National West

Should the Los Angeles Rams win the championship of this difficult division, as seems likely, they will owe their good fortune, at least in part, to the winning chess played by Coach Tommy Prothro. A large, quiet Southerner who is possessed of formidable and varied skills, Prothro is not above using any of them if he thinks he can help his cause. Thus it was that he trotted out his chessboard not long after Lance Rentzel, the accomplished wide receiver, arrived from Dallas. Prothro was concerned with Rentzel's lack of concern about diagrammed pass patterns. Instead of following those so carefully drawn on the blackboard in pregame meetings, Rentzel would run zigzags that occurred to him in the few seconds after the snap of the ball. Prothro played some dozen chess games with Rentzel and won them all.

"Next time I'm going to beat you, coach," Rentzel said.

"No, you're not, Lance," Prothro said. "I know a great deal more about chess than you do."

Rentzel turned to go, but Prothro stopped him.

"I also know a great deal more about pass patterns than you do," he said.

Since then, Rentzel has run his patterns meticulously. When Prothro, newly arrived from UCLA last year, instituted different ideas on offense (flopping his offensive line, new blocking postures), many of the Ram veterans were as reluctant as Rentzel to accept the changes. Now all of them are believers in the Prothro moves.

The personnel does not differ radically from last season. Roman Gabriel, recovered from a collapsed lung, still quarterbacks the club and throws fewer interceptions than any other quarterback around. The receivers and blocking line are unchanged from last season and solid, while the runners are Willie Ellison, who set a single-game rushing record of 247 yards last season, and Larry Smith, the strong, versatile back who gets the call for tough yardage. Jim Bertelsen, the Texas rookie, may augment the two with his slashing style.

Defensively, the Rams figure to be stronger even though Deacon Jones is now playing for San Diego. Jones will be replaced by Fred Dryer, acquired from the Giants. Coy Bacon, who graded out better than Jones in 1971, will hold down the other defensive end spot while Jack Youngblood (second year) will fill in for both. The Olsen brothers, Merlin and Phil, effectively seal the middle, and the Rams have a strong coterie of linebackers and better prospects at defensive back.

Their only serious competition in the division is San Francisco, and in the last 12 games between the two teams the Rams have won eight and tied one. "We're maybe 20% better going into this season," Prothro said in training camp. "Not because I know the other clubs in the league better—they know me, too—but because the club knows me and I know the people I have and they believe in and are familiar with the system. They react by instinct, not by thinking."

A 20% improvement should be more than enough, since the Rams finished second to San Francisco by half a game last year. And the 49ers have not changed at all, really.