St. Louis Rams Torry Holt frustrated

***RamWraith*** · -11-01-2008

By Jim Thomas
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Saturday, Nov. 01 2008
In 10 highly productive seasons with the Rams, wide receiver Torry Holt never
has complained publicly about not getting the football.

But on Friday, he said he felt like he was getting phased out of the offense.

"At times I do," Holt said. "At times, I feel like there's a situation where
I'm being phased. Who knows? We've still got (nine) more games left, and we'll
see how those (nine) games go. And then, once the season's over with, come back
and ask me and see how I feel."

When Jim Haslett took over for Scott Linehan as Rams coach on Sept. 29, he
stressed that he wanted to get the ball in the hands of the team's top
playmakers, mentioning running back Steven Jackson, rookie wide receiver Donnie
Avery and Holt. But three games into Haslett's tenure, it doesn't look like
things have changed.

Over the past three games, Holt has caught 11 passes for 102 yards, with no
touchdowns. In the first four games, under Linehan, Holt caught 15 passes for
187 yards and one touchdown.

When asked if he was surprised about not getting the ball as much, Holt said,
"Yeah, absolutely surprised. But I guess they feel that Donnie's obviously been
stepping up and making some of these plays. And they want to continue to get
him the football. So I've just got to go out there and continue to try to keep
some bounce, and try to play and do what I can to help our football team win."

For his part, Haslett took Holt's comments in stride.

"I would be disappointed in Torry if he felt that he couldn't contribute to
this team," Haslett said. "We'll continue to try to find ways to get Torry the
ball."

Through seven games this season, Holt has 26 catches for 289 yards. At that
pace, the seven-time Pro Bowler would finish the season with 59 catches for 661
yards, far below his career averages. The NFL's most productive receiver this
decade, both in terms of catches and yards, Holt has averaged 94 catches for
1,384 yards over the past eight seasons.

"You go from getting a million opportunities and touches that I've had in the
past to not nearly as many, yeah, it's definitely a sense of frustration," Holt
said.

Even so, Holt still has had more passes thrown to him (48) than any player on
the team this season. Avery has had 30 passes thrown his way.

Holt, who was wearing jersey No. 9 (his high school number) in practice Friday,
said he has not brought up his concerns to the coaching staff. "No, I don't
feel like I have to," Holt said. "I don't feel like I need to speak to anybody
about that. Like I've mentioned to you earlier, my body of work speaks for
itself. So I just keep working. I'm not going to make a stink about it, or make
a fuss about it. I just continue to go with the flow, and once again, just try
to help out this football team where I can and as much as I can."

Later, Holt stressed to a reporter that he wanted to keep things positive and
wasn't trying to be a distraction. Friday is Holt's regularly scheduled
weekday media session. All of his answers were in response to questions from
reporters; it's not as if he came out with an agenda.

Holt probably doesn't run like he did as a rookie; knee problems the previous
two seasons haven't helped. But a veteran NFC scout told the Post-Dispatch
earlier this season that he still felt Holt was moving well, gaining separation
and running good routes.

"I don't think you can go from what I did last year, the year before, to come
off of knee surgery and then all of a sudden come to this year and just be
(crummy)," Holt said. "I don't think that. I don't think it happens that way.
Not with the way I work and how passionate I am about the game of football."

Holt said he has experienced some tightness and soreness in his knee at times,
including Sunday's game at New England. But overall, the knee hasn't been much
of an issue this season.

"It's not like I'm in the training room every day getting treatment or
anything," Holt said. "Physically, I feel good. I haven't missed a practice."

btimsah · -11-01-2008

I was kind of wondering about him. I think he's also suffered from the Linehan era. I'd say watch out for him as the season progresses and Avery gets more attention.