Bradford brings the heat

[Nick]

Bradford brings the heat
by Brian Stull
Updated 11 Hours ago

One of the many things to like about Sam Bradford is the big arm. At Oklahoma, the quarterback regularly had plays of 40 or more yards en route to winning the Heisman Trophy in 2008.

While it hasn’t shown up yet in the Rams preseason, no one is questioning the arm of the rookie. In particular, Danny Amendola — who had his hand split open from catching a Bradford pass against New England.

“Yeah, yeah he can wing it” shared Amendola. “I think it was the first one. I just looked down and my glove was all bloody. At the time, I didn’t feel it but at halftime, I took my glove off and it was sliced pretty good so I got some stitches.”

Despite the stitches, Amendola continued to play against the Patriots and was full go in practice on Sunday. His refusal to take anytime off did not go unnoticed. “I tell you, he’s a competitor,” said Steve Spagnuolo.

“You’ve got to kind of keep him from hurting himself, he just wants to go go go, which is a good problem to have. I love the way he plays and competes. I think it’s huge. I think it’s great for our team, and the other guys see it too. I think they feed off of it.”

Amendola, along with Keenan Burton and Mardy Gilyard, may be stepping in to try and fill the void left by the loss of Donnie Avery.

Gilyard had the first opportunity, but Spagnuolo cautioned that the rookie still has a ways to go before winning the job.

“I think he’s behind,” explained Spags. “In the volume of the scheme, I do think he’s behind. Some of the things that kind of should be smoothed out by now are still not, and that’s his… he’s a pro now and he’s got to iron that out. We’re coming up here on 14 days before we play a regular season game, so that’s something he’s got to work on.”

Gilyard agrees with the assessment.

“My thought process is a little bit slower than everybody else’s just because I’m still trying to figure out stuff on the run,” volunteered Gilyard. “I’m getting better. I’m way better than I know I was week one. Again, I know I made tremendous strides as I did prior to week 2. On my end, I feel like I’m coming along, but I need to grow up fast in all honesty.”

RAMdom Notes:

-The Rams released three players prior to Monday’s practice: running back Jamie McCoy, cornerback Marcus Brown, and offensive guard Joe Gibbs.

As expected, Steve Spagnuolo stated that Donnie Avery will be placed on Injured Reserve (IR) prior to Thursday’s deadline of trimming the roster to 75 players.

That means the Rams will need to make one other move to get under the limit. One likely candidate is Phil Trautwein, who is expected to be out at least another six weeks recovering from a third-degree MCL injury.

-Don’t expect wide receiver Laverneous Coles to wind up in St. Louis. While recently released by the New York Jets, the veteran is leaning towards retirement.

"I think I'm done,'' Coles, 32, told The Newark Star-Ledger."I don't want to become one of those journeyman football players. I don't need the money. Coach (Rex Ryan) said I was doing well and they want to bring me back after the first game but I don't know. I don't think that's something I want to do.”

[shower beers]

Absolutely love Amendola. He just keeps continuing to impress. I think he's going to be dynamite in the slot for us this year.

[MACD]

Let me get this straight; Amendola says he got stitches simply from making a catch of one of Bradford's passes? With gloves on? I have never heard of such a thing...