Saturday, Sep. 12, 2009

Rams have confidence in receiving corps

Even if there is just four of them

ST. LOUIS -- If the St. Louis Rams go to a four-receiver formation against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, their entire wide receivers corps will be on the field.

The Rams have only four wide receivers -- Donnie Avery, Laurent Robinson, Keenan Burton and Derek Stanley -- on their 53-man roster.

They also have two wide receivers -- Sean Walker and Nate Jones -- on their practice squad.

"In some regards, yeah, we're thin," Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo said of his wide receivers corps. "We sat down and we wanted to keep what we thought were the best 53."

So what happens if one or more of the Rams' wide receivers gets hurt against the Seahawks?

"We'll put (offensive coordinator) Pat Shurmur out there," Spagnuolo joked. "No, we're OK. I know you look at it and you see four wideouts.

"Where we're lucky, where we are fortunate here, is we've got some versatile tight ends. You've got Randy (McMichael), you've got Danny Fells. Those guys can run. I don't know that on a game day you ever have more than five anyway. You get two injuries, and when you have five active, you're looking at the same thing."

Rams quarterback Marc Bulger said he wasn't worried about the Rams' lack of wide receivers, pointing to the fact that the "Hail Mary" situation is the only time you might line up with more than four wide receivers.

"I'm not concerned," Bulger said. "It's not too many times you have more than four. There's only one formation where you can have more than four receivers there.

"I know this time of year there are concerns at different positions, where you might have to steal a guy or two. So I think once those get worked out, we might add them. But we feel confident in the guys we have right now at receiver, tight end and running back."

Shurmur also said he didn't think having only four wide receivers was a big deal.

"We probably won't have many four-receiver sets, but we have other role players that can play receiver," Shurmur said. "You always train your offense to use every player on offense. You have tackles that train to be back-up tight ends, you have back-up tight ends that train to be fullbacks, and back-up fullback/tight end types that train to be receivers.

"We've got a lot of moving parts there, a lot of guys that are pretty flexible ability-wise, and really all the role players on this team are demanded to do that."

The Rams' wide receivers are thin in experience as well as numbers.

None of the four wide receivers has more than two years of experience.

The four combined have caught 114 passes for 1,454 yards and six touchdowns.

By comparison, the Seahawks' two starting wide receivers -- T.J. Houshmandzadeh and Nate Burleson -- have combined for 707 receptions for 8,817 yards and 62 touchdowns in their careers.

"The only way you can get experience is play," Burton said. "They're definitely trying to see what we can do. We just have to step up to the challenge. We have to make plays and make blocks, help (running back) Steven (Jackson) on the outside."

Robinson said each of the wide receivers has his own strong suit.

"Donnie Avery has a lot of speed, Keenan Burton has great hands, Derek Stanley is the return guy," Robinson said. "I guess the personnel upstairs has seen what we do every day in practice, and I guess they have a lot of faith in us."

Burton said there is some positives to having only four wide receivers.

"It means you get a lot of reps in practice, so you can work toward Sunday," Burton said. "And, you can lean on each other. I think it makes us closer as a group because there is only four."