By Jim Thomas
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Wednesday, Nov. 21 2007
The boys, Jack and Will, must find alternate transportation to school. The
wife, Erica, probably is glad to get him out of the house. That's because Todd
Steussie is returning to work this morning with the Rams.
Steussie made it official Tuesday, re-signing with the Rams after reaching an
injury settlement with the team Sept. 5. Wide receiver Travis Taylor was
released, creating a roster spot for Steussie.
"I'm happy to be back in numerous ways," Steussie said. "It's been a long time
for the Rams. But it's been a long time for me, too."
Since Steussie suffered a broken foot Aug. 30 in the exhibition finale against
Kansas City, bodies have been falling left and right at Rams Park. Particularly
on the offensive line, where tackle
Orlando Pace, guard-tackle Adam Goldberg
and guards
Mark Setterstrom and
Richie Incognito ended up on the season-ending
injured reserve list.
That's how Steussie originally was designated, too, but the Rams took advantage
of a five-day window to reach an injury settlement, thus making him eligible to
return to the team this week. It's a highly unusual move. In fact, since the
move to St. Louis in 1995, the Rams never have brought a player back once
agreeing on an injury settlement.
Until now, that is.
"I'm charged up about it. I probably won't sleep that well tonight," Steussie
said Tuesday. "I'm just excited about getting in to work. I imagine I'm going
to be the same way on game day. But I'll settle down."
Adding to the strange nature of Steussie's return is the fact that he's
expected to start Sunday against Seattle, though it's uncertain whether he'll
be at tackle or guard. Twelve weeks after his last football activity — the
Governor's Cup game against the Kansas City Chiefs — Steussie will attempt to
play Sunday with only three practices under his belt. That's almost unheard of
in the NFL.
Steussie sounds unfazed by the challenge.
"Muscle memory will kick in," Steussie said. "The older you get, the more you
do most of your work in the film room — mentally getting ready. If I get
prepared building up to the (game), I'll be just fine on Sunday."
Physically, Steussie may not be in "football" shape. But he's in shape. He
started doing treadmill work about five weeks after surgery.
"And once I was able to do that, it was to the point where I could start
pushing it," he said.
He started lifting weights. He did running and field work at MICDS. He even
trained at the Boxing Gym in Maryland Heights.
"No sparring; it was all heavy bags, speed bag, target pads, working some
footwork, jumping rope," Steussie said.
How does the boxing work carry over to football?
"Explosion. Hand-eye coordination. Balance. Agility. Speed," Steussie said. "I
worked on getting the speed of my punches up and also endurance and stamina."
It was all designed with the idea of getting himself as ready as possible to
play right away once he re-signed with St. Louis.
"I'm going to go four days from my first practice to being on the football
field in a real game," Steussie said. "I really wanted to push myself to some
extremes. My wife said I had a workout disorder because that was pretty much
all I did."
Well, that and drive the kids to school.
"I'm the king of dropoff and pickup at my sons' school," Steussie said. "I'm
one of the few dads in the car-pool line."
Which sounds a bit like the Michael Keaton role in the 1983 movie comedy "Mr.
Mom."
"Exactly," Steussie said. "North to drop off, south to pick up."
Steussie, who turns 37 on Dec. 1, said he was healthy enough to play about a
month ago. By league rule, and under the terms of the injury settlement, he
wasn't eligible to return to the Rams until this week. However, he could've
signed with another NFL team at any point after the settlement but chose not to
explore that option.
"I'm on my fourth (NFL) team right now, and we've moved three times in the last
five years," Steussie said. "I didn't want to leave my family, or yank them out
of school and go somewhere else, live in some apartment.
"When we came to the Rams, I made a promise to my kids — especially my oldest
son, Jack, who was really having a hard time moving — that this was going to be
the last team I was going to play for. Whether or not he remembers it, I
remember it."
Also, Steussie said he feels a sense of loyalty to the Rams, unlike any he's
felt working for Minnesota, Carolina or Tampa Bay in his 14-year career.
"I'm not going to bash the places that I've been before, but there's been some
people that I don't have too fond of memories," Steussie said. "Not so much the
players, but some of the coaches, the front office. So when you see some good
people ... you want to reciprocate, and do good back to them."
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