Starters could play into second half at Cincinnati
The third preseason game often is regarded as the most important of the four, because the starters generally don’t see much action in the last exhibition with the regular-season opener looming. So, their last real dry run is coming up this week.
The Rams meet the Bengals on Thursday night in Cincinnati, and coach Steve Spagnuolo said Sunday that he plans to keep his No. 1 units on the field at least through the first half.
“It’ll be similar to this past game” Friday vs. Atlanta,” he said. “The question will be, do we bring out our first group in the second half? We haven’t really decided that. A lot depends what the total of plays are in a certain point in the game. So we’ll see what happens.”
Notes & quotes:
*The offense was a bit sloppy Sunday, with a couple of dropped passes and a botched exhance between QB Kyle Boller and C Jason Brown, in the first practice since the 20-13 loss to the Falcons.
*With Jason Bell (concussion) still out, Mark Setterstrom and John Greco again shared first-team snaps at left guard.
*Alex Barron (knee) was back at left tackle, which meant that Adam Goldberg returned to the right side. Rookie Jason Smith got a couple of reps with the “ones” at both tackle spots.
*WR Sean Walker took some turns at kick-returning.
*DT Adam Carriker (ankle) and WR Donnie Avery (foot) appear to be fairly close to getting back into action.
*RB Kenneth Darby sat out with what is believed to be a slight knee sprain. “It’ll be a day-to-day thing. They don’t think it’s real serious, but they want to be careful,” Spagnuolo reported.
*The latest national writer to take in a Rams practice is Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports.
All for now . . .
This will be a chance for all Rams fans to compare Laureniatis and Maualuga. There was a lot of debate here regarding these two both before and after the draft.
Also, I thought the Rams should have grabbed DE Michael Johnson from Georgia Tech in the third round. With both Hall and Little in the last year of their contracts, and their age, this would have made sense. Especially in the THIRD round. Watch this guy come off the edge!
Avery appears close to getting back into action? If true, that’s good news. He was expected to miss 4-6 weeks.
Terrific news about Avery. It’s not just the fact that he’s getting physically stronger everyday it’s the renewed confidence he’ll give the players around him. Let’s hope its a similar story with Bulger.