By Howard Balzer
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
In the Rams' first practice Tuesday with Jim Haslett as head coach, Marc Bulger was back as the team's starting quarterback.
Said Haslett, "Marc is going to be the quarterback and he will be the starting quarterback for the rest of the year unless something happens. I talked to Marc and Trent (Green) about it and it is more of a gut feeling on my part. I talked to most of the offensive coaches and everybody involved and I thought Marc would give us the best opportunity to win games for the next three months.”
Bulger was benched last week by former coach Scott Linehan and replaced by Green, who quarterbacked the team in Sunday's 31-14 loss to the Buffalo Bills. While at times, it appeared there was more energy with Green behind center, the reality is that his passer rating for the game (64.1) is lower than Bulger's for the season (73.2).
Bulger was benched after playing his best football of the season in the second half against Seattle, completing 12 of 18 passes for 145 yards.
Asked if has to mend things with Bulger, Haslett said, “I don’t think there’s any fences to be mended; they need to play better. There’s a reason why you get benched and there’s a reason why you’re out there playing. I think that the players know that they have to be accountable also. Obviously, Scott was held accountable and now I think it’s the players’ turn to step up and be accountable. Marc understands that and he understands that I have full confidence in that he’s going to go out there and do his job and I think he understands what I expect from him.”
Bulger was asked if Haslett told him he would be the starter for the rest of the season, and said, “He made everything pretty clear to me. Coach Linehan told me last week that it wasn’t a permanent thing. I knew at some time I was going to be back, sooner rather than later.”
As for hopes for the rest of the season, Bulger said, “I haven’t thought about the final total. I’m honestly thinking about Washington and how we can get our first win. That will be the most important one. If we can get that, especially against a Washington team that just beat Dallas, they’re the best division in all of sports maybe, if we can somehow go there and get a win, I think that would do wonders for our team.
"I think it’s a possibility. It’s definitely an uphill climb, but we’ll see. An 0-4 team, we can’t sit here and say we’re confident. I think coach Haslett will have us ready to go.”
Bulger took some heat last week for not talking to the media after the benching. Asked about that Tuesday, he said, "I was definitely upset about the decision, but it was the head coach’s decision and I lived with it. I think me speaking on it would not have done anything. I did not want to be a distraction to the team. That is not who I am and coach Linehan knew that I would be ready."
Speaking more to the distraction issue, Bulger said, "I was upset, disappointed, I didn’t think it was the right decision, but that doesn’t matter. It’s the decision the head coach made and I had to live with it. I mean there’s no point in me telling you guys how disappointed I was because we had to get Trent ready. He hadn’t played in a year and had three days to get ready and that would have been unfair to him. Whether it would have distracted him or not, probably not because Trent’s been through it, but I didn’t want that to be the case at all.”
He also denied last week's reports that he had told people he wouldn't play for Linehan again. He said, "The minute I wasn’t sure he knew it or not and the report came out, we talked in his office and he knew I would be ready. First quarter, halftime, third quarter, so I don’t think it was ever an issue. I practiced hard and I took every rep with the practice squad so I don’t think it was ever going to be an issue.”
Now, Bulger returns to an 0-4 team that will be without tight end Randy McMichael, probably for the rest of the season. Haslett is counting on Joe Klopfenstein stepping up.
Said Haslett, “Here’s a kid who started 16 games his rookie year and then he kind of falls off the face of the earth. I told Joe, he needs to get back out there and start playing like the guy we drafted in the second round and be productive and block and run the right routes. I’m expecting Joe to step up to the plate here.”
Bulger said of Klopfenstein, "It’s his time. He’s been playing well. He’s been practicing hard. Right now, Joe doesn’t have a choice; he’s going to be our guy. We can’t scale down our offense and take our tight end out of it. It’s what we worked on all spring and all camp. I think it’s a great opportunity for him.”
Klopfenstein said he is ready for the challenge. He said, “Since my rookie year, they brought in a great tight end in Randy so I was in the shadow a little bit. But I always have been ready, waiting to do whatever they asked me to do.”
SIMPLY NOTING
*For the first time since the 2005 season, media members were able to watch an entire regular-season practice. Haslett's take on the issue was refreshing.
He said, “It is no big deal to me; it is just a couple guys out there watching practice, so it doesn’t really make a difference. I think the thing about this football team, I want them to feel good about themselves, I want the city to start to feel good about this team and obviously we have to get some wins, and I want the organization to feel good. If we can get some positive press and you guys like it out there then I am all for it.
"We have nothing to hide, we are just going to practice hard. Maybe at least, you could see how we practice and how we prepare and you could pass that on because we are going to work hard and we are going to practice hard and maybe if you see that then you will relay that to the fans, that will help out a little bit.”
*Haslett on his first practice as head coach: “It wasn’t much different. I did get lost a couple of times, started walking into the defense room and turned around. I spent time with the offense a little bit, spent time with them on the field. I forgot the whistle, little things like that. It will come, it’s not a big deal. It is kind of boring to be honest with you. You kind of stand around and you aren’t coaching, coaching. You’re not yelling at anybody.”
*Wide receiver Derek Stanley, currently on the practice squad, took some reps with the first unit in practice Tuesday. Stanley could be a candidate to be added to the active roster in the coming weeks.
