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<a class="postlink" href="http://www.stlouisrams.com/news-and-events/article-1/Brandstater-Ready-If-Needed/cdefd242-bb4f-46d6-9fba-7d9e99ce79a8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.stlouisrams.com/news-and-eve ... 9e99ce79a8</a>
In the 23 or so days between which he was released by the Rams and subsequently brought back on Dec. 2, Tom Brandstater found plenty of ways to keep himself busy.
When the team let him go on Nov. 9, Brandstater had a feeling he might get a call to return so he stayed in St. Louis and worked out at a local gym.
Matter of fact, Brandstater only left to go to Oklahoma to be with his mother and family on Thanksgiving. As part of that trip home, Brandstater ended up doing two things he hadn’t done since his release: throw the ball to a “receiver” and get a hair cut.
While the gym workouts helped him stay in shape, Brandstater had nobody to throw to until he caught up with his brother in law on Thanksgiving Day.
“I tossed the ball around with my brother-in-law, which was a little bit uncomfortable because he wasn’t quite athletic, but it was fun,” Brandstater said. “It worked out. It was something to kind of pass the time on Thanksgiving and also keep my arm in shape.”
Of course, it didn’t exactly give Brandstater much of a chance to stay up to speed as throwing to, say, Brandon Lloyd or Danario Alexander.
“He knocked it down,” Brandstater said, laughing. “He definitely did that.”
As for trimming his long locks, Brandstater said that it had nothing to do with the possibility that he could be making his starting debut in primetime and everything to do with the wishes of his mother.
“She just didn’t think it fit my image I guess,” Brandstater said.
Brandstater’s image could take on a whole new look this week as it remains a possibility he could make his first NFL start on Monday Night Football when the Rams take on the Seahawks in Seattle.
With starter Sam Bradford still battling a sprained ankle and backup A.J. Feeley almost certainly out with a fractured thumb, Brandstater has taken all of the repetitions with the first team in the past two days.
“I haven’t heard anything for sure,” Brandstater said. “Obviously I got a couple more reps today so it was nice to use the stuff I have learned thus far with this offense and be out there with the fellas.”
Getting Brandstater up to speed is a necessity considering in the past week the Rams have gone from having two quarterbacks to having five, including four on the active roster.
They added to that count Wednesday night when they claimed veteran Kellen Clemens off waivers from Houston.
Clemens provides the Rams a backup for this week with some experience. He has been in the league for six years with nine starts, which at least provides the Rams a viable option should they have to go into Monday’s game with only Brandstater available.
“I remember Kellen from my days in New York when he was with the Jets,” coach Steve Spagnuolo said. “I want to say I coached against him but I don’t know if he was starting that particular day. We didn’t know this was going to be presented to us but we had a chance to pick somebody up off of waivers and we did that. We’ll see.”
Clemens arrived in St. Louis late Thursday afternoon and will be thrown into the system immediately with the hopes that he can be available in a reserve role whether or not Bradford can play.
Bradford’s situation remains fluid as he continues to rehab from a sprained ankle he aggravated again two weeks ago that caused him to miss last week’s game.
While Bradford did not practice again Thursday, all parties remain hopeful he’ll be available to play against Seattle.
“We are hopeful on Sam, obviously,” Spagnuolo said. “But we won’t know until we get to the end of the week.”
For his part, Bradford has pushed to try to play through the injury and is hoping that the extra rest this week will have him ready to play against the Seahawks.
Bradford bounced back from the ankle injury initially after missing two games when he played at Arizona on Nov. 6. That week, Bradford didn’t practice until Friday when he was limited and then participated in the next day’s walk through.
Going through a similar process with Bradford this week wouldn’t preclude the Rams from plugging him back into the lineup according to Spagnuolo.
“We wouldn’t be opposed to it as long as we felt he was healthy enough,” Spagnuolo said. “I think he’s far enough along in the system that he can function and be fine. But the first thing is we are just trying to get the foot as healthy as possible…It’s possible.”
Like the Rams, Bradford is hopeful he’ll be able to go this week.
“I hope so,” Bradford said. “I really haven’t done a whole lot but tried to rehab and tried to get it back to functional where I can play. I am really not sure when I’m going to get back on the field and try it out but I think that’s coming later this week so hopefully everything is healed enough that I can go on Monday.”
When asked Thursday whether he had considered possibly shutting it down for the season to ensure no further injury, the uber competitive Bradford said that’s not something he has pondered.
“That hasn’t entered my mind,” Bradford said. “I really hope it doesn’t come to that point. That’d be pretty disappointing for me. But if that’s what our doctors feel is best for my long term health then that’s an option I would have to think about but it’s really something I don’t want to think about.”
In the meantime, the job of getting the offense prepared for this week falls to Brandstater, who has never started an NFL game.
But Brandstater does have some experience in the system from his time with offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels in Denver.
Brandstater said he has felt pretty good in practice the past two days and believes he is about as prepared as can be.
“I don’t know how to gauge myself other than playing,” Brandstater said. “But I do feel comfortable with what I’ve done so far. And Josh has been great so far, teaching me from the ground up and also being slow this week and really making sure I understand everything. It’s been great so far. Today, I felt good at practice and hope to build from one day to the next.”
The decision for this week is far from made but Brandstater has allowed himself to think about the possibility of making his debut on Monday Night Football.
“Yeah, obviously it’s exciting,” Brandstater said. “It would be a dream come true. I never thought this would be the stage, but if it is I’ll be as excited as can be. And the good part is I know that my teammates have my back if I do play and we’re going to go out there and try to win. And it wouldn’t be any different if Sam was playing or if anybody else was playing.”
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.stlouisrams.com/news-and-events/article-1/Brandstater-Ready-If-Needed/cdefd242-bb4f-46d6-9fba-7d9e99ce79a8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.stlouisrams.com/news-and-eve ... 9e99ce79a8</a>
In the 23 or so days between which he was released by the Rams and subsequently brought back on Dec. 2, Tom Brandstater found plenty of ways to keep himself busy.
When the team let him go on Nov. 9, Brandstater had a feeling he might get a call to return so he stayed in St. Louis and worked out at a local gym.
Matter of fact, Brandstater only left to go to Oklahoma to be with his mother and family on Thanksgiving. As part of that trip home, Brandstater ended up doing two things he hadn’t done since his release: throw the ball to a “receiver” and get a hair cut.
While the gym workouts helped him stay in shape, Brandstater had nobody to throw to until he caught up with his brother in law on Thanksgiving Day.
“I tossed the ball around with my brother-in-law, which was a little bit uncomfortable because he wasn’t quite athletic, but it was fun,” Brandstater said. “It worked out. It was something to kind of pass the time on Thanksgiving and also keep my arm in shape.”
Of course, it didn’t exactly give Brandstater much of a chance to stay up to speed as throwing to, say, Brandon Lloyd or Danario Alexander.
“He knocked it down,” Brandstater said, laughing. “He definitely did that.”
As for trimming his long locks, Brandstater said that it had nothing to do with the possibility that he could be making his starting debut in primetime and everything to do with the wishes of his mother.
“She just didn’t think it fit my image I guess,” Brandstater said.
Brandstater’s image could take on a whole new look this week as it remains a possibility he could make his first NFL start on Monday Night Football when the Rams take on the Seahawks in Seattle.
With starter Sam Bradford still battling a sprained ankle and backup A.J. Feeley almost certainly out with a fractured thumb, Brandstater has taken all of the repetitions with the first team in the past two days.
“I haven’t heard anything for sure,” Brandstater said. “Obviously I got a couple more reps today so it was nice to use the stuff I have learned thus far with this offense and be out there with the fellas.”
Getting Brandstater up to speed is a necessity considering in the past week the Rams have gone from having two quarterbacks to having five, including four on the active roster.
They added to that count Wednesday night when they claimed veteran Kellen Clemens off waivers from Houston.
Clemens provides the Rams a backup for this week with some experience. He has been in the league for six years with nine starts, which at least provides the Rams a viable option should they have to go into Monday’s game with only Brandstater available.
“I remember Kellen from my days in New York when he was with the Jets,” coach Steve Spagnuolo said. “I want to say I coached against him but I don’t know if he was starting that particular day. We didn’t know this was going to be presented to us but we had a chance to pick somebody up off of waivers and we did that. We’ll see.”
Clemens arrived in St. Louis late Thursday afternoon and will be thrown into the system immediately with the hopes that he can be available in a reserve role whether or not Bradford can play.
Bradford’s situation remains fluid as he continues to rehab from a sprained ankle he aggravated again two weeks ago that caused him to miss last week’s game.
While Bradford did not practice again Thursday, all parties remain hopeful he’ll be available to play against Seattle.
“We are hopeful on Sam, obviously,” Spagnuolo said. “But we won’t know until we get to the end of the week.”
For his part, Bradford has pushed to try to play through the injury and is hoping that the extra rest this week will have him ready to play against the Seahawks.
Bradford bounced back from the ankle injury initially after missing two games when he played at Arizona on Nov. 6. That week, Bradford didn’t practice until Friday when he was limited and then participated in the next day’s walk through.
Going through a similar process with Bradford this week wouldn’t preclude the Rams from plugging him back into the lineup according to Spagnuolo.
“We wouldn’t be opposed to it as long as we felt he was healthy enough,” Spagnuolo said. “I think he’s far enough along in the system that he can function and be fine. But the first thing is we are just trying to get the foot as healthy as possible…It’s possible.”
Like the Rams, Bradford is hopeful he’ll be able to go this week.
“I hope so,” Bradford said. “I really haven’t done a whole lot but tried to rehab and tried to get it back to functional where I can play. I am really not sure when I’m going to get back on the field and try it out but I think that’s coming later this week so hopefully everything is healed enough that I can go on Monday.”
When asked Thursday whether he had considered possibly shutting it down for the season to ensure no further injury, the uber competitive Bradford said that’s not something he has pondered.
“That hasn’t entered my mind,” Bradford said. “I really hope it doesn’t come to that point. That’d be pretty disappointing for me. But if that’s what our doctors feel is best for my long term health then that’s an option I would have to think about but it’s really something I don’t want to think about.”
In the meantime, the job of getting the offense prepared for this week falls to Brandstater, who has never started an NFL game.
But Brandstater does have some experience in the system from his time with offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels in Denver.
Brandstater said he has felt pretty good in practice the past two days and believes he is about as prepared as can be.
“I don’t know how to gauge myself other than playing,” Brandstater said. “But I do feel comfortable with what I’ve done so far. And Josh has been great so far, teaching me from the ground up and also being slow this week and really making sure I understand everything. It’s been great so far. Today, I felt good at practice and hope to build from one day to the next.”
The decision for this week is far from made but Brandstater has allowed himself to think about the possibility of making his debut on Monday Night Football.
“Yeah, obviously it’s exciting,” Brandstater said. “It would be a dream come true. I never thought this would be the stage, but if it is I’ll be as excited as can be. And the good part is I know that my teammates have my back if I do play and we’re going to go out there and try to win. And it wouldn’t be any different if Sam was playing or if anybody else was playing.”