Saturday, Aug. 08, 2009

Spags likes what he sees at scrimmage; more than 7,000 watch workout

ST. LOUIS -- A crowd estimated by Lindenwood University officials at more than 7,000 packed Harlen C. Hunter Stadium on Friday night to watch the St. Louis Rams' intrasquad scrimmage.

"I do want to make sure I publicly thank all of the fans here," Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo said. "I thought the turn out was great. That means a lot. It means a lot to the players. It means a lot to the coaches, the organization. I hope we can give just as much back with our play."

The scrimmage capped an emotional day for Spagnuolo, who missed the Rams' practice Friday morning to attend the funeral of his good friend and mentor, former Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson.

A memorial service was held Friday in Philadelphia for Johnson, who died last week.

"It'll be one of those days that I'll go back and remember for a long time," Spagnuolo said. "I think I did the right thing. I'm glad I went. It was very, very soothing for me to see all the people who showed up. I can't tell you the overwhelming display of love for Jim Johnson in Philadelphia today.

"There were more people coming back who hadn't been there in a long time. (Former Eagles) Troy Vincent. Bobby Taylor, I saw. Al Harris who plays in Green Bay left training camp and came. (Coach) John Harbaugh from Baltimore, (defensive coordinator) Leslie Frazier from Minnesota, they were all there. The commissioner (Roger Godell) was there, which I thought was a big-time classy move."

Spagnuolo was back in St. Louis at about 5 p.m., 90 minutes before the start of the scrimmage.

As for the scrimmage, Spagnuolo was pleased with how his offense moved the ball, how his young receivers made some catches and how his pass rush came on later in the practice.

No score was kept. It would have been impossible because of the large amount of situational work.

The Rams did some red-zone work, lining up at the opponents' 30.

They also did some fourth-down work, setting up fourth-and-2 and fourth-and-4 situations near the opponents' 40.

They worked on the two-minute drill, starting at their own 37 with 1:05 left to play and two timeouts remaining.

They worked on being backed up deep in their own territory, starting out at their own 3.

The Rams' pass rush really started to cause havoc during the two-minute drill near the end of the scrimmage as Leonard Little, Chris Long and James Hall all got consistent pressure.

Hall batted the football out of backup quarterback Kyle Boller's hands on a play, and then apologized to Spagnuolo because the quarterbacks were supposed to be off limits.

"Those guys work well together," Spagnuolo said of his pass rushers. "They take a lot of pride in that."

Rams quarterback Marc Bulger rebounded from a rough start.

He threw three incompletions in six attempts on the starting offense's first possession, and then was intercepted by Quincy Butler during his first series backed up near his own goal line.

Bulger later got in a groove during third-down work as he completed two passes to tight end Randy McMichael to convert first downs on third-and-3 and third-and-7, and then threw a pass to Keenan Burton to convert a third-and-12.

Bulger later threw a laser to Burton for a touchdown.

"That's Marc, an accurate, quick-release quarterback, and we need him to do that," Spagnuolo said.

Spagnuolo said he purposely stood behind the offensive huddle during the scrimmage so he could watch the quarterbacks.

"I just wanted to see the command in the huddle, the interaction in the huddle," Spagnuolo said. "I thought it was pretty good. I know it'll get better when the lights really turn on."

Running back Steven Jackson had no carries during the live action. He did run three times from about 20 yards out during the red-zone drill, and he might have scored all three times if the play wouldn't have been whistled dead soon after he cleared the line of scrimmage.

Rookie linebacker K.C. Asiodu intercepted a pass by Brock Berlin that was tipped near the line of scrimmage, while Todd Johnson intercepted a Bulger pass intended for McMichael that was deflected.

David Roach also had an interception, picking off an overthrown pass by Berlin.

Left tackle Alex Barron was called for a false start early in the scrimmage, resulting in some boos from the fans.

Rookie quarterback Keith Null completed a touchdown pass to fellow rookie Brooks Foster near the end of the scrimmage.

Safety Eric Bassey sprained his knee during the scrimmage, defensive tackle Adam Carriker sprained his ankle, safety Craig Dahl had a mild hamstring injury and Daniel Fells had trouble breathing.

Spagnuolo said Fells was feeling ill earlier in the day.

After the scrimmage, Spagnuolo canceled the team's practice scheduled for Saturday afternoon.