Rams Dump the Slump, 31-10 : Pro Football: Everett’s passing and a dominating defense combine to end a four-game losing streak with an easy win over the Giants.

It turns out the best way to avoid heart-breaking, last-second losses is to go out and knock some heads, as the Rams proved Sunday in their 31-10 win over the New York Giants at Anaheim Stadium.

Yes, we mean the Giants, not Jets. Phil Simms, Lawrence Taylor, Ottis Anderson, the whole gang that was 8-1.

The Rams, who barely registered a pulse after last week’s loss at Minnesota, ended their four-game losing streak with resounding vengeance, playing as if they’d been locked in a room with the Death Wish videos.

It wasn’t anything personal, Giants. You just happened to be in the way when the Rams decided to get mad as hell not take it anymore.

“We’re not losers,” tackle Irv Pankey said.

Just losers of four in a row. But the streak ended with a defensive performance that may get coordinator Fritz Shurmur’s face removed from pool-hall dart boards.

All Shurmur ever asked for was a chance to play a game with guys who didn’t need their positions described to them minutes before kickoff.

Sunday, he was finally handed a full deck, as inside linebackers Larry Kelm and Fred Strickland met in the starting lineup for the first time this season.

How does six yards net rushing grab you? The defense, in fact, did nothing but grab. It grabbed quarterback Simms and sacked him four times. It grabbed tailback Anderson and wished him a happy 32nd birthday next week by presenting him seven bruises, one for each yard gained.

All this because Kelm came back?

“I can’t claim that,” Kelm said. “I didn’t play all that great.”

But Kelm, who missed the first nine games with a foot injury, and Strickland, who was out the last three games with an ankle sprain, helped shut down the run and allowed the defense to do its thing. The Eagle reared its head once more, allowing Kevin Greene (two sacks) and Mike Piel (two sacks) to get acquainted with the opposing quarterback.

“We were on a crusade to prove we could play like we can play,” Shurmur said. “Thank God they didn’t lose faith, quit working and start to second-guess. We had a feeling we were going to get better. Hell, it’s just one time, but it’s a pretty good start.”

The Rams know all about bad bounces. Sunday, their fortunes turned. Mike Lansford set the tone by caroming his 44-yard, first-quarter field goal off the left upright and through the posts. Tailback Greg Bell fumbled on his second carry, deep in Ram territory, but was saved by a Giants’ offside penalty.

If the Rams were going to get burned on a Hail Mary pass, they wanted to make sure they had a 28-point cushion to lean on.

And Jim Everett and the offense took care of that. Everett awoke from his four-game slumber with a record performance, completing 23 of 33 passes for 295 yards. He completed 18 consecutive passes at one point, breaking his record of 14 set earlier this season against Indianapolis.

The Rams held just a 10-3 lead in the second quarter after Raul Allegre connected on a 22-yard field goal with 1:50 left in the half.

But the game turned in a matter of 14 seconds. With 45 seconds left in the half, Everett hit Aaron Cox on a 51-yard scoring pass, putting the Rams up, 17-3.

David Meggett fumbled the ensuing kickoff, with the Rams’ George Bethune recovering at the 21. On first down, Everett threw a 21-yard scoring pass to Flipper Anderson, and that was that.

Everett, who’d seen his efficiency rating fall nearly 20 points in the losing streak, was streaking toward league history in the third quarter when he completed his 18th consecutive pass, a six-yarder to Damone Johnson. Everett said a sideline attendant, whose name he could not recall, was keeping him posted on the streak each time he came off the field.

The NFL record for completions is 22, held by Joe Montana.

“Yeah, I knew,” Everett said.

Unfortunately, the Rams’ quarterback doesn’t call his own plays, so he had little say on the deep, low-percentage pass attempt to Cox that ended the streak on his 19th throw.

Everett isn’t proud. He said he would have called a few safe screen passes to keep the streak going.

“I’d have taken the dinks, sure,” he said. “But the play was called to go over the top, and that’s fine.”

Everett was just happy to get out of the game in one piece, coming off four weeks in which he’s seen three of the best pass rushers in the league in Bruce Smith, Richard Dent and Keith Millard.

Sunday was no exception with Lawrence Taylor, who had 12 sacks coming in, but the Giants’ All-Pro was held to no sacks and two tackles, while twice being called for off-sides penalties.

“I didn’t smell his breath, thank God,” Everett said. “I hear it’s bad at times.”

Everett would never know. Rams fullback Robert Delpino recalled Taylor being uncommonly quiet on the field. What was there to talk about, other than two penalties?

Now, the Rams aren’t geniuses, but they followed some sound strategy regarding Taylor.

“We ran the other way,” Rams Coach John Robinson said. “We didn’t run to the left at all. And when we passed, we always had a tackle on him. Our respect for him is unlimited.”

That tackle would be Irv Pankey, who burned the midnight oil this week preparing for the game’s best outside linebacker.

“It was my day today,” Pankey said. “I’ve played well against him since he came into the league. You’ve got to put in a lot of film time with him.”

Pankey said he studied Taylor’s rush techniques against other left tackles in the league, Gary Zimmerman of Minnesota and Phoenix’s Luis Sharpe in particular.

Taylor could only give Pankey’s film performance a thumb’s up.

“They did a good job,” Taylor said. “Better than I did and we did as a team. They deserved to win. We weren’t really ready and my hat’s off to them.”

Pankey also admitted the Rams may have been more desperate, considering the state of their psyches these days.

The Rams couldn’t afford another loss, the Giants could.

“It was like live or die,” Pankey explained. “That’s what it was.”

The Rams were taking nothing for granted this time. They’ve had leads before, you know. They led at halftime, 24-3, but have seen larger leads disappear on them this season. They led the Green Bay Packers, 38-7, on Sept. 24 and barely held on to win, 41-38.

This time, they kept the ball out of harm’s way, sealing the Giants’ fate with a 76-yard, 11-play drive to a touchdown, Bell scoring on a two-yard run to make it, 31-3, with 7:38 left in the third quarter.

Shurmur and the defense hoped to make a point by holding the Giants without a touchdown, which would have meant eight straight quarters without allowing the opponent a touchdown. But those hopes ended when Anderson scored on a one-yard run with 11:30 remaining.

Still, Shurmur was vindicated, while others noted how much easier it is to coach defense with hands untied.

“I don’t think people realize what this defense is all about,” said the oft-injured Strickland, a key part in the Eagle strategy. “We had a lot of plans to change the defense, but it (the injuries) really set us back. We were not playing what we wanted to do.”

Shurmur, who has drawn heavy criticism in recent weeks about his defense, ranked 26th overall, welcomes all letters this week.

“As long as they’re interested, I don’t care,” Shurmur said of fan criticism. “I don’t think they’re doing the hiring and firing.”

Ram Notes

Gaston Green (ribs) and Bill Hawkins (back spasms) were the Rams’ inactive players Sunday. Giants’ tight end Mark Bavaro did not play because of a knee injury. . . Jim Everett completed 14 straight passes to close out the first half, but not one to Henry Ellard, the NFL’s leading receiver. Ellard caught No. 15 in the streak, a 30-yarder. It was his only reception of the game. . . Now that the streak is over: “It was a tough period we’ve been through,” Coach John Robinson said, “the toughest I’ve ever been through in my life as a coach.”. . . Giant quarterback Phil Simms had a pretty decent day in a losing cause, completing 25 of 38 passes for 237 yards.