Rams ponder training camp sites
By Jim Thomas
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
04/02/2008
PALM BEACH, Fla.--Picture this: One week into Rams training camp in early August, a scrimmage against Green Bay. . .in Lambeau Field. . .before nearly 70,000 Cheeseheads (and a few Rams fans).
It could happen if the Rams end up training in Wisconsin this summer. Team sources told the Post-Dispatch on Tuesday that a delegation of Rams officials will visit the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh later this month, exploring the possibility of holding training camp at one of those sites.
Plans call for a Rams delegation, headed by Jeff Horton-- the special assistant to head coach Scott Linehan-- to visit Wisconsin-Oshkosh on April 13 and Wisconsin-Whitewater on April 14. The Rams may make a pit stop at the main University of Wisconsin campus, in Madison, during that trip.
Later that week, on April 16, the Rams are scheduled to visit Western Illinois University in Macomb, where the Rams held training camp from 1996 through 2004. The team held camp at their Rams Park facility in Earth City the past three summers. But Linehan wants to get away this year--ideally to a venue conducive to holding joint practices and/or a scrimmage with another NFL club.
On the premise that they end up somewhere in Wisconsin, the Rams have talked to Kansas City and Green Bay about the possibility of getting together in early August.
"I said I’m open to it," Packers coach Mike McCarthy told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Tuesday.
But the Rams would have to come to Green Bay -- the Packers hold training camp at their year-round facility.
"We have a unique environment, so I’m not going to disrupt that because our commitment to our fans-- we’ll never take a team out of Green Bay," McCarthy said. "I expressed that to Scott (Linehan)."
McCarthy said he won’t make a decision on the subject until the exhibition schedules come out later this month.
Kansas City coach Herm Edwards also is interested in joint workouts with the Rams.
"We’d like to try to get that done if we could do it," Edwards said Tuesday. "I don’t know if (the Rams) have made a commitment to go (to Wisconsin) yet. But if they do, we’d like to try to go practice with them."
Edwards likes the idea of working against another team on the weekend prior to his preseason opener.
"It’s good for your young players, because you’ve been practicing against yourself," Edwards said. "After about two weeks, you get a little stale. You get tired of hitting each other. When you go practice against somebody else, the tempo, the speed (is different). They get to see another jersey before they actually play a preseason game."
In terms of geography, training in Oshkosh would favor working against the Packers, as opposed to Whitewater.
Oshkosh, located in east-central Wisconsin, is 50 miles from Green Bay; Whitewater, in the southeast part of the state, is 140 miles from Green Bay. Neither prospective site is close to River Falls, summer home of the Chiefs, and situated on the western edge of Wisconsin, bordering Minnesota.
Oskhosh is 246 miles from River Falls; Whitewater is 279 miles from River Falls.
---Coach-to-defense system passes---
Team owners approved a measure Tuesday to install a coach-to-defense communications system next season similar to the coach-to-quarterback system already in use in the NFL. The measure passed by a vote of 25-7. The Rams were among the "no" votes, along with Green Bay, Oakland, Philadelphia, Seattle, Tampa Bay, and Washington.
Each team must designate a "primary" and a "backup" player to wear the specially designed helmet during games. Only one player can be on the field at a time wearing the helmet. Linehan indicated that middle linebacker
Will Witherspoon probably would be the Rams "primary" user. Linehan mentioned weakside linebacker
Pisa Tinoisamoa or one of the Rams’ starting safeties as the possible "backup" user.
The backup can only wear the helmet if the primary user is out of the game. But Linehan said even that system could have its glitches, which is why the Rams voted against the proposal.
"What if it’s a key play and the (primary) player’s shoe comes off and he has to leave the game?" Linehan said.
Under the coach-to-defense system, Rams defensive coordinator
Jim Haslett would be able to send in the signals from his headset into a mini-speaker in the designated player’s helmet. The system would all but eliminate the need for hand signals from the sideline _ you know, the kind illegally taped by Bill Belichick’s New England Patriots.
---Speaking of Belichick---
The menu at the annual AFC coaches’ breakfast included pastries, bacon, omelets, and grilled Belichick. The Patriots’ coach drew the largest crowd of reporters Tuesday morning among the AFC coaches in attendance, and many of the questions sent his way dealt with the "Spygate" controversy.
Including, of course, the Super Bowl week allegation that New England illegally taped a Rams walk-through practice the day before Super Bowl XXXVI six years ago.
"Whatever the allegations are, I’m confident that’s not true," Belichick told reporters.
Belichick said he had almost no interaction with Matt Walsh, the former member of the Patriots’ film crew who has intimated he has further knowledge of illegal taping done by the franchise, particularly as it pertains to the Super Bowl against the Rams.
As for the Walsh-related allegations, Belichick said, "It totally came out of right field to me. . . .I’ve never seen a tape of another team’s practice --ever-- in 34 years of coaching, and certainly not that one."
Belichick said he’s never asked anyone to tape a practice.
When asked if he gets angry when people say the Patriots’ titles are tainted because of "Spygate," Belichick replied, "Everybody is entitled to an opinion. I can’t control what everybody thinks. I’m not going to try to do that. I’m just going to do what I’ve done since September of last year (when the first ‘Spygate’ allegations surfaced), which is to do the best I can to coach our football team, preparing for the game, running an organization that is efficient and competitive with the other 31 teams in the league."
Both Belichick and Patriots owner Robert Kraft reportedly apologized to league owners Tuesday for the "Spygate" controversy.
---Hair issued tabled---
Team owners on Tuesday tabled a proposal that would have required players with long hair to keep their locks from obstructing the view of their jersey number or jersey nameplate. The issue, proposed by Kansas City’s Edwards, will be reconsidered in May.
"In our opinion, it’s a violation of the dress code," Edwards said. "We’re not saying it’s a safety issue. . . .We’re just saying it’s no different than when we tell players they have to keep their jersey (tucked) in, or they have to wear their socks a certain way. It’s part of the uniform.
"We’re not saying guys have to cut their hair. We’re not saying guys can’t wear dreadlocks."
They would just have to tuck their hair into their helmet. Surely, Rams running back
Steven Jackson does not approve.
---Play dough---
Pittsburgh offensive tackle Willie Colon earned a league-high $309,534 in performance-based pay for the 2007 season.
The performance-based pay system, instituted in 2002, creates a fund to supplement a player’s regular salary. Under the formula, lower-salaried players who see a lot of playing time in a particulars season receive the most performance-based pay.
The top Rams players in terms of performance-based pay in ’07 were offensive lineman Milford Brown (now with Carolina) at $218,000, and safety Oshiomogho "O.J." Atogwe with an extra $175,000 of income.
---Ram-blings---
_ Cal-Berkeley wide receiver DeSean Jackson and Toledo offensive tackle John Greco will pay pre-draft visits to Rams Park later this month, according to league sources.
_ Quarterback Gus Frerotte, who backed up
Marc Bulger the past two seasons in St. Louis before getting released at the end of February, is close to signing with the Minnesota Vikings.
_ After missing the first week of the offseason conditioning program while on a trip, Bulger has been working at Rams Park this week.
_ Among the most recent free-agent pickups for the Rams, cornerback David Macklin will wear jersey number 27, and wide receiver Reche Caldwell will wear No. 17.
jthomas@post-dispatch.com/314-340-8197
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