornerbacks into training camp on time. And late Wednesday, the Rams came to terms with wide receiver Flipper Anderson, agreeing to extend his contract three more years beyond 1991. Anderson, who was scheduled to be paid $220,000 this season, is believed to have agreed to a contract that will pay him an average of about $600,000 through 1994.

The Rams, as expected, avoided what could have been a bitter holdout Thursday by signing wide receiver Flipper Anderson to a three-year contract extension. Anderson, who was to have been paid $220,000 this season, received a signing bonus of about $300,000 and it is believed he will average more than $700,000 a season through 1994. Anderson reported to the UC Irvine training camp Thursday morning and joined the team in the middle of the afternoon workout.

Watching Flipper Anderson being wheeled out of the locker room on a stretcher, Coach John Robinson had to wonder if the Rams had lost their game-breaking wide receiver for the year . . . or longer. Anderson, who suffered a back injury Sept. 22 during the third quarter of a game against San Francisco, was in such agony he couldn't think about anything but the present. "I just wanted them to take away the pain," Anderson said.

Coach John Robinson said Kevin Greene is showing signs of adapting to playing outside linebacker in a 4-3 system, despite his total of one sack. "Kevin has found a place where he can be one of the better outside linebackers in this league and an outstanding nickel or second-down pass rusher," Robinson said, noting Greene's six solo tackles against the Saints in Sunday's loss. Flipper Anderson played Sunday after sitting out four games because of a back injury.

Wide receiver Flipper Anderson cruises around the Rams' training camp at UC Irvine on one of those radical, state-of-the-art bikes, complete with 21 gears that will take you from zero to 20 m.p.h. in a matter of seconds. So how fast have you got that thing going, Flipper? "Oh, about 70 m.p.h.," he said. Anderson's estimate is more than just a little exaggerated, but his outlook on his career is perfectly clear--he's changing gears.

The Rams have found it difficult to score this season. They rank 26th in the league in points, just ahead of Cincinnati and New England. They appear perplexed by this problem, and yet they keep wide receiver Flipper Anderson, their only legitimate home-run threat, standing on the sideline on most first downs. "We have reasons why we do things," Coach Chuck Knox said Monday. "Sometimes it might not look like it . . .

At about the time the Rams were carted out of contention last season, Flipper Anderson was being carried gingerly out of their locker room on a stretcher. It happened on Sept. 22 at Candlestick Park. Anderson suffered a broken bone in his back, sidelining him for the next four games. "It was scary," Anderson said this week. It was scary for the Rams' offense, too, which stumbled out of the gate.

Watching Flipper Anderson being wheeled out of the locker room on a stretcher, Coach John Robinson had to wonder if the Rams had lost their game-breaking wide receiver for the year . . . or longer. Anderson, who suffered a back injury Sept. 22 during the third quarter of a game against San Francisco, was in such agony he couldn't think about anything but the present. "I just wanted them to take away the pain," Anderson said.

Coach John Robinson said Kevin Greene is showing signs of adapting to playing outside linebacker in a 4-3 system, despite his total of one sack. "Kevin has found a place where he can be one of the better outside linebackers in this league and an outstanding nickel or second-down pass rusher," Robinson said, noting Greene's six solo tackles against the Saints in Sunday's loss. Flipper Anderson played Sunday after sitting out four games because of a back injury.

Just as fast as he bolts through end zone tunnels, Flipper Anderson vaulted from the depths of the league salary scale to a gentler, kinder, richer place Thursday, and made sure to warmly thank the Rams on the way up. If he didn't spike a football after it was over, well, give him time.

It was with mixed emotions that Terry Donahue watched the Flipper Anderson show on television Sunday night, and it certainly was a show for the ages. "It was just something else. He is such a great player, and I was so happy for him," said Donahue, who coached Anderson at UCLA from 1983 through '87, and saw him set an NFL record for receiving yardage in a single game with his 336 yards in 15 receptions in the Rams' 20-17 win over the New Orleans Saints at the Superdome.

The way things have gone for Flipper Anderson this football season, he might as well have been born with fins. Yes, 1 is the loneliest number if you're a professional receiver and that's how many catches you've made in 7 games. You don't think Anderson remembers that big catch? "It was Detroit, 21 yards," he said. "It was a post pattern. I caught it, and we scored on that possession. I remember that." Like anyone else, Anderson loves a mystery. But not when the plot thickens around him.

A little ragged around the corners last year, the Rams were one for two in getting their projected starting cornerbacks into training camp on time. And late Wednesday, the Rams came to terms with wide receiver Flipper Anderson, agreeing to extend his contract three more years beyond 1991. Anderson, who was scheduled to be paid $220,000 this season, is believed to have agreed to a contract that will pay him an average of about $600,000 through 1994.