Bettis Gets Better and Better // Rookie's Actions Speak for Him

ANAHEIM, Calif. He's a snorting, smiling, 240-pound road hog wholikes to hear his victims grunt and groan as they crumble.

And then, as the opposition takes inventory of bumps andbruises, Los Angeles Rams running back Jerome Bettis delivers thereally bad news.

"I'll be back," he says with a grin.

"Bettis was talking a lot of trash out there," New Orleanslinebacker Rickey Jackson said of last Sunday's game in theSuperdome. "He was having fun, like a kid in a candy store. He keptgetting up and telling us he'd be back.

"I really think what happened is that we had guys trying toover-hit him because he was talking so much trash."

Bettis also yells. What he yells is often unintelligible, butno matter, he simply keeps yelling.

"On occasion I'll look up and see him shaking his head, lookingat the defenders with this, like, crazed stare," said Rams tackleJackie Slater. "You got defenders seeing that and they're justsaying, `This big son of a gun is crazy.' "

Bettis has gone helmet to helmet with some of the game's toplinebackers and popped up screaming, "Is that all you got?"

When linebacker Sam Mills ripped the ball out of Bettis' handsSunday on the Rams' first possession and returned it 30 yards for atouchdown, Bettis got irritated.

"Somebody was going to have to pay for that," he said, and therecord books now show that Bettis ran for more yards in the Superdomethan any other player ever.

"There's no stopping me," Bettis told the Saints. "No, no, no."

The San Francisco 49ers couldn't control him three weeks ago,when he gained 133 yards in 18 carries. He stung the PhoenixCardinals, who had been tremendously successful against the run, for115 yards in 16 carries.

The Saints were gunning for the playoffs but were trampled byBettis, who ran 28 times for 212 yards.

"Running for 212 yards is a feeling of dominance," Bettis said."I'm pounding at them. I'm pounding at them and there's nothing easyabout it, but it's like, dang, whew, you can just hear it. It's likeyou can hear it after every play, the sighs, `Oh, man,' and thatdrives you even more to get that feeling of dominance.

"They get frustrated, and I like to think I get to them. Youjust want to dominate a defense and take their whole football teamout of the game."

Bettis said he could not keep track of the yards.

"They were coming so quick I couldn't add that quickly," hesaid, laughing. "You know what I am saying? It was like 70, 80,100, they were piling up so quickly."

On his 71-yard touchdown run, Bettis outran four defenders.

"That was the highlight of my year," Bettis said. "It was longenough that people can no longer doubt that I have good speed. Therehave been a lot of people, especially with the media here, saying Ididn't really have the speed to get outside.

"Once they realized, `Hey, he can break a long one,' that letthem know I can be a complete tailback. I wasn't just the bruisingbattering fullback-type of runner that everybody thought I was."

After fullback Tim Lester and guard Leo Goeas had cleared apath, Bettis broke free from defensive lineman Les Miller and simplyoutran the Saints' secondary.

"I saw the gang start to chase him, and I saw that they weren'tgaining on him," Coach Chuck Knox said. "Then I said, `Just hangon.' Now they have some people in their secondary that can run.

"I'll tell you, it's a lot more fun to see some of their guystail-lighting one of mine than it is the other way around."

Bettis will probably be given every opportunity to romp andstomp the Bengals at Cincinnati on Sunday. Cincinnati has the NFL'sthird-worst defense at stopping the run.

"I'll say this, the big guy, when he's running up in there, boy,that's a force to be reckoned with," Knox said.

Said Bettis: "I always look at stats to stay up on everythingand to keep the guys motivated. For a while, (the goal) was get to1,000 (yards). I told the guys, `Get to a thousand, get to athousand.' Now I'm over a thousand, so we need to get another push.`Hey, let's try to lead the league in rushing.' "

Detroit's Barry Sanders is the NFL leader with 1,115 yards in243 carries but is sidelined because of an injured knee. Bettis isNo. 2 with 1,103 yards in 215 carries. Buffalo's Thurman Thomas has1,092 in 280 carries, and Dallas' Emmitt Smith has 1,074 in 210.

"You see a guy like this run with the excitement he shows andit's contagious," Slater said of Bettis. "It's been amazing to meover my career how much a great runner can energize people aroundhim.

"I was on the field the first time he gained 100 yards, whichwas the first time he played the Saints, and I remember how excitedhe was in the huddle. I mean the guy's tenacious, and it justignites everybody."

Slater cleared the way for Eric Dickerson, the last Rams rookieto go over the 1,000-yard mark. Dickerson ran for more than 100yards 41 times with the Rams, including nine times his rookie season.Bettis has done it five times this year.

"They are different style backs with different physical makeups,but there's something about that special runner when he's on a roll,"Slater said. "You can see it with both of these guys.

"It gives you an awful lot of incentive to continue playing aswe are when a guy like this has a chance for the rushing title. Ifhe gets it, it belongs to everybody on that field. I mean you haveto build on something, and this is someone special."

"It would be a great honor to be the rushing champion and therookie of the year," Bettis said. "I think all the success I'mhaving individually is going to help the team."