Fisher:'Chance' Chris Long could practice this week/Wagoner

[RamBill]

Jeff Fisher: 'Chance' Chris Long could practice this week
By Nick Wagoner

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-ra...er-chance-chris-long-could-practice-this-week

EARTH CITY, Mo. -- St. Louis Rams defensive end Chris Long has been working his way back from the ankle injury he suffered in the season opener against Minnesota for the past two-plus months.

But we're getting closer to the time where Long might be back on the field, at least the practice field. Long has been doing some running and movement work on the side with the Rams athletic trainers in recent practices and coach Jeff Fisher said Monday that all parties would discuss Long's possible return on Tuesday.

“There’s a chance he’ll get on the field," Fisher said. "We’re going to discuss it tomorrow with him. He has a 21-day window to practice once he steps on the field. There’s a chance that we’ll have him back on the field this week.”

When Fisher refers to the 21-day window, he's speaking to the rules associated with Long's spot as the player on the team's injured reserve/designated to return player. Since Long is that player, he is able to come back to the active roster despite spending the bulk of the season on injured reserve.

Once Long returns to practice, the Rams then have a 21-day window to activate him to the active roster at which point the team would have to make a corresponding move to get him back in the 53-man roster.

 

[DaveFan'51]

Once Long returns to practice, the Rams then have a 21-day window to activate him to the active roster at which point the team would have to make a corresponding move to get him back in the 53-man roster.

Then the Big question is, who gets cut? ( Westbrooks, Joseph?)

 

[BonifayRam]

Then the Big question is, who gets cut? ( Westbrooks, Joseph?)

DT Alex Carrington has earned that move. With the nagging shoulder injury to Aaron Donald, Alex Carrington has been getting a lot of action in the rotation. Even with all that on field activity in 8 games thus far Carrington has ...wait for it......One Tackle.

No way you release rookie DT Ethan Westbrooks who has been dealing with a hand injury & who has been in active for well over a month. Even with only 4 games under his belt he has 4 tacks. If you recall DE William Hayes had an injury to his Fibula & has been out.


Chris Long returns to practice
http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcwest/post/_/id/116464/chris-long-returns-to-practice

St. Louis Rams defensive end Chris Long returned to practice Wednesday afternoon, opening his window to return from the team's injured reserve/designated to return list.

Long, of course, has been working his way back from an ankle injury suffered in the season opener against Minnesota on Sept. 7. Soon after, the Rams placed him injured reserve but designated him to return. Under the rules of that designation, Long now has a three-week window in which he must be activated to the roster. If he's not, he will be declared out for the season.

C. LongOn Monday, Rams coach Jeff Fisher said he would sit down with Long on Tuesday and discuss whether it was time for Long to open the window. That discussion led to Long returning to do at least a little bit of work Wednesday afternoon.

"We started the window for Chris so he’ll be able to practice," Fisher said. "He didn’t do much today but he’s just going to keep adding to it. We feel like the designated IR situation gives you a 21-day period so we think he’ll definitely be ready to play within that period."

The Rams have seven games remaining, meaning at worst Long could return and still play in four more games. Long said he wouldn't make any predictions about when he'll be able to play in a game but he was just happy to get back on the field with his team.

"It was a good start," Long said. "There’s a lot you don’t take into account when you are coming off of surgery. You’ve got to rehab and strengthen so personally it was great to get back out there with my teammates. It was just individual period. The next step will be to try to get some team reps at some point here soon. It was just really exciting to have a jersey on and feel like I was part of the team again."

Since Long is not on the active roster he did not appear on Wednesday's injury report.

Here's a list of those who did:

Did not participate: CB Marcus Roberson (ankle), LB Daren Bates (groin), CB Lamarcus Joyner (groin), WR Damian Williams (hamstring), DE William Hayes (fibula), LB James Laurinaitis (foot).

Limited participation: LB Will Herring (foot).

 

[RamBill]

After his first day back at practice, Chris Long talks with the media.

Watch Long's Comments

 

[DaveFan'51]

After his first day back at practice, Chris Long talks with the media.

Watch Long's Comments

This was great, to hear from Chris's own lips. He been around for the team, and there's been absolutely NO reporting on this, there should have been!!!!

 

[RamBill]

Chris Long is no longer a ‘ghost’
• By Jim Thomas

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_9794904c-30a1-5bb5-a668-2969b8d4f5c1.html

When you’re sidelined by injury for a lengthy period of time, it’s almost like you disappear in an NFL locker room.

Rams defensive end Chris Long, who played in 97 consecutive games to start his career, never experienced that feeling until he suffered a foot injury in the season opener against Minnesota. Surgery was necessary to repair two torn tendons in his left foot, and then the long rehab process began.

“I’m telling you, it’s weird when you’re walking around without a helmet and a jersey for seven, eight weeks,” Long said. “You feel like a ghost sometimes.”

It has actually been nine-plus weeks since the injury. But Long’s time as a ghost are over. He returned to practice Wednesday for the first time since the injury. It’s very doubtful he plays this week against Denver, but he could be starting a new consecutive games streak after that.

“There’s a lot you don’t take into account when you’re coming off a surgery and you’ve got to rehab and strengthen,” Long said. “So it was great to get back out there with my teammates. It was just really exciting to have a jersey on. I felt like I was part of the team again.”

Long’s participation in practices this week has been limited to individual periods, when the defensive linemen do drill work on their own. The next step, of course, is “team” — or 11-on-11 work — followed by returning to game action.

Long was hesitant to pinpoint exactly when he might return to game action from the injured reserve/designated for return list. He has a maximum practice window of three weeks before the team must decide whether to put him on the 53-man roster or keep him on IR for the rest of the season.

On Wednesday, coach Jeff Fisher expressed confidence that Long would return prior to the completion of the three weeks. So most likely, his first game back will either be the Nov. 23 game at San Diego or the Nov. 30 home contest against Oakland.

“You never know, but I can’t make predictions on how I’m gonna feel one day to the next,” Long said. “It’s a process, and I’m just heavy into the rehab still, while I’m trying to get out there on the practice field. It just felt good to be out there with my teammates.”

The feeling was mutual.

“It’s great to see our brother back out there on the field,” defensive tackle Kendall Langford said. “He’s looking good. He’s feeling good. So we’re hoping for the best.”

Being sidelined for more than two months wasn’t easy, so much so Long nearly drove himself nuts during his down time.

“You know, I was really worried about that,” he said. “And there’ve been some tough times. But the toughest is knowing you can’t help your teammates, and I just want to help us win.

“Even if I can’t help my team win on the field, I like to be able to help off the field and just be available to my teammates and my coaches, because it’s important to me.”

But as the weeks rolled by, one indication that Long was growing stir crazy came on Twitter. Namely his always interesting tweets on @JOEL9ONE got even more “out there” than usual.

For example, he has power rankings of flightless birds, months of the year, and sharks.

By the way, the bull shark was No. 1, and he teased his rankings on months of the year by tweeting, in part: ”There are some surprises.”

He established playoff seedings for athletes with flattop haircuts, and had random tweets such as:

• “Ever forget what year it is? Me neither.”

• ”Listening to ‘Seminole Wind’ in the bat cave with my bulldogs.”

“I’m an ‘out there’ guy,” Long tried to explain. “You’re bored. I’m not as tired as I usually am from work so I’ve got a lot of energy I’ve gotta get out.”

Did he ever have a moment of self-awareness, where he realized his tweets were getting out of hand?

“Yeah, when I started power-ranking like the months of the year, and stuff,” he said. “You just start losing your mind on there. My Instagram posts got weirder and weirder. I did a lot of photo-shopping and stuff like that.

“I spent a lot of time in the training room, so you just sit there and you tweet, and it can get monotonous so you get a lot of stupid ideas in your head.”

But as Long gets closer and closer to playing, things will return to “normal” soon on Twitter. He should join his teammates on the field on game day some time this month. It might just be enough to push November to the top of the power rankings.

 

[Dodgersrf]

It's great just to hear that he's doing something.
I can't wait to see him back in action.

 

[Mojo Ram]

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