Rams training camp schedule/Rams spend part of 2015 training camp in LA

@nwagoner: Quick search shows #Rams had 14 open practices in St. Louis last year. There are nine this year.

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Rams will spend part of 2015 training camp in LA

By Jim Thomas

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football/professional/rams-will-spend-part-of-training-camp-in-la/article_b7db9ff2-b138-5718-9246-b005629aa58b.html

As expected, the Rams are indeed spending a few days in the Los Angeles area this August as part of the 2015 training camp schedule released by the team Tuesday.

As part of what could be the Rams’ last training camp in St. Louis, they will train in the Oxnard-Thousand Oaks area of California, just northwest of Los Angeles. Coming off their Aug. 14 preseason opener at Oakland, the team will practice Aug. 17 and 18 with the Dallas Cowboys in Oxnard, practice Wednesday Aug. 19 there by themselves, and then head back to St. Louis.

“We visited with the Cowboys months ago; I visited with Jason (Garrett),” coach Jeff Fisher said, referring to his Dallas counterpart. “Once the preseason schedule came out it made sense for us to just kind of shoot down after the Friday night game with Oakland to LA.

“It kind of shortens up camp a little bit, but it’s the first time that this group has been through that experience, and to have the opportunity to practice against another team. A good football team. I think we will benefit from it.”

This is the first time a Fisher-coached Rams team has had camp workouts with another squad. But Fisher did so frequently during his long tenure with the Tennessee Titans, including practices against the Rams in 2000 in Macomb, Ill., and in Nashville against the Rams in 2008.

“Hopefully, I think big picture it’ll help us,” Fisher said. “We wouldn’t do it if we didn’t think it was gonna be beneficial. What it does for you, depending on the play time for the starters in the first preseason game, it creates another opportunity for them to compete and get better aside from preseason games. You’re in a full-padded practice against another opponent.”

But with thousands of Rams fans in the St. Louis area worried about the potential relocation of their team to LA, why train in the Los Angeles area of all places for a few days?

“The two are not related,” Fisher said. “The Cowboys have practiced against somebody just about every year. The facility is such that it welcomes another team. We talked to a number of teams besides the Cowboys about working together with them and the Cowboys was really the only one that worked out.”

All of that may be true, but the appearance in LA seems less than coincidental for a Rams franchise that may be wanting to stimulate fan support on the West Coast for 2016. That’s the earliest the team could play at the Inglewood, Calif., site where club owner Stan Kroenke plans to build a stadium.

As for the part of training camp held in St. Louis, rookies report July 27 with veterans reporting July 29. The first full-scale practice open to the public is Friday, July 31 at 3:30 p.m. at the Rams’ facility in Earth City.

The Rams will hold a scrimmage Friday, Aug. 7 at Lindenwood University.

Here is the schedule of practices at Rams Park (and Lindenwood) open to the public:

DATE—————TIME

Friday, July 31——–Practice 3:30 p.m.

Saturday, Aug. 1—–Practice 3:30 p.m.

Sunday, Aug. 2——-Practice 5:30 p.m.

Tuesday, Aug. 4——Practice 3:30 p.m.

Thursday, Aug. 6—–Practice 5:30 p.m.

Friday, Aug. 7———Scrimmage 5 p.m. (Lindenwood)

Sunday, Aug. 9——-Practice 3:30 p.m.

Monday, Aug. 10—–Practice 3:30 p.m.

Tuesday, Aug. 11—- Practice 5:30 p.m.

For more information visit the Rams’ website at http://www.stlouisrams.com.