Rams’ Victory Is Routine--Wrested Late in Game : NFL: After seeing a 14-point lead shrink and then disappear, Everett rallies club past Dallas Cowboys, 35-31.

IRVING, Tex. â€”  It turns out Sunday’s game was no sweat for the Rams only because of the field temperature, 46 degrees; not the Dallas Cowboys, who didn’t roll over after all.

If nothing else, the Cowboys proved that beneath a clinically dead franchise beats a strong heart belonging to quarterback Troy Aikman, who managed to fill Texas Stadium with a few craved-for glimpses of yesterday and hope for the future.

If you’re not going to win, it’s best to fill the stadium with something.

The Rams, as usual, provided the stage, matches and gasoline, blowing a two-touchdown, first-quarter lead and ultimately the lead itself before rallying for two touchdowns in the final 3:58 to beat Dallas, 35-31.

Merely another day at the office during a season that knows no mercy even in lost-cause venues such as Dallas, where the Cowboys spilled and thrilled their way to a 13th consecutive home loss. They are 1-12 for the season.

So what was perhaps the decade’s worst team doing on the Rams’ 17-yard line with 12 seconds left and a chance to win?

Enough wrong things to get the Rams out of Texas with a season left to play for next Monday night against San Francisco.

Of course, you knew it was coming. After a 50-minute search for their motivation, the Rams had it shoved in their faces when Aikman’s 10-yard touchdown pass to Bernard Ford put the Cowboys ahead by 10 points with 9:34 to play

Ram quarterback Jim Everett responded with scoring passes of 39 and 23 yards to Ron Brown and Aaron Cox in a span of two minutes, eight seconds to save the Rams again.

Yet, Cox’s score, with 1:50 left, almost came too early.

“If I’d thought about it, I would have had Aaron stop on the one-yard line (to run out the clock),” Rams Coach John Robinson quipped.

The Rams’ hope remained rooted in a last-minute Dallas collapse; some mental breakdowns, perhaps. Show us the stuff of 11-game losers, the Rams asked.

The Cowboys obliged, mismanaging the clock and the field on their last-minute threat after being set-up by James Dixon’s 38-yard kickoff return to the Dallas 45.

Aikman, who already had equalled his season touchdown-pass total with four against the Rams, moved his team deftly. Then the ‘Pokes’ spokes came loose.

At the Ram 32 with 48 seconds left, Dixon called the Cowboys’ second timeout. He wasn’t supposed to.

Then, after a five-yard pass, Aikman fooled referee Johnny Grier when his hand-audible at the line of scrimmage was misconstrued as a real time-out signal.

Still, the Cowboys had second-and-10 at the 17 with 12 seconds left, Robinson defending his team’s prevent zone to its death.

Time for two passes into the end zone. Aikman called “99 double-up,” a play designed for receiver Cornell Burbage to split the seam of the defense into the end zone. What Burbage heard was “99,” a curl pattern underneath. It added up to “86” for the Cowboys.

Aikman, shocked to find no receivers in the end zone, threw to Burbage, who was tackled at the 13 as time expired.

“We were supposed to put the football in the end zone on that last play,” Dallas Coach Jimmy Johnson said.

Aikman was ready to put out an all-points bulletin for Burbage.

“I looked for him and he was gone,” Aikman said. “We had two shots at the end zone and I was looking for that shot, but he was hookin’ up and he was gone, and there was nothing we could do.”

Maybe next time. The Rams couldn’t believe their fortune, and could further thank an ill-timed fourth-quarter fumble by Dallas fullback Daryl Johnston and the amazing comeback touch of Everett, who’s beginning to tread on Joe Montana’s toes.

Johnston’s fumble, recovered by Larry Kelm at the Dallas 44, gave Everett the chance. Down by 10 with 4:20 left? No sweat.

Everett ducked his head into huddle and told his teammates to hang loose; the game was over.

First he threw five yards to tight end Pete Holohan. Next, he audibled to receiver Ron Brown on a deep pattern.

Everett told Brown earlier to keep the play in mind. Now seemed a good time. Brown was so open he didn’t need his world-class speed to reel-in Everett’s 39-yard scoring pass with 3:58.

“I can’t say enough about him,” Brown said of his quarterback. “He’s a leader, and he takes full control of the offense. It comes from him.”

Brown was eager to make amends for his fumbled kick-off return at the Rams’ two-yard line earlier in the quarter, setting up the Cowboys’ final touchdown; the game-clincher, it appeared.

Brown’s catch was his lone reception in the game and just his third of the season. He was only on the field because Henry Ellard is still out with a hamstring strain.

Brown credited offensive coordinator Ernie Zampese, for remembering that he still existed.

“He doesn’t accept not practicing or not doing it right,” Brown said. “It’s nothing but the best. But he’s cool about it. He won’t say anything to you. You just won’t play.”

One more loose end tie up, though. The Rams were still down three after Brown’s score. They needed the ball back, and received it after a Dallas punt left them at their 22 with 3:13 remaining.

For Everett, the drive was simple as 1:23, the time it took him to drive his team 78 yards for the winning score. From the Dallas 23, Everett stood over center and grabbed his face-mask, a “sight-read” to receiver Cox that the safety was up and to change the pattern to a slant over the middle.

With Everett, you’ve got to believe, Cox says.

“Jim came in the huddle and said there was a lot of time, don’t panic,” Cox said. “Do this and do that. It’s just a great feeling. It all goes back to Jim Everett. He’s always telling us to keep fighting.”

Cox’s touchdown, a 23-yarder, might have saved the Rams’ season. At 9-4, there’s now still plenty of punch left in next Monday’s showdown with the 49ers.

That’s five times now that Everett has led his team back from fourth-quarter deficits to give his team the lead in the closing minutes. With any help from his defense, he would be 5-0 instead of 3-2.

“It’s an attitude,” Everett said of the comebacks. “All last summer, I thought about it and thought about it. My first game here, against New England (1986), they win on a ‘Hail Mary.’ I started believing and convinced myself that the game’s 60 minutes and it ain’t over till you hear that gun.”

You do what you can, even on the sloppiest days. The Rams turned four Dallas turnovers into 28 points; the Cowboys turned three Ram blunders into 17.

Everett, who completed 27 of 37 passes for 341 yards, continues to work solo, the Rams’ running game having deserted the team weeks ago. Sunday, they managed 78 total yards on the ground against one of the league’s worst defenses.

Tailback Greg Bell finished with 22 yards in 15 carries, although Robinson wishes to spread the blame equally.

“I don’t think it’s been Greg,” Robinson said. “I just think we’re not blocking.”

Everett’s arm and the bicarbonate of soda have been good enough in recent weeks, but tackle Irv Pankey said this last-second madness has to got to stop.

“We’re not losing any more games, OK?” he said. “You got that? Not like that. No way. You know what I’m saying? We’re not losing no more like that.”

Ram Notes

Defensive end Mike Piel suffered a dislocated left elbow in the first half and will be sidelined for at least three weeks. Piel had four sacks since entering the starting lineup Oct. 29. “I was so mad I could hardly see straight,” Piel said of the injury. . . . Kevin Greene and Michael Stewart suffered mild concussions Sunday. Greene had one sack, bringing his season total to 14.5. . . . Bill Hawkins couldn’t believe the roughing-the-passer call against him at the end of the first half that moved the Cowboys into range for a 47-yard field goal after time had expired. “Thank God it wasn’t the difference in the game,” Hawkins said.