By Jim Thomas
Of the Post-Dispatch
Sunday, Sep. 19 2004
ATLANTA - Just two games into the season, the Rams are going through right
cornerbacks at an alarming rate.
DeJuan Groce started Sunday against the Falcons but suffered a sprained right
knee on Atlanta's second possession of the game. He did not return. Groce had
missed much of the preseason with a sprained left knee.
"I've got a matching set," Groce joked.
The latest injury came on run support against the Falcons. "I think I got hit
in the leg," Groce said. "It buckled in on a run play. I was just coming in on
a tackle and got hit."
After the game, coach Mike Martz said, "I don't know how bad it is. But
obviously, he wasn't able to play with it."
Groce said no X-rays were taken at the Georgia Dome, but he is expected to
undergo further examination today in St. Louis.
Groce was starting at cornerback only because Travis Fisher suffered a broken
forearm in an exhibition game against Kansas City. Groce was replaced by Kevin
Garrett, but then Garrett was replaced by undrafted rookie Dwight Anderson in
the second half.
Garrett said he wasn't sure why he was replaced.
"My foot has been kind of bothering me," Garrett said. "I don't know if they
noticed me limping or not. But I never told them I was hurt. It's something
that I re-aggravated from the preseason. It's nothing major or anything."
Anderson held his own, even though Atlanta quarterback Michael Vick went right
at him with a deep pass to Peerless Price on the Falcons' third offensive play
of the third quarter.
Anderson said that prior to the play he "saw Vick in the huddle, laughing,
smiling at me, looking at me. So I kind of figured he was going to come at me."
Anderson and Price got their feet tangled on the play, causing Price to tumble.
The pass fell incomplete but was overthrown too much to be deemed a catchable
ball and incur a penalty.
"It was incidental contact - the ref saw it," Anderson said. "So that a good
'no-call.'"
Special teams follies
Steven Jackson replaced Arlen Harris on kickoff returns Sunday, but the Rams
still couldn't get much going. Jackson averaged only 19.7 yards on three
returns, and he actually cost the Rams 10 yards for taunting when he tossed the
ball toward a Falcons player after a fourth-quarter touchback.
That penalty backed the Rams up to their 10-yard line, and two plays later
Atlanta's Brady Smith swatted the ball away from
Marc Bulger in the end zone
for a Falcons touchdown.
In the first quarter, the Rams were fooled by an Atlanta onside kick, even
though Martz said, "we practiced that and we told them that was coming."
Furrey sits out game
Wide receiver Mike Furrey, who had 20 catches in 13 games for the Rams last
season, was among seven players designated as pregame inactives by the team.
The others: CB Travis Fisher (forearm); DT Jimmy Kennedy (foot); LB Trev Faulk
(hamstring); OG Tom Nutten (turf toe); OG Darnell Alford and OG Blaine Saipaia.
Alford and Saipaia were healthy scratches.
Challenge is thwarted
Martz was unsuccessful on another instant replay challenge Sunday, this time
challenging an Atlanta onside kick that appeared to clearly go the required 10
yards before being recovered by the Falcons.
"We had some information that it didn't go 10 yards," Martz said. "I didn't see
it, so I immediately challenged it, and it was the wrong information."
When asked where he got the information, Martz said: "It doesn't matter where I
got it from. It really doesn't
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