Traning camp headlines 7/27

One practice this afternoon.

* Jackson holdout, day 3. No new news. I do have to say I disagree with the people who say it'll be no big deal if Jackson misses a couple of weeks in camp, because he'll be worked very lightly and will barely be used in the first couple of preseason games, which Bill Coats suggested at the start of camp.

I disagree COMPLETELY with this approach. Jackson, like many of the Rams' starters, needs to be working his ass off in training camp, and needs plenty of live snaps in preseason games. Scott Linehan tried the strategy of leaving Jackson in the garage last preseason. Come the regular season, it failed spectacularly. Jackson lost the Carolina game with two fumbles, something he rarely does and something that showed he was still knocking off a sizable amount of rust even though the games were counting now. He needs the contact, he needs the live action in preseason, to be ready for the regular season.

And how much did resting Jackson last preseason help save him from injury? None, he was already out of the lineup BY WEEK FOUR! Who knows, maybe preseason contact can actually toughen a player up for the regular season?

That's the most distressing thing to me about this holdout. Well, that and the lack of integrity in honoring a legal contract. Jackson needs to have his ass in camp, where he needs to be working it off, to be ready for the regular season. Otherwise, the only history we have on him says he's going to be rusty week 1 in Philadelphia. Nobody wants that.

* Fakhir Brown out 2-3 weeks with a slightly-torn rotator cuff. Eh, I wonder how much the Rams' brass is counting on him not to pull a Wroten anyway. Big opportunity here for Ron Bartell to shine, maybe his last chance considering the young CBs stacked up behind him.

* Early stars of camp: Keenan Burton and Chris Chamberlain. Donnie Avery also looked good once he finally showed up for practice. Good to see the very early returns to at least know the Rams haven't picked up a bunch of stiffs. Though as I noted in another post, Burton, who was frequently injured last year, has already developed tendinitis.

* Attendance: 400 yesterday morning, 600 yesterday afternoon. One-third or one-fourth of what they would have had in St. Louis. So if Scott Linehan's goal in moving training camp 600 miles away was to kill fan participation, congratulations, coach, you've done it.