RAMS ’94 / SEASON PREVIEW : Miller Has the Goods; He Hopes They Won’t Be Damaged : Passing game: Injuries have prevented quarterback from playing a full NFL season. But despite suspect protection, he believes this is the year.

ANAHEIM — Maybe it was a rite of passage for former Oregon quarterbacks on their way to the NFL, but Dan Fouts never remembers having any say in it.

Neither did Chris Miller.

Fouts was pounded by defensive lines in his 15 seasons with the San Diego Chargers, something Miller could relate to in six years with the Atlanta Falcons and now with the Rams.

Only one difference--Fouts kept playing.

Considered one of the league’s toughest quarterbacks, Fouts started 74 consecutive games with the Chargers before a shoulder injury forced him to miss one in 1983.

But injuries have prevented Miller from starting throughout a full NFL season, a streak he hopes to end this year while playing behind a shaky Rams’ offensive line.

“Only two guys have played every game the past two years (Buffalo’s Jim Kelly and San Francisco’s Steve Young),” Miller said. “That’s a pretty amazing statistic.

“You have to think, these guys are out here chasing you around and burying you every week, and sooner or later your body is going to give in.”

And Miller’s has.

He has undergone two knee surgeries in the past two years--the result of a non-contact injury--and has sat out parts of the last seven years because of a bruised chest, cracked ribs, sprained ankle, sprained knee and a broken collarbone that required the insertion of a steel plate.

“Chris has had it a lot rougher than I ever did,” said Fouts, a Hall of Famer who set 19 passing records at Oregon, many of them later broken by Miller.

“He’s a big ‘if’ with those knees. And as far as all his other injuries, I think Atlanta’s offensive line didn’t give him the best protection, and that’s tough in an offense like the run-and-shoot.”

Strangely enough, Miller’s most serious injury came when he was eluding a tackle by Ram safety Anthony Newman, his former college teammate, in a 1992 game at Atlanta.

Miller caught his foot in a seam in the Georgia Dome’s artificial turf and shredded his knee ligaments into something resembling spaghetti.

A four-inch scar starts just above his right knee and stretches down over the top of the kneecap, an incision that allowed surgeons to remove tendon, chunks of bone, shin and kneecap to repair the left knee.

Two screws remain in the left knee, which required a second surgery last October.

“I have had plenty of time to get it strong,” Miller said. “The key thing for me was I had a good surgeon (with the second surgery).

“The first surgery, the techniques were in question and the knee wasn’t as strong as it could be. But I was comfortable with the second surgery and the rehabilitation.”

So were the Rams, who signed the free agent to a three-year, $9-million contract after he cleared an extensive examination by team doctors.

The Rams are banking on him to complement tailback Jerome Bettis by throwing high-percentage passes to running backs, tight end Troy Drayton and occasionally looking deep to wide receiver Flipper Anderson.

In a perfect world, the Rams would like Miller to approach his Pro Bowl statistics from 1991, when he threw for 3,103 yards and 26 touchdowns.

But in the three exhibition games he played, Miller completed 28 of 43 passes for 280 yards, and has yet to throw one for a touchdown.

“There are only two quarterbacks who can go out and win a game for you--Steve Young and John Elway,” said former Ram quarterback Pat Haden. “There are a handful who can dominate a game. Then there’s another tier of good quarterbacks, and Chris is at the top of that.”

“He’s really accurate, and I think there will be a dramatic improvement in the play of the quarterback this season for the Rams. But the big if is, can he stay healthy?”

Durability of quarterbacks has been a big question in the NFL in recent years.

Only seven started all 16 regular-season games last year--Elway, Young, Kelly, Seattle’s Rick Mirer, Green Bay’s Brett Favre, Boomer Esiason of the New York Jets and Phil Simms, who has since retired from the New York Giants.

The Raiders’ Jeff Hostetler, Tampa Bay’s Craig Erickson, Pittsburgh’s Neil O’Donnell and Indianapolis’ Jim Harbaugh, then with Chicago, each started 15 games.

“Hell, I can play 16 games,” Miller said. “That’s the bottom line. If you don’t want to play that many, you’re entering the season with the wrong outlook.”

The Rams hope Miller can last the season, but if he can’t they have veteran Chris Chandler and third-year player Tommy Maddox of UCLA waiting on the sideline.

With Bettis, the Ram coaches have built a conservative, run-oriented offense that uses occasional play-action passes, which they hope will keep the ambulance from carting Miller off before midseason.

With an aging Jackie Slater protecting Miller at right tackle and Giants castoff Clarence Jones at the other tackle, some of the top defensive ends and linebackers in the league will be bearing down on Miller in the first six weeks of the season.

Week 1: Arizona’s Clyde Simmons.

Week 2: Atlanta’s Chris Doleman.

Week 3: San Francisco’s Richard Dent.

Week 4: Kansas City’s Derrick Thomas.

Week 5: Doleman again.

Week 6: Green Bay’s Reggie White and Sean Jones.

Where’s Gerald Perry when you need him?

“I feel good about our O-line,” Miller said. “There was a little skepticism at first about how they were going to come together.

“But to their credit, a lot of them haven’t worked together before, and continuity is a key at that position. The longer they work together out here, the better I’ll feel with them.”

Miller has a tendency to hold onto the ball until the very last minute before throwing it, often leaving himself vulnerable to oncoming pass rushers.

A hit from a Washington defensive end in college left Miller unconscious with a five-inch long gash on the side of his helmet.

A few years ago, Buffalo’s Bruce Smith nailed Miller on a touchdown pass, and Miller had to call timeout to shake off his dizziness before holding for the extra-point kick.

“As far as being a tough man, there’s not too many quarterbacks who can stand there and stand there and wait until the last second and not get happy feet,” Newman said. “A lot of quarterbacks will get jittery and take off here or there, but Chris will stand there forever, throw the football and take a shot.

“Every time we played against Chris, and this is no lie, it was like “God, I hit him, I hit him right when he threw the ball.’ But he threw it, and he completed it for a touchdown. That happened how many times when we went against Chris? I don’t know.

“That’s a sign of toughness right there. I’ve been his teammate, and I’ve played against him, and I’ll tell you, he’s the real deal.”

Painful Memories

Because of several injuries, including two knee injuries that required surgery in the last two years, quarterback Chris Miller has yet to start an entire 16-game regular season in his seven NFL seasons. But the Rams invested $9 million in the off-season to sign the free-agent from Atlanta and handed him the control of Chuck Knox’s offense.

A look at Miller’s statistics in seven seasons with the Falcons: Regular season

Year Games-Starts Att. Comp. Yds. Pct. TD Int. 1987 3-2 92 39 552 42.4 1 9 1988 13-13 351 184 2,133 52.4 11 12 1989 15-15 526 280 3,459 53.2 16 10 1990 12-12 388 222 2,735 57.2 17 14 1991 15-14 413 220 3,103 53.3 26 15 1992 8-8 253 152 1,739 60.1 15 6

Post season

Year Games-Starts Att. Comp. Yds. Pct. TD Int. 1991 2-2 62 35 469 53.4 3 5

Source: Rams