Another Strange Day at Rams Park

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[wrapimg=left]http://www.101espn.com/images/authors/medium/hbalzer.jpg[/wrapimg]It was just another strange day at Rams Park in a season that has had more than its fair share of weird occurrences.

With a game Monday night in Seattle, Wednesday was a bonus day of practice, which was conducted in late afternoon for about an hour.

"We got a head start on Seattle here," coach Steve Spagnuolo said. "Got the extra day; it was light. Wanted these guys to rebound a little bit. One of the goals is to have as much energy as we can on Monday night in this particular game."

Aside from the quarterback roster roller coaster, which we will deal with in a moment, Spagnuolo was asked about the status of guard Jacob Bell, who suffered a sprained MCL in his right knee Sunday against San Francisco.

Asked about the injury not requiring surgery, Spagnuolo said, "Hopefully we dodged a bullet there, but it just takes a little time."

When the next question concerned whether Bell might try to play in a week or two, the coach answered, "I don't know that. I think it's longer than that to be honest with you. And again, the doctors just gauge him on other MCLs that they've seen that are very similar. It's in the four-week range. Now, some guys come back quicker, some guys don't, but we'll have to see what we need to do or may not have to do. But right now we're just kind of sitting tight."

Shortly after Spagnuolo's session with the media, reporters talked to Bell in the locker room, who said the fact he was wearing a brace on his right knee contributed to the injury not being more serious. He expressed hope he might be able to play again this season.

"If it's feeling better in one or two weeks, I'd like to get out there," he said.

Little did he know that he wouldn't have that chance; the decision had been made. By 3 p.m. Wednesday, an hour before practice ended, the Rams knew they had been awarded quarterback Kellen Clemens on waivers from Houston. To clear a roster spot for Clemens, the fourth quarterback now on the active roster, Bell was placed on injured reserve.

Sitting tight, indeed.

Those two moves concluded a flurry of activity this week that has brought to 65 the number of roster transactions the Rams have made since the opening game of the season. That total includes 20 practice-squad moves with players either signed to or released from the practice squad.

In the last 48 hours, the Rams also waived cornerback Nate Ness, signed cornerback Chris Smith to the active roster from the practice squad and added quarterback Matt Gutierrez and running back Chase Reynolds to the practice squad. The signing of Smith was the fifth instance this season where the Rams promoted a player from the practice squad to the active roster.

Of course, the Rams opened the season with Sam Bradford and A.J. Feeley as the only quarterbacks on the roster and practice squad. Now, they have five, with four on the 53-man roster and one on the practice squad. Bradford and Feeley rode the bike on the sideline of Wednesday's practice while Tom Brandstater took all the snaps with the first-team offense.

Feeley all but ruled himself out of this week's game because of the fracture on his right thumb near the knuckle. He said, "It's pretty sore, pretty swollen and tough to grip anything. It's amazing how you realize how much you use your thumb when you don't have it to use. So right now, I'm just trying to get the swelling out of it and kind of see where we are."

He said it will be about a week to have a sense of how long he'll be out. "Once the swelling gets down I'll get a true gauge of where I'll be at grabbing things," he said. "If it's a pain tolerance thing I have no problem going through it. But if it's giving way every time I grip the ball because the bone's shifting, then it probably won't work out."

Asked about any hope of playing Monday, he said, "More than likely not."

As for Bradford, Spagnuolo said his schedule will be similar to last week when he hardly practiced and then didn't play against San Francisco. However, with the game being on Monday night, Spagnuolo hopes that enables Bradford to be ready.

"I'm hoping it makes a difference," Spagnuolo said. "We were close last week, so we'll see. Again, these things have gone back and forth, so it's day-to-day."

Which means plenty of practice snaps for Brandstater, who was the third quarterback for 16 games with Denver in 2009, but has never taken a snap in a regular-season game.

Clemens has started nine NFL games and thrown 284 passes, while Gutierrez has thrown one pass with New England and one with Kansas City. Ironically, both were in training camp this past summer with the Washington Redskins. Clemens was recently signed by the Texans when Matt Schaub was lost for the season. Jake Delhomme was also signed by Houston, which also lost Matt Leinart for the season. Clemens was waived Tuesday when the Texans signed Jeff Garcia.

Just as unknown as the quarterback for this week is the makeup of the offensive line. The Rams finished Sunday's game with the line from left to right comprised of Adam Goldberg, Jason Brown, Tony Wragge, Harvey Dahl and Thomas Welch.

It's possible Goldberg could move back to right tackle if Mark LeVoir, who practiced Wednesday, can play. LeVoir had replaced Rodger Saffold at left tackle, but suffered a strained pectoral muscle Nov. 20 against Seattle.

Said Spagnuolo of LeVoir, "He's got a couple of hurdles to overcome. He's kind of technically listed as limited if we were going to have a padded practice, but for what we did here today he was able to do all the reps out there."

LeVoir said, "It feels good. When it's ready, I'll be back."

Goldberg missed a few plays Sunday with an injury to his ribs, but is expected to play Monday. "He's going to have to work through some pain, but he's able to go," Spagnuolo said.

In other injury-related news, safety Darian Stewart, who did not play against San Francisco because of a concussion, has been cleared to play and was back on the practice field Wednesday.

Defensive end Chris Long rested his ankle; defensive tackle Fred Robbins did not practice because of a sore back and running back Quinn Porter was limited because of an oblique muscle strain.

The Rams' injured reserve list now totals 14 players, six of whom started the season opener, including three offensive linemen. Eight of the 14 are Rams draft choices with one first-rounder (tackle Jason Smith), two second-rounders (cornerback Ron Bartell and Saffold), two third-rounders (cornerbacks Bradley Fletcher and Jerome Murphy), fourth-round wide receiver Greg Salas, fifth-round tight end Michael Hoomanawanui and seventh-round cornerback Marquis Johnson.
 

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