For Kemp, the Big Decisions Appear Out of His Hands

I don’t know who this week’s NFL offensive and defensive players of the week will be, but I have a nomination for victim of the week.

Let’s hear it for Jeff Kemp, who was the Rams’ starting quarterback last Sunday, and is one of the three leading candidates for that same spot next Sunday.

The Rams were playing the New York Giants Sunday and Kemp was filling in for injured starter Dieter Brock. Shaking off two months of rust, Jeff had his team in a position to beat the New York Giants, a win which would have moved the Rams closer to a playoff berth and would have looked wonderful on young Kemp’s resume.

Kemp not only threw the game-winning touchdown pass, he threw it twice .

One of his game-winning touchdown passes was so well-thrown it would have stuck in the ear hole of Tony Hunter’s helmet, except that Tony got his hands up and dropped the pass.

The other heroic toss was a pretty bullet pass to Bobby Duckworth in the corner of the end zone. Bobby caught the pass, then got slammed out of bounds. The official on the play blew the call, at least on my TV, and ruled no catch.

Kemp’s immediate reaction to the Duckworth Robbery?

“I went over to check, to see if Bobby was OK,” Kemp says. “Coach Robinson was talking to the refs, so I figured no way I could do anything more.

“I was trying to stay cool, because I figured we’d get the ball again. I may be thinking, ‘Darn, that was a touchdown,’ but I’m not going to show it to anyone on the team.”

Darn?

That’s what Kemp, a non-curser, said. Darn. You kids might have to look up that word in an old dictionary. It means roughly the same as “shucks,” “rats,” or “doggone.”

Kemp said darn again when he got home and saw a replay of the Duckworth Robbery on the late news.

“Bobby makes a great catch,” Kemp says. “They have pretty good coverage, I throw it right where I want to throw it. The TV replays I saw, he comes in(bounds) with his foot down, they push him out of bounds. That’s a completion.

“But officiating is a factor in the game. I don’t think they (the officials) did it on purpose. I know they didn’t. I’m not one to dwell on a couple of bad breaks, because in the long run those things tend to even out. You gotta be able to bounce back.”

Kemp is a good bouncer. Certainly he’s not easily discouraged. He came to the Rams five years ago as an undrafted free agent out of Dartmouth. His first camp with the Rams, he was the fifth-string quarterback.

Kemp has outlasted one head coach and a dozen or so quarterbacks. Last season he became the starter when Vince Ferragamo got hurt, and Kemp was 9-5 the rest of the way.

Still, the Rams seem to regard Jeff as a sort of Kelly Girl quarterback. A competent but temporary fill-in. They traded Vince, got Dieter Brock and sent Kemp back to the bench.

Why? Reportedly, because Jeff can’t read. He can read books and things, which they make you do at Dartmouth, but quarterbacks must do a different type of reading, as in:

“Read any good defenses lately?”

“Why yes, I just finished reading a very interesting defense. The main character was a blitzing outside linebacker. It was fascinating reading, I couldn’t put it down, although it put me down a few times.”

The word is that the Rams’ coaches have some reservations about Kemp’s ability to read and dissect enemy defenses. Part of the problem might be his background. Going from quarterback in the Ivy League to quarterback in the NFL is like going from Greyhound bus driver to pilot of a 747.

Kemp sees his problem as a simple lack of extensive on-the-job experience, and he thinks he’s doing a good job of learning to read. He doesn’t even move his lips.

Kemp’s only other shortcoming is his refusal to participate in the traditional Rams’ Quarterback Controversy.

“I wasn’t out there (Sunday) trying to play a great game, show ‘em Jeff Kemp can do it,” he says. “We won nine games last year, so people know the team can win with me at quarterback. But the issue was trying to get another win for the team.

“I realized, coming in as a free agent, it would take a while for me to reach that level (starter). I’ve been willing to put up with the ups and downs, waiting for that time to come. Becoming second string again (this season) is discouraging, but it’s not a fatal blow by any means.”

In fact, Kemp might even get another shot at the starting job next Sunday. Brock is recovering from kidney stone surgery and is likely to sit out at least one more game, Sunday’s against the Atlanta Falcons.

Once again, John Robinson will choose between Kemp and Steve Dils. It will be a close call, but Kemp figures the close calls are due to be going his way.

Kemp is too nice a guy to wish Brock a slow recovery, but he probably feels the same way Ferragamo felt a few years ago when Vince was battling Pat Haden for the starting job. Haden suffered a concussion, but team doctors told Haden he could play the following game.

“He needs a second opinion,” Ferragamo said. “Mine.”