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  • #1

    "Dr." Spagnuolo Finds Injury Judgements Difficult To Make

    11.13.2009 2:04 pm
    “Dr.” Spagnuolo finds injury judgments difficult to make
    By Bill Coats
    St. Louis Post-Dispatch


    Judging whether to shut down a slightly injured player or to let him suit up and take the field is one of the more difficult tasks for an NFL head coach. The St. Louis Rams’ Steve Spagnuolo is finding that out during his rookie season.

    “Every individual’s different,” he said. “That’s part of me learning the team. That’s what this whole year will be. I’ll have a better idea of how guys react to injuries. They all react differently.

    “And I’ll tell you what: A lot of these guys react real good.”

    Spagnuolo trusted the judgment of cornerback Ron Bartell, who has been nursing a sore thigh nearly all season but has remained in the lineup. Now, defensive lineman C.J. Ah You is in a similar predicament. The high-ankle sprain that he suffered Oct. 25 vs. the Colts has improved greatly. But is it enough that he could be effective Sunday vs. the Saints?

    “C.J. is questionable right now,” Spagnuolo said after Friday’s practice. “He didn’t do a lot today, very limited. He’s still fighting that ankle. I’d like him to be a hundred percent on Sunday, so I thought it best to back off a little bit. He got plenty of the reps he needed Wednesday and Thursday.”

    Notes & quotes:

    *G Richie Incognito (foot) spent another day on the sideline with strength coach Rock Gullickson.

    *WR Ruvell Martin got some reps with the first-team offense. Still, Spagnuolo hasn’t dressed more than four WRs for a game this year. So on Sunday, it likely will be Donnie Avery, Keenan Burton, Danny Amendola and Brandon Gibson.

    *Spagnuolo reported that Burton “had a real good week of practice. He looks real confident to me in what he’s doing out there, and he’s really helping all those other guys. A real pro.”

    *With Ah You limited, Victor Adeyanju took some first-team snaps at defensive tackle.

    All for now…
    Tags: None
  • #2
    Re: "Dr." Spagnuolo Finds Injury Judgements Difficult To Make

    Wow that's interesting about Victor, I really want to see him play. Has he gotten bigger to play DT? Spags, spags, spags. What do you have up your sleeve..
    Always and Forever a fan of the St. Louis Rams

    Comment

    • #3
      Re: "Dr." Spagnuolo Finds Injury Judgements Difficult To Make

      Originally posted by Varg6 View Post
      Wow that's interesting about Victor, I really want to see him play. Has he gotten bigger to play DT? Spags, spags, spags. What do you have up your sleeve..

      I'm sure that he is playing DT on obvious passing downs, much like J. Hall and C. Long also will move inside when it is probably not going to be a run.

      I agree with you, though. I would sure like to see VA get some snaps on a regular basis. He is in his contract year and we've got to properly assess him to see if we want to resign him next year.

      I'd hate to let him go due to lack of playing time info this year only for him to re surface somewhere else and start kickin' a##.

      Not like that hasn't happened a number of times, eh?:|

      WHAT SAY YE?

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      • r8rh8rmike
        Spagnuolo Puts Blame On Himself
        by r8rh8rmike
        Spagnuolo puts blame on himself
        BY JIM THOMAS
        ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
        08/23/2009

        The score was 14-0, Atlanta, before most spectators had a chance to dig into their popcorn Friday at the Edward Jones Dome. For a Rams franchise intent on showing the fan base that things will be different this season, it was the last thing they wanted to happen.

        On Saturday, after reviewing game tape, coach Steve Spagnuolo blamed himself.

        "Personally, I think it's all on the head coach," Spagnuolo said. "The first quarter, I don't think I had the team ready to play. I'm going to take the onus on that. We need to start the game better, especially against a good football team."

        So what can Spagnuolo do differently to make sure his team gets out of the gate quicker?
        "I don't know," he said. "Just like we evaluate the players, I'm going to evaluate myself all the time. I'll sit back this week, and if I think there's something we can do differently in practice we'll do it.

        "If I think there's something we can say or approach (differently) the day before the game, we'll do that. But right now, if the team's not ready early like that, it's on the head coach. So we'll figure out a way."

        Besides being outscored 14-0, the Rams were outgained 147 yards to 56 by Atlanta in the opening quarter. Spagnuolo said it's impossible to gauge whether or not a team is ready to play based on pregame warm-up or really anything else leading up to the game.

        "I've stopped doing that in football," he said. "Sometimes you walk in there and say, 'This team's not ready to play.' And they go out and beat a team by 30 points. That's hard to assess."

        Granted it came once the starters were done for the night and the reserves had taken over, but Spagnuolo was pleased with the fact that the team chipped away at the early deficit and was in position to tie or win the game in the fourth quarter.

        SURGERY FOR FOSTER

        The Rams' draft class of '09 took its first major injury hit, with Spagnuolo announcing Saturday that wide receiver Brooks Foster will be out six to eight weeks following ankle surgery.

        Foster suffered what originally was termed a sprained ankle in the Aug. 14 preseason opener against the New York Jets. But additional testing revealed additional problems, so Foster underwent surgery on Friday.

        The Rams must decide whether to place Foster on the injured reserve list. The fifth-round pick from North Carolina had some good moments on the practice field during training camp as well as in the scrimmage at Lindenwood University. But he had no catches in the Jets' game, and faced an uphill struggle on making the 53-man roster.

        MORE ON INJURIES

        As expected, Spagnuolo said wide receiver Donnie Avery (foot)...
        -08-23-2009, 03:52 PM
      • r8rh8rmike
        Spagnuolo Applauds Rams' Practice Habits
        by r8rh8rmike
        12.02.2009 3:57 pm
        Spagnuolo applauds Rams’ practice habits
        By Bill Coats
        St. Louis Post-Dispatch


        Practice had wrapped up about 15 minutes earlier, but the indoor facility at Rams Park still was crowded with players.

        “Look at them,” St. Louis Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo said. “I mean, practice is over and about half the team’s out there working. I think that says a lot. But I’ll tell you what, that’s typical of this group. They amaze me every week, going through what we’re going through, to come out and practice they way they do.”

        Despite their 1-10 record, dampened further by an dispiriting 27-17 loss to a flagging Seahawks outfit three days earlier at the Edward Jones Dome, Wednesday’s practice was uptempo and upbeat. “They came out with a little bit of energy and practiced pretty good,” Spagnuolo said. “That’s a good thing to start the week.” (There are no practices on Mondays and Tuesdays.)

        Notes & quotes:

        *These players sat out Wednesday: QB Marc Bulger (leg), FB Mike Karney (neck), T Jason Smith (concussion), C Jason Brown (knee) and RB Steven Jackson (back). Spagnuolo said he was optimistic that Brown and Jackson could return Thursday.

        *Smith, who took a blow to the head Nov. 22 vs. the Cardinals and didn’t play vs. the Seahawks, won’t take another follow-up neuro exam “until he feels like he’s completely fine,” Spagnuolo said. “Obviously, he’s still feeling effects of it, so they’re just going to wait.”

        *LB James Laurinaitis has two sore shoulders, but he was a full participant Wednesday. “That’s life as a middle linebacker in the NFL,” Spagnuolo said.

        *G Richie Incognito, who has missed four games with a foot sprain, worked with the first-team offense and said that barring a setback, he expects to play Sunday in Chicago.

        *This week’s captains are QB Kyle Boller (offense), DE Leonard Little (defense) and LB David Vobora (special teams).
        -12-02-2009, 07:53 PM
      • r8rh8rmike
        Poor Tackling Concerns Spagnuolo
        by r8rh8rmike
        Poor tackling concerns Spagnuolo

        BY BILL COATS
        August 23, 2010

        As coach Steve Spagnuolo put it Sunday, a day after the Rams evened their preseason record at 1-1 by edging the Browns 19-17, "A win is a win." But the victory had its blemishes, Spagnuolo pointed out.

        "It's not all pretty," he said. "So there are things we've got to work on."

        Perhaps topping that list is tackling. The Rams whiffed on a bunch of them in the steady rain in Cleveland.

        "I did not like overall the way we tackled," Spagnuolo said. "Way too many missed tackles. And that can't happen. It doesn't matter what the elements are or what the field's like. Guys have got to make those tackles. …

        "I think the guys know exactly what the issues were, because we talk about it all the time. We're high on our tackles."

        After watching the game film, Spagnuolo put together a clip of five or six tackles that he said were executed perfectly. He plans to highlight those when he meets with his defense today.

        "I'm going to show them those first and say, 'Hey, let's just do this all the time,'" Spagnuolo said. "I don't think this is a major, major issue, because we have some prideful guys. We're doing things the right way; we've just got to do it all the time."
        -08-23-2010, 10:42 AM
      • MauiRam
        Bernie: Spagnuolo ready to tackle season ..
        by MauiRam
        By Bernie Miklasz Thursday, September 9, 2010 12:35 am


        Steve Spagnuolo is absolutely, positively ready for his second season as the Rams' head coach.

        We know this because he's sleeping in the bathroom again.

        Umm ... the bathroom?

        Yes, it's tucked in the back of his office on the second floor at Rams Park. The bathroom has the usual amenities, including a shower, a lavatory and toiletries. But last season Spagnuolo added a single bed.

        And when the coach stays up late at the office, reviewing video, he tries to sleep in the bathroom for a few hours to save time and make a quick pivot back to work in the morning.

        Not that a 1-15 rookie coach can sleep peacefully. When I asked Spagnuolo what it was like to go 1-15 last season as a rookie coach, he laughed and pointed to the bathroom. "You see that small little room? I spent some time back there," he said.

        Probably getting sick to his stomach from the pain and anguish of losing. Or perhaps it was his refuge. Spagnuolo would close the door and try to sort everything out in his mind.

        Emotionally and mentally, Spagnuolo absorbed quite a beating last season. His relentlessly upbeat nature was tested as never before. He won a single game. In the 15 losses, his team was outscored 426-148. Some of his friends wondered if Spagnuolo had made a career-smothering mistake by leaving his post as the New York Giants' successful defensive coordinator to take on such a thankless, hopeless job.

        "I don't think this way," Spagnuolo said. "I don't know about people saying that it might kill my career, because I simply don't think that way, go through life that way. I've always had to do things this way."

        Spagnuolo smiled, noted his diminutive stature and added, "At 5-8, and always having to overcome things, it's never been easy for me. I wouldn't know how to go into a situation where it was easy. I only know about starting from a tough situation and working from there. Maybe I function better that way. It hasn't been easy. It's been trying. Have I even wavered at times? Sure, I'm human. But I've never let it last long."

        It explains why Spagnuolo became a buzzsaw center on his high school ice hockey team at Grafton, Mass. He was an aggressive pest who would torment taller and more skilled opponents. He played second base on the state championship baseball team. He was a quarterback who ran the wishbone offense. Go ahead. Try to knock him down.

        This resolve carried Spagnuolo through coaching stops that took him around the world over a 27-year period before he became the Rams' coach. The odyssey took him to three countries, six colleges and four professional teams in small towns and big cities.

        When asked why he hired the largely unknown Spagnuolo as defensive coordinator, Giants coach...
        -09-09-2010, 12:48 AM
      • RockinRam
        Tepid effort gets Spagnuolo heated up
        by RockinRam
        By Bill Coats
        St. Louis Rams Post-Dispatch


        The weather was warm for Monday’s OTA, and St. Louis Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo was hot afterward. He said the players’ effort overall wasn’t up to par.
        “When you walked out and felt the heat, I thought it was a good opportunity to kind of get that feel, a little pre-training camp deal, and see which guys would fight through it,” Spagnuolo said. “Some did and some didn’t. There were some lulls in there that you wouldn’t expect. Guys didn’t pick it up. But we’ll move on.”


        Notes & quotes:

        *WR Keenan Burton, recovering from a knee injury, took part in team drills for the first time.
        *Five players have been cut: DT Chris Bradwell, LB Simoni Lawrence, WR Nick Moore, WR Roderick Owens and FB Kennedy Tinsley.
        *The DBs looked good in 11-on-11 drills, prompting Spagnuolo to chastise the WRs at one point.
        *QB Sam Bradford’s accuracy was evident, especially on a deep sideline throw that hit WR Donnie Avery in stride.
        *TE Fendi Onobun had a tough outing, with two glaring drops. “But he wasn’t the only one,” Spagnuolo pointed out.
        *RB Steven Jackson (back), G Jacob Bell (knee), long-snapper Chris Massey (knee), TE Daniel Fells (knee) and G Roger Allen (knee) remain sidelined.
        All for now…
        -05-24-2010, 01:49 PM
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