By Jim Thomas
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Wednesday, Oct. 03 2007
Brandon Gorin isn't exactly setting down roots in St. Louis. But after signing
with the Rams on Sept. 12, he did recently move out of the hotel where the Rams
house new players.
With a sense of accomplishment, Gorin announced: "I have my own cable TV, so I
feel good."
But Gorin hasn't been around Rams Park long enough to learn everyone's name.
"Not everybody," said Gorin, a 6-foot-6, 308-pound offensive tackle. "But I'm
pretty good with it. You've got guys like Isaac Bruce and
Torry Holt — they've
been around a long time.
Marc Bulger. It's easy to know their names."
Those offensive players, and more, could be getting to know Gorin in the coming
weeks. After yet another injury on the offensive line, Gorin might be the
team's next starting right tackle.
Here are the possibilities the rest of the week at Rams Park:
— If
Richie Incognito's high ankle sprain is healthy enough for him to make his
2007 regular-season debut, he will start at right guard Sunday against Arizona,
with Milford Brown probably sliding over from right guard to right tackle.
— If Incognito isn't ready to go, Brown probably stays at right guard, with
Gorin starting at right tackle. Gorin replaced the injured Adam Goldberg early
in the third quarter in Dallas and finished out the game at right tackle.
"Obviously, you don't want to see anybody get hurt or anything like that,"
Gorin said. "But this is the NFL. Things do happen. That's what we're prepared
to do as a backup. Roles change, and I had to go in and try to perform."
He had been with the team only 2½ weeks before getting pressed into service
against Dallas, but Gorin said he has a decent grasp of the playbook.
"Unfortunately, I did make a couple of mistakes (against Dallas)," Gorin said.
"Stuff that had nothing to do with the playbook. I don't plan on making those
same type of mistakes again."
A seven-year NFL veteran, Gorin played in college at Purdue when current Rams
assistant coaches Greg Olson and Jim Chaney were on the Boilermakers' staff.
Gorin entered the league in 2001 as a seventh-round draft pick by San Diego.
Before joining the Rams, he played in 32 regular-season games, all with New
England from 2003 through 2005. He started 18 regular-season games for the
Patriots in '04 and '05, plus five postseason contests, including Super Bowl
XXXIX against Philadelphia.
Gorin's most recent stop was Arizona last season. Slowed by offseason surgery
for a sports hernia, he was inactive for 14 games and did not play in two
others. If the Rams do go with a Gorin-Brown right side Sunday, they will start
two former Cardinals against their old team. Brown started 12 games for the Big
Red in 2006 but was released in the offseason.
As for Goldberg, the silver lining is that the torn medial collateral ligament
in his left knee will not require surgery. He has overcome MCL injuries
previously in his right knee.
"But never this severe," he said. "The MCL is torn, detached from the femur."
Goldberg was in line to start the rest of the season at right tackle before
suffering the injury against Dallas.
"It's depressing," Goldberg said. "But it is part of the game."
Goldberg is the fifth offensive lineman to suffer a serious injury in the past
six weeks, joining Incognito, Todd Steussie (foot),
Orlando Pace (shoulder) and
Mark Setterstrom (knee).
MORE VISITS
As has been the case every Tuesday of the regular season, the Rams had several
street free agents in for workouts and visits. Visiting this Tuesday were: CB
Derrick Strait, FB Matt Bernstein, RB Wali Lundy, WR David Ball and WR-punt
returner Brandon Williams. None of the players was signed.
Williams is a St. Louis native who played for Hazelwood East High and then the
University of Wisconsin. He was cut by San Francisco last month; a muffed punt
that was recovered by the Rams and led to a St. Louis touchdown on Sept. 16
probably led to his demise.
Lundy rushed for 476 yards and four touchdowns last year for Houston but was
released by the Texans at the end of training camp this year. Strait was a
third-round draft pick by the New York Jets in 2004; he played in 29 NFL games,
including a combined eight last season for the Jets, Carolina and Chicago.
GO RAMS 
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