Bernie: Bulger played with broken ribs, Steven Jackson has a partial groin tear

[NGSeiler]

On Bulger:

Bulger played with two broken ribs. Unbelievable to me that you'd play him yesterday and completely scale your offense down because you are afraid of him taking a hit ...

Isn't this why you signed Frerotte and are paying him $2 million a year?

If your QB is disabled and can't make all the throws, then play the backup.

Frerotte was 9-6 as a starter for Linehan in Miami in 2005 ...

Gosh almighty.... clueless.

--B

On Jackson:

Jackson has a partial tear of the groin...

and will miss the Dallas game...

and is "week to week" after that.

Leonard starts...

More later...

Jeff Gordon is writing for STLtoday.com ....

--B

The hits just keep on coming.

This is utter crap and to me shows a lack of confidence in the coaches. Many believe we have the best 1st and 2nd depth QBs in the league. Ferotte is a quality number 2. So when our number 1 Marc Bulger breaks his ribs put FEROTTE IN but no we play our injured star. In case our coaches haven't noticed if anyone breaks a rib it actually can affect your throwing ability. This is a total lack of confidence in Linehan and Olson.

As for Jackson being out it makes the Cowboys game real hard. Olson says he is going to have to find ways too spread the ball around now Jackson is out for this game. YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN DOING THIS BEFORE THE REGULAR SEASON STARTED. Lets list our Offensive stars or playmakers aside from Bulger:

Steven Jackson RB Our go to man on the ground and on short passes.
Torry Holt WR Our go to WR
Isaac Bruce WR Amazingly good for his age.
Brian Leonard RB too good to not get a few touches each game.
Drew Bennett WR A former no.1 but a good number 2 receiver in our slot.
Randy McMichael TE. Great pass catching end with size for Redzone touches.

Thats six guys who need to be given the ball every game and we just ain't doing it. Bennett and McMichael were brought in for the Redzone Issues well this is a waste of money if you insist to call such stupid plays which can't even get us in the Red Zone.

[nfrillman]

When I first heard that news it made me even more pissed off at this coaching staff. What in the hell are they doing??? If you have to obliterate the playbook in order for the starter to play with their injury put in the freaking backup. That makes absolutely no sense. Hopefully Incognito comes back and that helps, but at this point I am expecting a beatdown of epic proportions against the Cowboys.

[Geo]

First off, that sucks for Jackson and hopefully he's back playing as soon as possible.

As for Bulger, I think the writer (who I've always hated honestly) is overplaying the situation some. Obviously Bulger ably displayed to the coaches in practice last week that he could still be effective despite his two broken ribs, or they wouldn't have played him.

I heard the pass protection was much better this past week against the Bucs, despite playing their active front in Tampa, from the previous two weeks. Any truth to that?

[NGSeiler]

Originally Posted by Geo

As for Bulger, I think the writer (who I've always hated honestly) is overplaying the situation some. Obviously Bulger ably displayed to the coaches in practice last week that he could still be effective despite his two broken ribs, or they wouldn't have played him.

I'm not a huge Bernie fan either and I tend to agree that saying Bulger has broken ribs might sound worse than it actually is. Maybe they're just hairline fractures or something, I have no idea. Obviously they're going to be painful regardless of the severity, but other writers (Wagoner) seem to have mentioned it and casually written it off by saying he's OK and will play.

It's hard to tell how much his injury is affecting his ability to throw, though. You can't point to the interceptions as evidence, because one was simply a poor attempt to throw the ball away (and a great play by the DB), the second was Bulger throwing to the wrong route, and the third was a miscommunication between Bulger and Leonard.

I can only assume that trying to execute your normal throwing motion with fractured ribs is quite painful, and if that injury is causing Olsen to scale back to the offense to a Carolina/TB level, then that's not good for this team's chances of success. But if Bulger says he can play and he looks fine throwing in practice, do you bench him anyways simply because the injury exists and you don't want to make it worse?

Approaching this issue from another perspective, does it say anything about Gus Frerotte that this team is sticking to a broken Bulger instead of calling on him this weekend?

Originally Posted by Geo

I heard the pass protection was much better this past week against the Bucs, despite playing their active front in Tampa, from the previous two weeks. Any truth to that?

It sounds as if that's the case. I believe the Bucs only sacked Bulger once and generally did not harass him like most expected after what happened against San Francisco. If there were obstacles in the passing game, they most likely existed in the playcalling of our offensive coordinator rather than a consistent devastating pass rush from Tampa.

[Namy]

So is bulger playing next week? I have him in my fantasy team... what a disappointment... he gave me -2 pts last week and i lost by 5 pts... goddammit

[M.O.T.H.]

Originally Posted by Namy

So is bulger playing next week? I have him in my fantasy team... what a disappointment... he gave me -2 pts last week and i lost by 5 pts... goddammit

He's expected to play.

[NGSeiler]

Bulger fully participated in today's practice. Here are some updates...

More musical chairs on the offensive line
September 26, 2007
Belleville News Democrat

The Rams will have their fourth different combination on the offensive line in four games as Claude Terrell was working at left guard in practice on Wednesday.

Terrell replaces Mark Setterstrom, who has been lost for the season due to a torn ACL in his knee.

Millford Brown and Richie Incognito, who has been sidelined since suffering a high ankle sprain in the Rams’ second preseason game, shared time at right guard.

Incognito is questionable for the Rams’ game against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday at Texas Stadium.

“I have an optimistic approach to when he comes back, whether it is this game or the next game because I do see improvement,’’ Rams coach Scott Linehan said of Incognito. “It’s an injury with a lot of pain tolerance, but it’s also an injury with being able to do what you need to do in being able to plant and push off. These high ankles where you can’t do anything but rest it, you can’t push him. If he is not ready, we just don’t play him. But, if he is close and we feel he is able to do his job, then we will play him. We have to be somewhat guarded on that.’’

Adam Goldberg remained at right tackle for the second straight.

-- It looks like linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa will be returning to action after missing two games with a sprained ankle.

Tinoisamoa participated fully in practice on Wednesday.

-- Wide receiver Drew Bennett still is less than 100 percent due to the tight quadricep muscle that kept him out of the Rams’ season opener.

“He’s getting closer,’’ Linehan said. “He’s not 100 percent yet. “He’s running better. He is still very sore, and his quad still is very tight. It’s progressing slowly. He is out there practicing, and he is out there working. The closer he gets to 100 percent, the better we’ll get as far as our timing with him.’’

-- Defensive end James Hall has a sore pectoral muscle that limited him in practice on Wednesday. Linehan said Hall is expected to play against the Cowboys.

-- Cornerback Tye Hill already has been ruled out for the game against the Cowboys. It’ll be his third game missed due to broken bones in his back.

-- Linehan said that Lenny Walls would be the odd-man out among the Rams’ cornerbacks when Fahkir Brown returns next week from a four-game suspension for violating the NFL’s policy on substance abuse.

That means Ron Bartell and Brown would be the starters.

“We need Fahkir back out there,’’ Linehan said. “Coming out of the preseason, he was playing as good as anybody. He was probably our best corner at that point. It doesn’t put Lenny Walls in a position where we don’t feel he has been doing a good job, but we need to get Fahkir back out there.’’

-- Backup linebacker and special teammer Tim McGarigle has a strained left groin. He was extremely limited in practice.

-- Quarterback Marc Bulger (broken ribs) and backup safety Jerome Carter (bruised left thigh) were able to fully participate in practice.

According to Rotoworld, "The rib injury has been reported to be worse than the one Bulger suffered in 2006, but that he's practicing fully means he's pretty close to full health."

[nfrillman]

Originally Posted by NGSeiler

It sounds as if that's the case. I believe the Bucs only sacked Bulger once and generally did not harass him like most expected after what happened against San Francisco. If there were obstacles in the passing game, they most likely existed in the playcalling of our offensive coordinator rather than a consistent devastating pass rush from Tampa.

It doesn't sound like you got to watch the game. I do believe that the offensive line is getting more than their fair share of the blame, everyone has been bad, but I think the lack of pressure on Bulger is almost strictly due to the play calling. They called that play where you throw the ball to the WR right off the snap and hope he can make a play about 10 times. The problem is the Bucs were playing press coverage which makes that play incredibly useless. Needless to say the Rams gained virtually nothing on any of those plays. In addition to that, almost every pass play was a quick 3 step drop, no deep passes. Simply put, the offensive line did not have time to allow pressure, even if they wanted to.

[NGSeiler]

Originally Posted by nfrillman

It doesn't sound like you got to watch the game.

Nope, just listened. Trying to download the video now.