By Bill Coats
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
10/13/2006
NFL career sack No. 1 nearly came Sunday for Rams rookie
Claude Wroten.
"I thought I was going to get it against Brett Favre, but it didn't happen," said Wroten, a defensive tackle. "I'm pretty sure it'll come soon."
When it does, look for a well-choreographed celebration. Without offering details, Wroten said, "When I get that first sack, you'll see it. You'll be able to tell I got it, I promise you that."
Wroten, a third-round draft choice, has been on the game-day roster for four of the Rams' five games. But he had played sparingly before getting in for 27 of 67 plays at Green Bay. He contributed two tackles and a quarterback pressure to the 23-20 triumph.
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"Coach has started getting a little confidence in me," Wroten said. "I'm picking up the defense much quicker, so now I can just do things naturally and make plays. You're going to see a lot more of that in the future."
When filling out his 45-man roster on Sundays, coach Scott Linehan must decide whether to dress four defensive ends and three defensive tackles, or vice versa. Generally, it comes down to a choice between Wroten and Brandon Green, a second-year defensive end.
The determination is based to some extent on who practices better during the week.
"Because we've stayed pretty healthy on the defensive line, we've kind of opened up the competition on Wednesdays and Thursdays and even Fridays," Linehan said. "I think it works well. Competition is a great motivator."
Green, who has dressed for just two games after playing in all 16 last season, agreed.
"It is a competition, and you really never know," he said. "But it does keep us playing out there, I'll tell you that much. ...
"It's tough to just sit around and watch your teammates go out there and fight and struggle and play through a game, go through all the ups and downs, while you just stand on the sideline."
Wroten, who had 12 sacks in two seasons at Louisiana State, said he welcomed the challenge for playing time.
"I enjoy it," he said. "I'm a real good competitor; I look to go out there and compete every day. I'm just coming along."
For now, Wroten backs up La'Roi Glover, an 11-year veteran, at the under tackle, or "3-technique," spot next to the nose tackle, the domain of Jimmy Kennedy and Jason Fisk, a 12th-year pro.
"Playing with guys like La'Roi Glover and Jason Fisk, you're going to learn some things," Wroten said. "It's been good for me."
Game is a sell-out
Sunday's game is officially a sellout and will be televised locally (KTVI, Channel 2). The Rams expect some tickets to become available after returns from Seattle.
For more information, check
www.stlouisrams.com or call the ticket office at 314-425-8830.
The big picture
The Rams are atop the NFC West standings and, at 4-1, are off to their best start in five years. What does that mean to quarterback
Marc Bulger?
"Not much at all. It doesn't matter right now. We're only five games in," he said. "You can look at years past and see that there are a lot of teams that start off 6-0 or 7-0 and don't even make the playoffs.
"We're not even going to start talking about that until at least Week 13 or 14, so we're a long way from that."
Ram-blings
Defensive tackle Jeremy Calahan, released Aug. 28 after spending most of the 2005 season on the Rams' practice squad, had a tryout this week with Buffalo. First-year Bills defensive line coach Bill Kollar held the same position with the Rams the previous five seasons. ... At plus-12, the Rams sport the best turnover margin in the league. They finished minus-10 (28th) last year and minus-24 (32nd) in 2004.
Linear Mode
