8/18: reporters on Oxnard

Brawl brings early end to Rams-Cowboys practice

Jim Thomas

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football/professional/brawl-brings-early-end-to-rams-cowboys-practice/article_417b3cd3-4d83-5193-b06a-225daf433843.html

OXNARD, CALIF. • The Rams’ starting defense was backed up near the goal line during a red zone drill against the Dallas starting offense Tuesday when linebacker James Laurinaitis started calling out the defensive signals.

Suddenly, Laurinaitis noticed he was the only member of the Rams’ front seven still on the field. In fact, Laurinaitis and cornerback Janoris Jenkins were the only Rams defenders there.

“They were about to snap the ball, and I was the only guy over there,” Laurinaitis said. “That’s why I kept kicking the ball — keep taking the penalty over and over until I get my guys back. That was a first.”

Where did everybody else go?

Over to the adjacent field at the Cowboys’ practice field where a mega-brawl was breaking out between members of the Rams’ offense and the Dallas defense.

So was the defense running to break up the brawl, or join in?

“There’s a fine line between breaking things up and getting in on it,” defensive end Chris Long said. “So, you know …”

Call it a little bit of both. Before all was said and done, there were about four or five spinoff brawls. Much, but not all, of the scuffling took place by the fence and bleachers filled with “Los Angeles” Rams fans.

Including Cowboys backers, there were 5,843 fans in attendance Tuesday, down 2,000 from Monday.

(So perhaps interest in the LA Rams here already is waning.)

Things simmered down just long enough for the Cowboys to finish the final 20 minutes of practice by themselves, working on the 2-minute drill, on one field. Meanwhile, the Rams sat on turf on the other field, cooling off.

The Rams assembled in a team huddle for a while, and then were hustled onto their team busses. Their team hotel here is about 25 minutes away from the Cowboys’ training camp site. The Rams were scheduled to practice on their own here Wednesday (the Cowboys have a day off).

But saying his team was tired, coach Jeff Fisher canceled Wednesday’s practice. The Rams will have a walk-through Wednesday here, visit troops at the Point Mugua Naval Air Station, and then fly back to St. Louis.

“Well, we got through a day and three-quarters and we had really good work,” Fisher said afterwards. “And then unfortunately, things got out of hand and we shut it down. It’s unfortunate, there’s no excuse for it. We can’t blame it on anybody, it just happened. One thing led to another and it happened.

“Fortunately nobody got hurt. … There’s no place for that in our game. There’s no place for that from a standpoint of being role models in this game and representing this game for kids. That’s not how this game goes. So we’re sorry about that.”

If there was going to be a brawl it figured to be on the other field where the Rams’ defense worked against the Dallas offense on Monday and Tuesday. That’s where Rams cornerback Trumaine Johnson engaged in almost non-stop trash-talking for two days with the Dallas offense.

During a one-on-one red zone drill, Johnson’s jaw-jacking intensified with Cowboys receivers and even quarterback Tony Romo. It reached the point at which Cowboys star Dez Bryant, who sat out these practices because of a hamstring injury, lined up over Johnson ready to run a pass pattern.

Cowboys offensive coordinator Scott Linehan, a former Rams head coach, had to step in to get Bryant off the line of scrimmage.

Instead, the brawling took place maybe half an hour later on the other field. It looked as if the first scrum started when first Randy Gregory and then Jeff Heath of the Cowboys’ defense took down Rams running back Tre Mason — and took him down hard.

Tempers flared. And just when it looked like things had calmed down from that scuffle, Rams offensive tackle Greg Robinson and Mason went after Gregory. That led to brawl No. 2. And the players just kept brawling. Before it was over, Jared Cook and Eugene Sims took blindside shots at Dallas players.

Rams first-round draft pick Todd Gurley, who remains limited to individual drills as he finishes off his rehab from knee surgery, was right in the middle of the fracas, attempting to pull down a Dallas player. Rookie corner Imoan Claiborne punched Bryant with a right jab to the face.

Even Afghanistan war hero Daniel Rodriguez of the Rams was seen tossing the helmet of Cowboys defensive back J.J. Wilcox into the stands.

“We didn’t come here to do that,” Long said. “They’re very competitive; we’re very competitive. There’s a lot riding on everything for all of us. And when you’re out here for two days, I’m not gonna say it’s inevitable, but things happen.”

Things certainly “happened” Tuesday.

RAM-BLINGS

Not practicing for the Rams Tuesday were offensive linemen Rodger Saffold and Cody Wichmann; linebacker Korey Toomer; cornerback Brandon McGee; defensive tackle Doug Worthington; wide receiver Isiah Ferguson, and of course, linebacker Daren Bates and cornerback E.J. Gaines.• Rams staff members will distribute lunches to senior citizens at the Clyde C. Jordan Center in East St. Louis on Wednesday, Friday, and Aug. 26.• Wearing a cast on his left hand, tight end Brad Smelley has returned to practice.

• Craig and Laura Ebel of Victorville, Calif., celebrated their 24th wedding anniversary Monday by watching the Rams practice with the Cowboys in Oxnard.

rfl wrote:

Never seen so little substantial interest in a preseason.

I have to differ with you on that a bit. My impression is that materially, just in terms of the amount there is to post from a combination of local and national sources and camp reports, it’s no different from the last couple of years and quite possibly a bit more active than previous years.

Cowboys sessions beneficial for road-weary Rams

Jim Thomas

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football/professional/cowboys-sessions-beneficial-for-road-weary-rams/article_d1dff8da-5120-5683-b1ca-c6d388c129f4.html

OXNARD, CALIF. • It may fall into the category of oh, by the way. But before the brawl that ended it all, and beyond the “LA Rams” pep rally aspects of the practices with Dallas, the Rams did get good work with the Cowboys for two days.

“That’s a good football team over there,” coach Jeff Fisher said at the conclusion of Tuesday’s practice. “They won 12 games (in 2014). We’re a young team. We matched up and we got some things done. There were some great 1-on-1 battles and some great team efforts and great special teams work.”

There was also one great brawl that brought an early end to the proceedings Tuesday evening. This wasn’t a case of just a couple of players losing their temper, flailing at each other until teammates came to break it up.

It spread like a California wildfire, spilling over to a new area just when peace was restored in one spot. But there will be no NFL investigation and no player fines from league headquarters as a result of the melee.

On-field player conduct at practice is considered a club matter by the NFL, because training camp and team practices are team operated. Judging from his comments Tuesday, it doesn’t sound like Fisher is contemplating fines or discipline.

“There were probably a number of things that happened out there,” Fisher said. “Some not intentional; some intentional. We had a practice tempo that we had agreed upon, and for the most part we were OK.

“Both teams have young players that are trying to make the team, and sometimes they go beyond what’s expected or what the rest of the guys are doing. So we’ll look at it, but we’ll move on. I’m glad nobody got hurt.”

Even with the wild way the joint practices ended, Fisher said he would love to come back and practice against the Cowboys again. Because the practices were intense, Fisher told his players and told reporters it was like squeezing a fifth preseason game into the team’s camp schedule.

“I believe we got better these last two days,” linebacker James Laurinaitis said. “I really do. I think we got some really good work in against obviously a playoff team.”

A couple of the Cowboys’ big names – wide receiver Dez Bryant and left tackle Tyron Smith – didn’t take part in the joint practices because of injuries. (Although Bryant did make himself, uh, available for the brawl.) But there was still plenty of star power on the field for the Cowboys working against the Rams.

“We were just star-struck to be on the field with them,” defensive end Chris Long joked.

Well, Tony Romo is one of the game’s elite quarterbacks, tight end Jason Witten probably is a future Hall of Famer, and even without Smith the Cowboys have a talented offensive line.

But no matter who was on the other side of the line of scrimmage, the fact that it was somebody different was beneficial for the Rams.

“When you do for instance things like one-on-ones and all that, when you do it against your own team you start to learn the tendencies of your own guys,” Laurinaitis said. “You know what routes they’re really good at, and what they’re not good at.

“When you go out here blind against guys that you don’t see every day, it makes you get that much better at what you’re doing.”

Beyond that, as quarterback Nick Foles pointed out at the start of the trip, being on the road together can be a team-bonding experience. The Rams, who were scheduled to arrive back in St. Louis on Wednesday night, have been out of town for a week.

Even with the work accomplished against the Cowboys, the Rams haven’t practiced much in the last week and a half. They had a scheduled players’ day off Aug. 12. Then came a travel day to Oakland, followed by the Friday preseason opener against the Raiders. Last Saturday was a players’ day off; Sunday was a walk-through and film review.

Then came the Monday and Tuesday practices with Dallas. So it came as a surprise that Fisher called off Wednesday’s practice in Oxnard, which was supposed to be a Rams-only session. After a Wednesday walk-through in Oxnard, followed by a visit to nearby Point Mugu Naval Air Station, the team flew back to St. Louis.

When they take the field Thursday evening at Rams Park, it will mark only their third practice in nine days. That will be followed by a scheduled day off Friday, and then a travel day Saturday to Nashville for Sunday night’s preseason contest with the Tennessee Titans.

“We’ve got a tired team,” Fisher said, explaining his decision to cancel Wednesday’s work. “We’re gonna emphasize recovery.”

Perhaps it’s as much recovery from being road weary, as being practice weary. Even the trip to Oxnard was an hour commute for the team each day.

But Laurinaitis wasn’t complaining about the infrequency of practices.

“I mean, that’s what Coach does best,” Laurinaitis said. “He always finds a way to kind of get us our legs back. He always says you come into camp in the best shape of your life, and then you kind of break down. How can we get back up to that? So that’s just kind of one of those things — he’s trying to get our legs back to where we were.”