"Dr." Spagnuolo Finds Injury Judgements Difficult To Make

11.13.2009 2:04 pm
“Dr.” Spagnuolo finds injury judgments difficult to make
By Bill Coats
St. Louis Post-Dispatch


Judging whether to shut down a slightly injured player or to let him suit up and take the field is one of the more difficult tasks for an NFL head coach. The St. Louis Rams’ Steve Spagnuolo is finding that out during his rookie season.

“Every individual’s different,” he said. “That’s part of me learning the team. That’s what this whole year will be. I’ll have a better idea of how guys react to injuries. They all react differently.

“And I’ll tell you what: A lot of these guys react real good.”

Spagnuolo trusted the judgment of cornerback Ron Bartell, who has been nursing a sore thigh nearly all season but has remained in the lineup. Now, defensive lineman C.J. Ah You is in a similar predicament. The high-ankle sprain that he suffered Oct. 25 vs. the Colts has improved greatly. But is it enough that he could be effective Sunday vs. the Saints?

“C.J. is questionable right now,” Spagnuolo said after Friday’s practice. “He didn’t do a lot today, very limited. He’s still fighting that ankle. I’d like him to be a hundred percent on Sunday, so I thought it best to back off a little bit. He got plenty of the reps he needed Wednesday and Thursday.”

Notes & quotes:

*G Richie Incognito (foot) spent another day on the sideline with strength coach Rock Gullickson.

*WR Ruvell Martin got some reps with the first-team offense. Still, Spagnuolo hasn’t dressed more than four WRs for a game this year. So on Sunday, it likely will be Donnie Avery, Keenan Burton, Danny Amendola and Brandon Gibson.

*Spagnuolo reported that Burton “had a real good week of practice. He looks real confident to me in what he’s doing out there, and he’s really helping all those other guys. A real pro.”

*With Ah You limited, Victor Adeyanju took some first-team snaps at defensive tackle.

All for now…

Wow that's interesting about Victor, I really want to see him play. Has he gotten bigger to play DT? Spags, spags, spags. What do you have up your sleeve..

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Varg6

Wow that's interesting about Victor, I really want to see him play. Has he gotten bigger to play DT? Spags, spags, spags. What do you have up your sleeve..

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I'm sure that he is playing DT on obvious passing downs, much like J. Hall and C. Long also will move inside when it is probably not going to be a run.

I agree with you, though. I would sure like to see VA get some snaps on a regular basis. He is in his contract year and we've got to properly assess him to see if we want to resign him next year.

I'd hate to let him go due to lack of playing time info this year only for him to re surface somewhere else and start kickin' a##.

Not like that hasn't happened a number of times, eh?:|

WHAT SAY YE?