Rams' news/notes

[Ego74]

Bruce exam turns up heart abnormality

But Rams receiver views it as temporary

BY STEVE KORTE

News-Democrat

ST. LOUIS - Wide receiver Isaac Bruce spent the first day of the St. Louis Rams' mandatory minicamp as a spectator because of a heart abnormality that turned up during a team physical.

"His physical revealed just a slight abnormality, and the specialist that we have for him to see isn't available until Tuesday," Rams coach Mike Martz said. "We have all our players and coaches take a physical the day before the minicamp, and this was just a little glitch that showed up."

Bruce, 32, said the abnormality showed up during an EKG.

"I'm thinking it was the machine," Bruce said. "They did tell me that they had to draw some blood, and I don't like drawing blood. I don't like needles."

Bruce said he didn't feel like anything was physically wrong with him.

"It's the offseason, so I feel good," Bruce said. "I was a little shocked. I'm thinking something is wrong with the machine, not something is wrong with me."

Bruce said he wasn't worried about having a heart problem.

"I learned a long time ago not to let a doctor's diagnosis scare me," Bruce said." I don't anticipate me being stopped from playing or anything like that. I'm feeling good."

Bruce is the Rams' all-time leader in all the major receiving categories. He has 777 receptions for 11,753 yards and 74 touchdowns.

Last season, Bruce caught 89 passes for 1,292 yards and six touchdowns.

Bruce will likely sit out the rest of the Rams' minicamp, but it's not like the 12-year veteran needs the extra work. He's the only player left on the roster who can trace his roots back prior to the franchise moving from Los Angeles to St. Louis in 1995.

"It's the offseason," Bruce said. "It's not like we're preparing to play anybody."

Only two players -- offensive tackle Kyle Turley and rookie safety Oshiomogho Atogwe -- were absent from the minicamp.

Atogwe isn't allowed to practice under NFL rules because his college, Stanford University, has yet to hold graduation.

Turley likely will be released in the near future. He missed all of last season with a back injury, and his relationship with Martz has gone sour in the last 10 months.

Turley and Martz got into a shouting match late last season, and Turley has publicly criticized Martz several times since then.

Another sign that Turley will soon be an ex-Ram is the fact that he no longer has a locker inside the locker room at Rams Park.

Turley must take a physical before the Rams and his agent, Tom Condon, can negotiate the details of his release.

"In terms of Kyle, this is an administrative issue at this point," Martz said. "I don't know where we are with his physical and the report and what his status is."

If the Rams cut Turley, he'll count only $1.82 million against their 2005 salary cap, and $5.47 million against their 2006 salary cap.

Martz took rookie right tackle Alex Barron off the starting unit because he felt like the team's first pick in the 2005 NFL draft was getting overloaded.

"Some of these guys are just getting so overwhelmed that they can hardly function," Martz said. "They get locked up. We'll let him regroup and catch his breath, so to speak, and then we'll put him back in the fire and see how he is."

Barron played left tackle at Florida State. He said the move to right tackle has been tougher than he expected.

"I'm learning a new position, basically," Barron said. "It's a little more difficult than I anticipated. The whole aspect of playing right tackle, there are so many more things to it than I thought."

Fourth-year player Darnall Alford took Barron's spot with the first-string offense. Alford spent last season with the Rams, but he never played in a game.

 

[Ego74]

Furrey performs well after switch to safety
By Bill Coats
Of the Post-Dispatch
06/03/2005

As the forgotten man in the Rams' wide-receiver rotation last year, Mike Furrey found it difficult to mask his disappointment. "It's frustrating," he said. "You want to be out there contributing."

After catching 20 passes for 189 yards in 2003, his first NFL season following three years in the Arena League, Furrey had just one reception for 8 yards last year. He was on the active roster for only eight of 16 regular-season games.

But by collecting 13 special-teams tackles, the second-highest total on the team, Furrey not only proved his worth, he helped engineer a position move that could rekindle his career.

In early April, coach Mike Martz approached Furrey with an idea. "He said he was trying to find a way to get me out on the field on Sundays because of my special-teams play and asked me if I'd ever thought about playing free safety," Furrey recalled. "He said, 'Why don't you think about it?' And I just told him right there, 'Let's do it.'"
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So, Furrey switched numbers - to 25 from 82 - and moved across the locker room to join the other defensive backs. "It's a little loud down there at the other end anyway," he said, smiling. "You have the defensive linemen down there."

Then he began reshaping his body. The 6-foot Furrey played at about 180 pounds last year. Thanks in part to some stout work in the kitchen by wife Koren, he's already up to 202.

"My wife cooked a lot, and I ate a lot," said Furrey, 28. "Potatoes and steaks ... boy, I just loaded it up three times a day. And I made sure I'd get in the weight room a good three or four hours a day so I could transition the food over to muscle mass and be able to carry it."

The landscape at safety is far different from a year ago, when Adam Archuleta and Aeneas Williams were entrenched as the starters. Archuleta is recovering from a back injury and is doing limited work this weekend at minicamp. Williams is no longer with the team.

The Rams acquired two veteran safeties (Michael Hawthorne and Michael Stone) through free agency and then drafted two safeties (Stanford's O.J. Atogwe in the third round and Florida State's Jerome Carter in the fourth).

But that doesn't mean Furrey won't have a chance to nail down a roster spot. "He's done a real good job," Martz said. "He's doing a lot of things that for a guy who hasn't played there before, you wouldn't expect him to do. He looks like he's been doing this his whole career."

Furrey, who played wideout and cornerback his last season in the Arena League, said: "... It's not as hard as offense - they give you a couple of sheets of paper rather than a big Bible, like on offense."

Martz gives practice lukewarm review

Friday morning's practice, the first of a pair of two-hour workouts on the first of three days of minicamp at Rams Park, marked the unofficial kickoff for Martz's sixth season as head coach. It was a mediocre beginning, he said.

"Overall, I thought it was OK," he said. "We're not as sharp in any of the phases that we need to be, but it's the first practice of the '05 season. At least we've got a starting point."

In attendance but not participating as they recover from surgery were offensive linemen Adam Timmerman, Grant Williams and rookie Richie Incognito. Offensive lineman Scott Tercero became dehydrated in the morning session and sat out the second practice.

 

[Ego74]

Posted on Mon, Jun. 06, 2005

Martz pleased with minicamp effort

Coach calls team ahead of schedule

BY STEVE KORTE

News-Democrat

ST. LOUIS - The St. Louis Rams are so far ahead of schedule that coach Mike Martz canceled one of the five practices during the team's mandatory minicamp this weekend.

Martz made the unprecedented move of calling off the Rams' Saturday afternoon practice. The team still held its final scheduled practice on Sunday morning.

"To take a practice and not use it indicates that I'm pretty pleased," Martz said. "We're way ahead of the curve. Ninety-five percent of the squad has been here most of the time, which is highly unusual for any organization. They are prepared.

"I can honestly say that I pleased with the progress everywhere, which is probably a first."

Asked how the team reacted to the announcement of the canceled practice, Martz said, "They seemed mildly excited."

Martz pointed to the defense, especially the defensive secondary as standing out during the minicamp.

"I think the corner play was outstanding," Martz said.

The Rams also concentrated on special teams play during the minicamp. New special teams coach Bob Ligashesky directed several brisk sessions.

"I think the difference is Bob's approach to it," Martz said. "I think Bob's time management is a lot better. He's a lot like Frank Gansz with a high-energy approach."

Second-year quarterback Jeff Smoker took a lot of snaps as he vies for the job of backup to starter Marc Bulger.

"We are going to give him a lot of opportunities," Martz said. "This is the right time for him. This is his third year, and he should be ready to step up and be counted on."

Martz said Smoker looked sharp throwing the ball on both Saturday and Sunday.

"He made significant improvement in the last couple of practices," Martz said. "Something happened with him. I'm not sure what it is. Maybe it's because he changed his number. He's really matured and calmed down."

Martz strongly urged Smoker to get rid of his No. 9 jersey because it reminded him of Joe Germaine, a fourth-round draft choice in 1999 who was supposed to the Rams' quarterback of the future. Germaine ended up being cut before the 2001 season.

Martz also remembered a couple of college quarterbacks who wore that number being failures.

Smoker wore No. 15 during the minicamp.

"It was a conflict of interest with somebody, so we changed it," Smoker said. "Somebody would rather I have a different number, so I changed it."

Defensive tackle Ryan Pickett, defensive end Anthony Hargrove and cornerback Travis Fisher all sat out practice Sunday because of injuries. Pickett has a pulled groin muscle, Hargrove has a bone bruise on his right knee and Fisher has a mild hip flexor strain.

The Rams will hold three days of Organized Team Activities this week, then the veteran players will break until training camp.

The Rams will hold training camp at their practice facility in Earth City, Mo., instead of University of Western Illinois University in Macomb.

"I think just the wear and tear on everybody down here is going to be different for coaches and players alike," Martz said. "We were exhausted last year from all the travel back and forth."

Martz indicated that the Rams are planning to hold training camp at Rams Park on a permanent basis. They spent the previous nine years in Macomb.

"I think we have to approach it like it is going to be a yearly deal," Martz said. "Like I have said many times, if we're going to go to camp, Macomb is the only situation for us. The way they treat you up there and the location is perfect for a camp."

Martz said the three outdoor practice fields at Rams Park will be re-sodded in time for training camp.

"This field gets peeled up and brand new Bermuda (grass) gets put down," Martz said. "The real thick Bermuda that heals itself overnight. It grows about a foot a minute."

 

[Ego74]

Turley is released after failing physical
By Bill Coats
Of the Post-Dispatch
06/06/2005

Kyle Turley won't be playing offensive tackle, tight end, defensive tackle or anything else for the Rams in 2005. Turley has failed a physical exam administered in Arizona, where he had been rehabbing the back injury that cost him the entire 2004 season, and has been released.

Officially, Turley was designated as "waived - failed physical," which means the Rams owe him $250,000 but that the effect on the salary cap is the same as if he simply had been released. The "hit" is $1.82 million this year and $5.47 million in 2006.

Turley signed a six-year, $26.5 million deal with the Rams after he was acquired in a trade with New Orleans in March of 2003.

Turley, 28, underwent surgery on a herniated disc in March of 2004 after starting all 16 games at right tackle the previous season, his first with the Rams. Turley reinjured his back early in training camp last July and was placed on the injured reserve list Aug. 28.

Additional surgery was not performed, and Turley said in a recent interview with the Post-Dispatch that he had been training daily since early January at the Athletes Performance Institute in Tempe, Ariz. After dropping some 65 pounds from his playing weight, down to 235, the 6-foot-5 Turley reported that he'd added about 30 pounds and hoped to play in the NFL this year.

Still, Turley acknowledged that he probably couldn't add enough bulk to man an offensive line position this year, so he hinted that he'd be interested in a different position - perhaps tight end or defensive end.

"As far as the team goes, I don't know what their thoughts are," he said. "Obviously, they signed a contract with me to play offensive line, and they don't know what I would do at another position. So, that's probably a big question in their mind. ...

"(But) it might take another year possibly to continue putting the weight on, making it good weight, and not just going out and eating a bunch of Krispy Kreme doughnuts and burritos at 2 in the morning, to get back up to 300 pounds."

It probably never would've gotten that far with the Rams, particularly after Turley's well-publicized offseason clash with coach Mike Martz. Their rift began when Martz became irritated that Turley wasn't returning his phone calls after leaving training camp in Macomb, Ill., to seek evaluations of his back injury.

A conversation between the two in mid-December in Martz's Rams Park office escalated into a shouting match and ultimately led Martz to file a complaint with NFL security, alleging that Turley threatened him. Turley continued his criticism of March into the new year, assailing him bitterly in national interviews.

Yet he insisted only a week ago that he still was amenable to playing for Martz and the Rams.

"As far as Mike Martz and that whole story is concerned, my goal is to play football this year and worry about winning games. Outside of that, I don't have too many more things to say," Turley said. "Looking back on the whole thing, I can understand a little bit of frustration on his part, and I'm sure he can understand a little bit of frustration on my part.

"Whether or not I'm going to be on that team next year is not so much in my hands but in theirs, and there's nothing I can really do about it. So, you move on if it comes to that."