FANS
GET FIRST LOOK AT 2002 RAMS AS MINI CAMP ENDS
By
TFN Correspondent - Barry Waller
June
4th 2002
The
Rams first and only mandatory full squad mini-camp began with the emphasis
on squashing the rumors surrounding their running back position, and ended
with a spirited practice session before over 13,000 fans in the Eddie
Jones Dome, and in between was mostly uneventful, which for a top NFL
team is a good thing.
Head
coach Mike Martz, a man obsessed with the off the field stuff concerning
his squad as he is with his high powered offense, made a point of ending
right now the spreading rumors about Marshall Faulk’s supposed rift with
his coach and organization and the one speculating about Trung Canidate’s
future with St. Louis.
As
one of the very first people covering a pro football team on the internet,
from the very start endeavoring to make web publishing an equal to other
media by seeking truth over the “scoop” mentality that is ruining sports
reporting, it galls this reporter to see how the spread of internet sports
sites has brought with it that same mentality that I abhor.
From somewhere
out east, the “story” about Faulk’s discontentment flooded the web boards
like fans doing “the wave”, and it was just about as mindless as that
worn out fad. Right from the start, local media pretty much knew the
stuff was made up. That’s because we, unlike these sites fed by unnamed
“sources” actually GO to Rams Park regularly and have gotten to know the
team with our own eyes, ears, and minds.
The story asserting
that Canidate was “trade bait” were even more absurd, and were fueled
simply by the lack of playing time the former #1 pick saw late in the
season and in the playoffs, and the selection of running back Lamar Gordon
in round three this year. Add those two, and you end up with a trade
rumor, courtesy of another “source” who will remain anonymous.
Apparently,
that source fails to realize that with the loss of Justin Watson and Robert
Holcombe, Canidate is the only veteran backup to Faulk. DO they really
think Martz, a guy who doesn’t like playing rookies all that much, would
go into the season with one behind Marshall, a guy who has missed games
the last two years due to knee injury ?
And what about
the fact that trading Trung would bring nothing to help this year for
a team looking to win now, and would also cause his pro rated bonus to
accelerate into this year’s already strapped cap ? Any NFL analyst with
even a cursory knowledge of why players rarely are traded these days would
have doubted this rumor from the start instead of keeping it alive by
reprinting it. It was the same type garbage as when Torry Holt was supposed
to be on the way out.
Martz
may have hit the nail on the had when asked why these type rumors are
born, saying “ A lot of people would like to be where we are, and they
hope to knock us down a bit somehow with this stuff.”
Martz denied
any rift between his superstar back and himself, saying “Marshall is like
a son to me.” He made it clear that the Rams have no plans to get rid
of either of their top two halfbacks and that he they have no problem
at all. Faulk, a guy who has no problem saying it straight, was even
more perplexed by the nature of the rumors, shaking his head and saying
“where does this stuff come from?”
Those
who have talked to Faulk on the record since the Super Bowl could have
testified that he has no off-season anger, just the sting of not winning
the title, the same one all the Rams are carrying, other than the new
guys. However, the pain seems to have made this character filled Rams
team even more determined to work as hard as possible till the season
starts in order to get back to the big game and win this time.
The Rams know
they have the team to get it done, as long as they stay together and work
hard, and also get some luck avoiding serious injuries to key players.
After the three-day mini-camp they certainly appear to be a far stronger
team than the one that started the 2001 season. While one can hardly
judge players by how they look in shorts with no hitting, the team looks
healthy and ready to start playing right now.
In the final
practice, Monday night in the dome, the nice crowd seemed to energize
the players who showed more emotion than in the usual practice sessions.
Ricky Proehl, the ageless wonder, looked like a young buck in the practice,
once doing his “first down” celebration after a nice catch before a cheering
crowd.
The
biggest cheers were reserved for Faulk, Kurt Warner, Ike Bruce and Aeneas
Williams, the latter sitting out the event with a sore foot after receiving
possibly the biggest hand of the night in the introductions by Rams color
analyst and former star WR Jack Snow.
Orlando
Pace missed the whole mini-camp with a sprained ankle he got at home,
but Rams fans could really care less whether their stud left tackle takes
the field in May or June. To Rams fans, the guy who is possibly their
most irreplaceable component along with Warner, could just as well stay
in the deep freeze till September, as he has nothing to prove to anyone
anymore.
Two rookies
from Ohio State, LB Courtland Bullard and S Steve Bellisari could not