Tweet
St. Louis Rams' Bulger has bruise; Robinson is done
BY JIM THOMAS
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
09/29/2009
As he stepped to the podium for his regular Monday news conference, coach Steve Spagnuolo looked out the window at Rams Park and quipped: "The sun's out, that's a good sign, right? The sun came up. Everybody's OK."
If only everybody were OK.
The news could've been worse on quarterback Marc Bulger. Even so, he'll still probably miss a minimum of a week or two with what Spagnuolo called a bruised rotator cuff in his throwing shoulder.
"It's not torn; it's a bruised rotator cuff," Spagnuolo said.
Wide receiver Laurent Robinson wasn't so "lucky." Robinson, easily the Rams' top pass catcher through the preseason and early regular season, is almost certainly out for the season with a high ankle sprain and fractured fibula that will require surgery.
Safety James Butler, in some ways the quarterback of the back seven because of his familiarity with the defensive scheme, will miss two to four weeks with a ligament injury to his left knee.
At least there was good news with wide receiver Donnie Avery, who took a shot to the ribs late in Sunday's 36-17 loss to Green Bay. His X-rays came back negative.
"We think he's going to be OK," Spagnuolo said. "He's a little bit sore."
As for Bulger, he was more than a little sore. Had he suffered a torn rotator cuff, that might have ended his season. Nonetheless, sources said he couldn't lift his throwing arm Monday. And just to make sure there's no tear, he may seek a second opinion from James Andrews, the nationally known orthopedic surgeon who has offices in Birmingham, Ala., and Gulf Breeze, Fla.
"He's very sore today," Spagnuolo said. "We'll see where he's at (today) and Wednesday, and if he'll do anything at all. ... We're going to be careful with it."
Bulger went straight from the doctor's office Monday evening to Frontenac, where he was host of the 14th annual Make-A-Wish Foundation Celebrity Server Dinner. If Bulger helped teammates Steven Jackson, Randy McMichael, James Laurinaitis, Chris Massey and others serve dinner, he had to do so one-handed Monday night.
On the football field, quarterback Kyle Boller will be serving up passes in the near term. Boller replaced Bulger in the first half Sunday and helped the Rams fight their way back into the contest before Green Bay pulled away with a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns.
"Kyle's a fiery guy," Spagnuolo said. "Very confident in what he does. He'd tell you that he'd like to have his first two throws back (Sunday). ... But then he settled down. I thought he did a nice job."
Boller says he'll be ready for whatever the week brings him. Against Green Bay, he was thrown into action without running a single play with the Rams' offense during the practice week. (All of his work was with the scout team, running Green Bay plays.)
"Marc's put in so much work learning this offense," Boller said. "Hopefully, this is just a bump in the road for him and he'll be back out there. I have all the support in the world for him. That's my job as a backup, when I signed to come in here, to be ready for opportunities like this. To go out there and try to lead this team. And when he's ready, he'll get back in there."
Robinson won't get that chance. Acquired in a pre-draft trade with Atlanta, he had been a pleasant surprise in an otherwise bleak start for the Rams, leading the club with 13 receptions for 167 yards and a touchdown.
"I thought he has done an excellent job," Spagnuolo said. "He was a tremendous addition to this team. It was a good move for (general manager) Billy (Devaney), when he pulled the trigger on that. Unfortunately for us, and for him, we're probably not going to have him for the rest of the season."
Robinson suffered the injury at the end of a run by Jackson late in the second quarter, when the pile rolled up on him.
"I was kicking myself for that one," Robinson said after the game, just before leaving the locker room on crutches. "I can usually pick my knees up when the pile's coming, but I just didn't feel it coming. Usually, you can feel stuff coming up from behind."
The Rams are expected to sign another wide receiver today. At the moment, the only wideouts on the roster are Avery, Keenan Burton, Danny Amendola and Ruvell Martin.
Amendola made his Rams and NFL debut Sunday after just three practice days with the team. Because his previous team, Philadelphia, uses identical terminology, Amendola was able to jump in immediately for more than a dozen plays at wide receiver Sunday. Martin, who has taken part in six practices since signing with St. Louis, is still learning the terminology and was inactive Sunday.
BY JIM THOMAS
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
09/29/2009
As he stepped to the podium for his regular Monday news conference, coach Steve Spagnuolo looked out the window at Rams Park and quipped: "The sun's out, that's a good sign, right? The sun came up. Everybody's OK."
If only everybody were OK.
The news could've been worse on quarterback Marc Bulger. Even so, he'll still probably miss a minimum of a week or two with what Spagnuolo called a bruised rotator cuff in his throwing shoulder.
"It's not torn; it's a bruised rotator cuff," Spagnuolo said.
Wide receiver Laurent Robinson wasn't so "lucky." Robinson, easily the Rams' top pass catcher through the preseason and early regular season, is almost certainly out for the season with a high ankle sprain and fractured fibula that will require surgery.
Safety James Butler, in some ways the quarterback of the back seven because of his familiarity with the defensive scheme, will miss two to four weeks with a ligament injury to his left knee.
At least there was good news with wide receiver Donnie Avery, who took a shot to the ribs late in Sunday's 36-17 loss to Green Bay. His X-rays came back negative.
"We think he's going to be OK," Spagnuolo said. "He's a little bit sore."
As for Bulger, he was more than a little sore. Had he suffered a torn rotator cuff, that might have ended his season. Nonetheless, sources said he couldn't lift his throwing arm Monday. And just to make sure there's no tear, he may seek a second opinion from James Andrews, the nationally known orthopedic surgeon who has offices in Birmingham, Ala., and Gulf Breeze, Fla.
"He's very sore today," Spagnuolo said. "We'll see where he's at (today) and Wednesday, and if he'll do anything at all. ... We're going to be careful with it."
Bulger went straight from the doctor's office Monday evening to Frontenac, where he was host of the 14th annual Make-A-Wish Foundation Celebrity Server Dinner. If Bulger helped teammates Steven Jackson, Randy McMichael, James Laurinaitis, Chris Massey and others serve dinner, he had to do so one-handed Monday night.
On the football field, quarterback Kyle Boller will be serving up passes in the near term. Boller replaced Bulger in the first half Sunday and helped the Rams fight their way back into the contest before Green Bay pulled away with a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns.
"Kyle's a fiery guy," Spagnuolo said. "Very confident in what he does. He'd tell you that he'd like to have his first two throws back (Sunday). ... But then he settled down. I thought he did a nice job."
Boller says he'll be ready for whatever the week brings him. Against Green Bay, he was thrown into action without running a single play with the Rams' offense during the practice week. (All of his work was with the scout team, running Green Bay plays.)
"Marc's put in so much work learning this offense," Boller said. "Hopefully, this is just a bump in the road for him and he'll be back out there. I have all the support in the world for him. That's my job as a backup, when I signed to come in here, to be ready for opportunities like this. To go out there and try to lead this team. And when he's ready, he'll get back in there."
Robinson won't get that chance. Acquired in a pre-draft trade with Atlanta, he had been a pleasant surprise in an otherwise bleak start for the Rams, leading the club with 13 receptions for 167 yards and a touchdown.
"I thought he has done an excellent job," Spagnuolo said. "He was a tremendous addition to this team. It was a good move for (general manager) Billy (Devaney), when he pulled the trigger on that. Unfortunately for us, and for him, we're probably not going to have him for the rest of the season."
Robinson suffered the injury at the end of a run by Jackson late in the second quarter, when the pile rolled up on him.
"I was kicking myself for that one," Robinson said after the game, just before leaving the locker room on crutches. "I can usually pick my knees up when the pile's coming, but I just didn't feel it coming. Usually, you can feel stuff coming up from behind."
The Rams are expected to sign another wide receiver today. At the moment, the only wideouts on the roster are Avery, Keenan Burton, Danny Amendola and Ruvell Martin.
Amendola made his Rams and NFL debut Sunday after just three practice days with the team. Because his previous team, Philadelphia, uses identical terminology, Amendola was able to jump in immediately for more than a dozen plays at wide receiver Sunday. Martin, who has taken part in six practices since signing with St. Louis, is still learning the terminology and was inactive Sunday.
Comment