By Jim Thomas
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Monday, Nov. 06 2006
In his first season in St. Louis, Tony Fisher has carved out a niche for
himself as a third-down back and special teams core player. But it looks like
Fisher's season is over after he hurt his right knee late in the first quarter
Sunday.
"Tony Fisher has a pretty significant knee injury," coach Scott Linehan said
after the Rams' 31-17 loss to Kansas City. "We think it's an ACL."
As in torn anterior cruciate ligament. Fisher was scheduled for further
testing, but if that's the case season-ending knee surgery is next.
Fisher suffered the injury returning a Kansas City kickoff with 2 minutes 14
seconds to play in the opening quarter following the Chiefs' first touchdown.
Sunday's game marked Fisher's second contest returning kickoffs this season. He
was replaced on kickoff returns by Kevin Curtis, who averaged 19.8 yards on
four returns Sunday.
Signed as a free agent from Green Bay in the offseason, Fisher also has seen
duty in third-and-long situations out of the backfield. For the season, he has
14 catches for 159 yards, and six carries for 9 yards. Without Fisher for most
of Sunday's game, Stephen Davis saw his most extensive playing time of the
season. Davis had only 14 carries in the Rams' first seven games this season
but carried six times (for 18 yards) against Kansas City.
Bad ending for Curtis
Curtis' longest reception of the day, a 23-yarder on the game's final play,
came at a price. Curtis was drilled along the Kansas City sideline by Chiefs
safety Sammy Knight and needed a few minutes to get up. As the Chiefs left the
field after the game, most of the Rams' squad gathered around Curtis to make
sure he was OK.
With St. Louis trailing by 14 at the time, all Knight needed to do was push
Curtis out of bounds to end the game. But he went in for the kill shot instead.
Was that necessary?
"I don't know how he went about that play," Curtis said. "I didn't see him at
all, obviously. I don't really have much comment on that. It is football, and I
guess he's got a job to do, too."
Curtis has had problems with concussions and migraines in the past, but said,
"It wasn't my head at all. He just got me pretty good in the ribs. The biggest
thing was I just couldn't catch my breath for a good little while."
The injury, described as bruised ribs by Linehan, isn't thought to be serious.
Other injuries
Defensive end
Leonard Little, en route to a two-sack day, suffered a bruised
knee in the first half, but kept playing. "I should be OK," Little said.
Safety Jerome Carter, who plays in the Rams' dime package as well as on special
teams, suffered a left elbow injury early in the second quarter but returned in
the third quarter.
Running back
Steven Jackson suffered a dislocated left index finger on the
first play of the fourth quarter but missed only a few plays before returning.
Reed sits again
Curtis was the Rams' only other option on kickoff returns once Tony Fisher went
down because J.R. Reed was among the Rams' pregame inactives for the third week
in a row.
Other inactives for the Rams were LB Jon Alston, DE Tony Bryant, CB Jerametrius
Butler, TE
Dominique Byrd, OG
Mark Setterstrom and G-C Larry Turner.
Ram-blings
For the second week in a row, LB
Pisa Tinoisamoa dressed but didn't play
because of a broken left hand. Dexter Coakley started in his place. ...With 61
reception yards against Kansas City, Isaac Bruce passed Irving Fryar for ninth
place on the NFL career list. Bruce now has 12,832 career reception yards. ...
Cardinals pitchers Chris Carpenter and Josh Hancock were in attendance Sunday.
Carpenter went out for the coin toss.
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