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  • Two more starters headed for IR

    By Bill Coats 11/05/2007 4:48 pm


    Two more names are about to be added to the Rams’ bulging injured-reserve list. Guard Richie Incognito, hurt Oct. 28 against Cleveland, is scheduled for a knee operation Tuesday in Birmingham, Ala., and defensive end Leonard Little is facing toe surgery, likely sooner rather than later.

    “That really is the only option,” Little said Monday. “It isn’t the type of injury where it will heal on its own.”

    Little sat out vs. Browns, the first game he’d missed with an injury since 2003. He has a torn ligament in his left big toe, and he said Monday that if his season is finished, “it would be one of the hardest things I’ve been through in football in a long time. I’ve had injuries in the past, but I was always able to overcome them. This time it’s something that I can’t overcome.”

    A consultation with Dr. Robert Anderson, a specialist in Charlotte, N.C., during the bye week “didn’t go well,” Little reported. “We pretty much knew what he was going to say anyway. We tried to give it two weeks for it to heal back up, but it never responded.”

    A speed rusher, Little can’t be effective without his wheels. “I use my feet a lot; I made my career by running,” he said. “With this injury, I can’t run, I can’t push off and I can’t do the things that I normally do.”

    Even wearing shoes is a painful experience. “It hurts, period,” he said. “I’m not going to sit here and say that it doesn’t, because it does. I have to get it fixed; that’s the only way to make it any better.”

    Little said he’d be facing four to six months of rehab. “It’s a severe injury,” he said. “I don’t have a ligament on the side of my foot.”

    Already are on IR are tackle Orlando Pace (shoulder), guard Mark Setterstrom (knee), safety Jerome Carter (foot), linebacker Raonall Smith (knee) and guard/tackle Adam Goldberg (knee).

    ***

    It was a big night for football Friday at Peach County High in Fort Valley, Ga., Not only did the Trojans blast visiting Macon Southwest 57-14, but former star Randy McMichael was in attendance for a ceremony to retire his number 5.

    “I remember when the first jersey was retired from my high school, Greg Lloyd’s jersey my senior year,” said McMichael, the Rams’ tight end. “I said to myself that was the most awesome thing I’ve ever seen, and hopefully one day I’ll be blessed enough to have my jersey retired. My jersey’s right there with his now, and it’s a great feeling.”

    Lloyd, a hard-hitting linebacker, spent 11 seasons in the NFL – 10 with the Steelers and his last, in 1998, with the Panthers. He was selected for five Pro Bowls.

    On Saturday, McMichael was in Athens, Ga., watching his alma mater, the Georgia Bulldogs, knock off Troy 44-34. “It was a great week,” he said.

    ***

    Notes & quotes:

    >>The injury news wasn’t all bad. RB Steven Jackson (back) did some individual conditioning work at practice Monday and is expected to play Sunday at New Orleans. Also, C Brett Romberg (ankle) did some light drills and has a chance, too.

    >>WR/KR Dante Hall (ankle) probably is a week away from getting in serious work at practice.

    >>With the Rams still seeking offensive line help, Nick Leckey remained at right guard with the first unit.

    >>QB Marc Bulger had noticeable zip on the ball Monday.

    >>Newcomer Hanik Milligan will be installed on the coverage units right away. He was a special-teams Pro Bowler in 2005 when he was with the Chargers.

    All for now . . .

  • #2
    Re: Two more starters headed for IR

    I'm sorry- I refuse to believe that this many injuries are just due to bad luck. Maybe they should change their offeseason conditioning program, check into the turf at the EJD to see if maybe it's a design, or maybe start playing the starters a little more during the preseason, so they are not thrown into full speed contact action in game one of the season without ever playing a down before that. We've had a lot of injuries in the last two years under Linehan and I realize that some of our guys are getting older, but there's some young guys going down too.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Two more starters headed for IR

      Originally posted by moloch41
      I'm sorry- I refuse to believe that this many injuries are just due to bad luck.

      I was just thinking about this yesterday, good post. It's true you just don't see this many injuries. I like you suspect something is going on other than "bad luck."

      But if it were turf wouldn't we see more injuries from the opposition? I would take a long look at the conditioning program and yes the coaching.
      LA RAMMER

      It's Jim not Chris
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HNgqQVHI_8

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Two more starters headed for IR

        I agree that it bears investigating, whether the training staff or medical facilities are unsatisfactory, or if the turf is bad, however, the dome switched to field turf, which a couple years ago was heralded to actually prevent injuries. Especially over the "track" that astroturf is. While it's true that there's still a concrete floor under the turf, there is much more turf between the player and the concrete than the bare carpet that is astroturf. There's also ground tire that gives a fair deal as well.

        That said, sometime teams just have bad luck. Look at the Browns. Nothing was ever found about the staff infections that were rampant with them, and they certainly had their string of offensive line injuries and they play on grass! While it could be personnel, I think it's just a bad bad couple years.
        I believe!:ram:

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Two more starters headed for IR

          Originally posted by TekeRam
          however, the dome switched to field turf, which a couple years ago was heralded to actually prevent injuries.
          Is all field turf created equally though? I remember when the discussions first started about moving from astroturf to field turf, the Rams were actually complaining about the cost and how much harder it would be to take out the tracks to make room for the other non-football events they hold there. I wonder if they went with a cheaper solution.

          Comment

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          • RamWraith
            Season appears finished for Little
            by RamWraith
            By Jim Thomas
            ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
            Tuesday, Nov. 06 2007

            Two weeks off did nothing to help Leonard Little's injured toe. The
            pass-rushing defensive end is headed for season-ending surgery and is expected
            to go on the injured reserve list today.

            "It's still very painful," coach Scott Linehan said. "He has a hard time
            getting his shoe on. By (today) we'll make a final decision on that. But it
            doesn't look real good right now."

            Little visited one of the nation's top foot specialists, Dr. Robert Anderson,
            in Charlotte, N.C., during the Rams' bye week.

            "It obviously didn't go very well," Little said. "We pretty much knew what
            (Anderson) was going to say anyway. We tried to give it two weeks for it to
            heal back up. It just never did respond like it was supposed to."

            Little has been bothered by the toe injury much of the season. But he
            aggravated it Oct. 14 in Baltimore, with further testing revealing that he had
            a torn ligament in his left big toe. He played the following week in Seattle,
            but on a more limited basis than usual. Little then sat out the Cleveland game
            Oct. 28 and had the bye week off as well. But the toe did not improve.

            On Monday, as the Rams returned from their bye, Little had trouble getting a
            shoe on over the swollen toe and was in such discomfort that he quickly
            discarded shoes for shower clogs in the locker room.

            "I can't wear shoes for a long period of time," Little said. "It was a deal
            where the doctor said it couldn't heal on its own, and it wasn't going to feel
            any better if I did come back and try to play."

            Little had been hoping to postpone the surgery until after the season, but it's
            apparent now that that's not going to work.

            "It hurts to walk around, so there's no way in the world I can even consider
            going out and trying to play football with something I can't walk around with,"
            Little said. "If it was a sprain, believe me, I'd still be playing. If it was
            turf toe, I'd still be playing. It's way more severe than that."

            Little said the recovery time from surgery is four to six months, so he's
            trying to get the surgery over with as quickly as possible to give him plenty
            of time to get ready for the 2008 season.

            The most likely replacement for Little is defensive end Eric Moore, who spent
            the first week of the regular season on the active roster but has been on the
            practice squad since Sept. 19.

            The Rams' injured reserve list already has five players: offensive tackle
            Orlando Pace, offensive guard Mark Setterstrom, guard-tackle Adam Goldberg,
            safety Jerome Carter and linebacker Raonall...
            -11-06-2007, 05:39 AM
          • r8rh8rmike
            Rams Looking Into Injury Bug
            by r8rh8rmike
            Rams Looking into Injury Bug
            Wednesday, January 6, 2010


            By Nick Wagoner
            Senior Writer

            To win in the NFL requires a lot of things working simultaneously in concert toward the achievement of the ultimate goal.

            Having the right players for the right scheme with the right coaches is a big part of that. But for as much as the big stuff matters, a certain amount of luck is always right at the center of the mix.

            Luck can be a bounce of the ball in your direction or a timely penalty flag from the officials. But more than anything, luck comes in the form of a blessing from the Football Gods; those unseen spirits that determine which teams get hit by injury and which teams have relative health.

            Rare is the team in the NFL that has success without having the majority of its key players healthy for the majority of the season.

            And for the better part of the past three years, the Rams have been ravaged by injuries that have severely lessened the already small margin for error between winning and losing.

            That’s why, as this offseason takes flight, one of the top priorities for the team will be to research and find out what it is that could be causing the injuries and to see if there are any way to prevent them other than prayer and positive thinking.

            “We are researching it right now,” coach Steve Spagnuolo said. “We have to look at them all to see how they happen. Some of them are freak, we all know that. We need to study it. You always need to, but I think each case you have to take on an individual basis because it is a physical game, it is a contact game. I don’t know how you prevent one big guy from falling on another guy’s leg. I don’t know how you prevent that, but we will look at it.”

            Ideally, the Rams would be able to find a solution for the injury bug that has seemingly made a home in St. Louis since the 2007 season.

            The last time the Rams were relatively healthy – injuries do happen all over the league – was in 2006.

            That year, the Rams only sent six players to injured reserve with only three of those players regular starters.

            It’s no coincidence that the team finished 8-8 that year, the best record the team has posted in the past four years.

            Since then, luck has seemed to turn against them.
            In 2007, the team placed 12 players on injured reserve including up to six starters and a total of 27 injured players missed 152 games because of injury.

            In 2008, another dozen went to injured reserve, four of whom were starters and again 27 players missed time for a total of 156 games missed.

            This year, the injury count was actually worse than those two apparently cursed seasons.
            By the end of the season, the Rams had put 13 players on injured reserve including up to nine starters if you include...
            -01-08-2010, 04:22 PM
          • RamWraith
            Little to have surgery, miss rest of season
            by RamWraith
            November 5, 2007

            ST. LOUIS (AP) -- St. Louis Rams defensive end Leonard Little will have surgery this week to repair a torn ligament in his left big toe, ending his season.

            Meanwhile, guard Richie Incognito said Monday he'll have surgery this week on his dislocated kneecap, and is expected to miss four to six weeks.

            Little disclosed plans for the surgery Monday as the Rams, at 0-8 off to the worst start in franchise history, returned from a bye week.

            "It isn't the type of injury where it will heal on its own," Little said. "If that was the case, then it should have felt a lot better by now. Surgery is the only way to repair the ligament."

            Dr. Robert Anderson, the team orthopedist for the Carolina Panthers, will perform the operation. Rehabilitation is expected to take four to six months.

            Little sprained the toe when his left foot was caught in the turf in a 22-3 loss at Baltimore on Oct. 14. The injury made it difficult for Little to push off on the pass rush. He visited Anderson in North Carolina during the bye week to discuss options.

            "We pretty much knew what he was going to say," Little said. "We tried to give it two weeks for it to heal back up, but it never responded like it's supposed to."

            Little is the team's all-time sacks leader, but was off to a slow start even before the injury. The 10th-year player has just one sack, against Baltimore's Kyle Boller. He had 13 last season, second most in his career, and he was a Pro Bowl alternate.

            Incognito was hurt when the knee popped out of place in the first quarter of a loss to Cleveland on Oct. 28. The diagnosis was a partial dislocation with cartilage damage.

            Running back Steven Jackson might play Sunday at New Orleans. Jackson was sidelined for a month with a groin injury, then played the first quarter against the Browns before developing back spasms and missing the rest of the game.

            "Steven looks good. He feels a lot better," coach Scott Linehan said. "I think having some time off and being able to calm that down a little bit was real good for him. He did some conditioning today. We'll start him back in and do some light work on Wednesday."
            -11-05-2007, 02:41 PM
          • RamWraith
            Bernie: Little update and Linehan Mon statement
            by RamWraith
            Little Press Conference


            DE Leonard Little

            November 5, 2007



            (On his visit with the doctor)

            “Obviously it didn’t go very well. We pretty much knew what he was going to say anyways. We tried to give it two weeks for it to heal back up but it never responded like it’s supposed to.”



            (On him having trouble even putting a shoe on)

            “Yeah I can’t wear shoes for a long period of time. It really bothers me to wear shoes. It was a deal where the doctor said it couldn’t heal on its own and it wasn’t going to feel any better if I did try to come back and play. He said that there is no way that it will feel any better than it does now so I had to make the decision to do something else.”



            (On if it is an injury where he can’t take pain killers before the game)

            “That didn’t work. I had it shot up and also took pain killers and it still didn’t work.”



            (On if he has tried to run on it or do anything else)

            “I really can’t. It hurts to walk around so there is no way in the world I can even consider going out and try to play football with something I cant walk around with. That’s how it feels right now.”



            (On what kind of injury it is)

            "If it was a sprain, believe me I would still be playing; if it was turf toe I would still be playing but it is something much more severe than that. I tore a ligament on the side of my foot where my toe and my foot connect. It is a lot more severe than a sprained toe or turf toe or anything like that.”



            (On if surgery is the best option at this point)

            “Yeah that really is the only option. It isn’t the type of injury where it will heal on its own. If that was the case then it should have felt a lot better by now. Surgery is the only way to repair the ligament and it feels like an MCL in a knee where it will repair itself but its not.”



            (On if there is a date set for surgery)

            “Not yet.”



            (On if he thinks he is done for the season)

            “I don’t know but if I am, it would be one of the hardest things I’ve been through in football in a long time. I have had injuries in the past but I was always able to overcome them, but this time it is something that I can’t overcome. If I am (done) then I will just come back and be a better player anyways.”



            (On if it hurts all the time or when he puts pressure on it)

            “It hurts period. It hurts, I’m not going to sit here and say that it doesn’t because it does. I have to get it fixed that’s the only way to make it any better.”



            (On if it would be easier to take if it was a knee as opposed to being out due to a toe injury)

            “Well...
            -11-05-2007, 02:44 PM
          • RamWraith
            Rams Deal With Injuries
            by RamWraith
            Sunday, September 30, 2007

            By Nick Wagoner

            Senior Writer

            IRVING , Tex. – While coach Scott Linehan and Co. are quick to dismiss injuries as a reason for the team’s early season struggles, it’s hard to look past what has seemingly been an unprecedented run of bad luck that has led to one of the lengthiest injury lists in the NFL.



            Entering Sunday’s game against the Cowboys, the Rams were already without running back Steven Jackson (groin), cornerback Tye Hill (back), guard Richie Incognito (ankle), left tackle Orlando Pace (shoulder), guard Mark Setterstrom (knee) and that was just the starters.

            One would think things could only get better in terms of injuries considering the length of that list, but somehow they seemed to get worse for a Rams team that could use as much help as possible.



            “We are the walking wounded right now,” defensive end Leonard Little said. “We have a lot of guys injured but that’s why you are NFL players. Second team guys have to step up and make plays. We have a lot of guys injured right now, but hopefully guys will come back and play next week and we can try to get our first win.”



            Even Little wasn’t immune Sunday, though. Little suffered a right knee strain late in the game. Little stayed in the game, but said he will have an MRI on Monday to see if there is any severe damage to the knee.



            “I went back out there and played, but I don’t know,” Little said. “I am ready to go whenever they call me to play no matter what. I am going to get it checked out tomorrow. It should be fine.”



            Early indications are that Little was actually one of the lucky ones. Right tackle Adam Goldberg suffered what Linehan called a left knee sprain. But in the locker room after the game, Goldberg indicated he thought there might be a tear and there’s a chance he could miss an extended period.



            Brandon Gorin replaced Goldberg at right tackle and it appears yet another line combination will take its place in front of Bulger next week one way or another.



            Linebacker Raonall Smith suffered an injury similar to Goldberg’s, only it was his right knee. He left the game after a special teams play and did not return.



            Strong safety Corey Chavous suffered a pectoral injury that is being called a strain but could be worse and cause him to miss time as well.

            Receiver Isaac Bruce suffered a left hamstring strain. It didn’t appear to be as serious as the others, but he will be evaluated Monday as well.



            The most serious injuries belong to Smith, Goldberg and Chavous. All three will likely miss extended time with the possibility of season ending ailments.



            Dane Looker, meanwhile, suffered...
            -10-01-2007, 05:08 AM
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