It's scrimmage time for the Rams.
Halleluia. Now, the team just needs to get running back Steven Jackson to camp.
The St. Louis Rams have scheduled their first intra-squad scrimmage of their sumemr training camp that began at Concordia University. After a week of practices, the break is a welcome diversion for the players. Today's scrimmage will be the first opportunity for full contact though that contact comes with some stipulations.
The designated first-team offense and defense won't be tackling and are expected to participate in two dozen plays before calling it a day.
"We are managing with that part of the group,"
Linehan said. "They have been through the phases that we are trying to put the young guys through already and trying to get them better too."
Soon after the first string leaves the field, the real hitting will begin. The second and third teams will go "live,"
hitting and tackling at full speed with the only player off limits being the quarterback.
While running back Jackson still has yet to report to camp, his teammates are ready for some sort of action leading up to real game action. After today's scrimmage, the team gets a day off Sunday before returning for two practices Monday.
"You kind of break camp into parts and the first part is almost (over),"
coach Scott Linehan said. "We have a lot of offense, defense and special teams in and now we are getting to the point where we are repeating things, which is good. It helps things so we can get into a little bit of a rhythm."
The Rams will travel to Tennessee to spend the week scrimmaging against the Titans before the first preseason game on Aug. 9. Although the Rams have been practicing in pads for the majority of the time, they haven't been tackling at full speed.
For someone like Adam Carriker, who was limited for most of the offseason by a shoulder injury, the chance to get into real action will be a welcome respite from the grind of camp.
"It's a little more similar to a game situation,"
Carriker said. "We aren't quite there yet but you get to play football, run around and have fun and that's what it's all about."
Linehan said the goal is to get each group about 25 snaps though no score will be kept and the teams will work situations such as in the red zone and goal line.
And though the scrimmage will give the Rams an opportunity to get some real work in, it will be just a warm-up to what awaits next week in Tennessee.
"You go through the stages,"
Linehan said. "The two-a-day part where it's just Rams on Rams and everything about offense versus defense, that still gets your competitive juices flowing but there's nothing like playing another team with a different emblem on their helmet."
