Fisher Arranges FaceTime with Bailey

Friday Wrap-Up: Fisher Arranges FaceTime with Bailey

Myles Simmons

http://www.stlouisrams.com/news-and-events/article-1/Friday-Wrap-Up-Fisher-Arranges-FaceTime-with-Bailey/dcf3c811-a172-4eb8-bea0-a69d6c6615cb

Throughout the past few weeks, Stedman Bailey has constantly been in the hearts and minds of his teammates. And prior to Thursday night’s 31-23 victory over the Buccaneers, the players received a pleasant surprise when they heard from the man himself.

Head coach Jeff Fisher arranged for a FaceTime call during an afternoon meeting at the team hotel, which was the first time the whole team had gotten to see him since the shooting.

“Yeah, we had it set up and it was really special,” Fisher said at his Friday press conference. “Guys didn’t anticipate it. He wished them well.”

“It was awesome to see him,” linebacker James Laurinaitis said after Thursday’s game. “He let us know that he’s been appreciative of all the prayers.”

“He wanted to let us know he was appreciative and wanted us to go out here and kick some tail,” Laurinaitis continued. “It was really uplifting for the guys to be able to see him. You hear so much, but to actually be able to see his face, and see him smile, I’m not sure words can describe the emotion in that room.”

Getting a chance to have that experience was clearly meaningful for all of his teammates.

“He’s doing quite well,” tight end Jared Cook said. “If he’s here or not he’s a part of this family. We love him and we’re praying for him. It’s an unfortunate situation that he went through that had nothing to do with him. He gave us a little pregame message, so I think we took the initiative to go out there and play for him.”

No two players have shown just how much they miss Bailey more than his fellow wide receivers, Tavon Austin and Kenny Britt. Both have sported No. 12 jerseys in practice, and for pregame the wideouts ran out together holding up one finger with one hand and two with the other to honor their teammate.

“He’s been on our mind since the incident,” Britt said. “He’s really never left our minds, and you can see that in practice — we wear his jersey every day and we just want people to know, and let him know, that he’s still out there with us.”

With the weekend off, a few players are going to Miami to visit Bailey — Austin among them.

“A couple of us are going to go down, go see our brother, go show him some love, and then hopefully he can come back up here,” Austin said.

With Austin and Bailey first playing together at West Virginia before the Rams took both in the 2013 draft, the two have been close for years. That comes through every time Austin has answered a question about him since the incident.

“I represent for ‘12’ every day,” Austin said. “It’s never going anywhere until the day I step off this field. He’s going to be with me. That’s how I’m always going to feel about it.”

Austin said he’s been communicating either with Bailey or members of his family almost daily, adding that it’s clear how well he’s coming along. That’s part of why Austin wanted to honor him once again by putting up “12” with his hands after scoring his second touchdown.

“He was texting us and all, telling us to go get it, score one for him,” Austin said. “One of [my touchdowns] was just for him.”

Seeing Bailey before the game may just have given the Rams a lift and a slight extra edge to go out and perform at a high level. It was clearly an emotional event that won’t soon be forgotten.

“It was something I had never experienced before,” Fisher said. “It was really special. Really special.”