(from local media reports)
Today's schedule: one practice, 2:00 - 4:00. Practice will not be open to the public again until the 16th (Monday). Preseason game 1 vs. the Vikings starts Saturday night at 7:00 at the Edward Jones Dome.
Update: today's practice wasn't open to the public, either. It was moved inside due to the ridiculous St. Louis heat.
Injuries: thankfully, not much new to report. Ron Bartell is participating in 11-on-11 again so he is coming off the list, though I doubt he'll play Saturday night. Cliff Ryan left yesterday morning's practice with a slight calf injury but may not miss any time with it.
The list: C.J. Ah You (hamstring); Jacob Bell (oblique); Josh Brown (hip); James Butler (knee); Kenneth Darby (hamstring); Bradley Fletcher (lih, knee); Hank Fraley (knee, close to full-go); Brandon Gibson (lih, hamstring); Mardy Gilyard (arm/wrist); John Greco (pectoreal); Marquis Johnson (lih, knee); Justin King (calf); Ryan McKee (lih, back); Kevin Payne (lih, quad); Eugene Sims (hamstring).
(Heh, I've been calling Eugene Sims "Kenneth" all week. Sorry.)
Again, "lih" means "last I heard"; I'm using it to tag players who have been reported injured by "real" reporters and drop off of the injury lists of "real" reporters with no confirmation that they've actually returned to the field.
Ain't that a kick: At this moment, because Josh Brown's hurt, the kicker or kickers Saturday night are still scheduled to be Jordan Kent and Laurent Robinson or Daniel Fells. Steve Spagnuolo needs to quit being a damn idiot about this and get an actual kicker in camp. You're not going to get a good feel for your kickoff coverage with a sixth-string wide receiver kicking knuckleballs. And as for Robinson and Fells, remember what happened the time Jose Canseco tried pitching? With the injury history of those two, I predict the opening kickoff Saturday night will start with one of them going down like they've been shot.
Quit being stupid, Coach. Surely the team can afford to be without Joe Gibbs or Tim Mattran for a couple of days. There are plenty of kickers, um, kicking around out there. All you need is NFL.com's transaction page and Google to unearth some prospects, most of whom were cut earlier this summer:
* Delbert Alvarado (Cowboys, they'll love him, he's another U of South Florida guy), Connor Hughes (also Cowboys, apparently they can find kickers), Justin Medlock (Lions), Shaun Suisham (everybody), Piotr Czech (Steelers, not Chelsea), Sam Swank (they'll love him, ex-Giant). And as for rookies, Leigh Tiffin of Alabama appears to be available; he was PFW's top-rated kicker this past draft, though the Browns have already cut him this year. Mike Salerno of Northern Illinois was in the Bears' rookie camp; you can call him Saturday morning and he can drive down in time for the game! I don't even care if none of these guys can hit the broad side of a barn attempting field goals. I'm just looking for somebody who can kick off.
I would go after Czech because he's supposed to have a really good leg, but whoever the Rams sign, just sign somebody who actually kicks for a living. Quit being stupid.
* New color man: Far be it from local TV coverage to keep the same color man in the booth two years in a row. Aeneas Williams will get a turn this year starting Saturday night. He follows Trent Green, Roland Williams, D'Marco Farr, Rickey Proehl and Jackie Slater. Farr did do it for two seasons. I assume Martin Kilcoyne's still handling play-by-play, and at the rate they're going through former GSOE Rams, he'll be doing it alongside Nate Hobgood-Chittick in a couple of years. Also, pray that Ed Hochuli isn't doing any of our preseason games. I don't need Kilcoyne man-crushing on the referee for three hours.
Photo: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
No comments:
Post a Comment