Rams, who is out who is recovering, including Laurinaitis & Long

Chris Long is no longer a ‘ghost’

By Jim Thomas

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football/professional/chris-long-is-no-longer-a-ghost/article_9794904c-30a1-5bb5-a668-2969b8d4f5c1.html

When you’re sidelined by injury for a lengthy period of time, it’s almost like you disappear in an NFL locker room.

Rams defensive end Chris Long, who played in 97 consecutive games to start his career, never experienced that feeling until he suffered a foot injury in the season opener against Minnesota. Surgery was necessary to repair two torn tendons in his left foot, and then the long rehab process began.

“I’m telling you, it’s weird when you’re walking around without a helmet and a jersey for seven, eight weeks,” Long said. “You feel like a ghost sometimes.”

It has actually been nine-plus weeks since the injury. But Long’s time as a ghost are over. He returned to practice Wednesday for the first time since the injury. It’s very doubtful he plays this week against Denver, but he could be starting a new consecutive games streak after that.

“There’s a lot you don’t take into account when you’re coming off a surgery and you’ve got to rehab and strengthen,” Long said. “So it was great to get back out there with my teammates. It was just really exciting to have a jersey on. I felt like I was part of the team again.”

Long’s participation in practices this week has been limited to individual periods, when the defensive linemen do drill work on their own. The next step, of course, is “team” — or 11-on-11 work — followed by returning to game action.

Long was hesitant to pinpoint exactly when he might return to game action from the injured reserve/designated for return list. He has a maximum practice window of three weeks before the team must decide whether to put him on the 53-man roster or keep him on IR for the rest of the season.

On Wednesday, coach Jeff Fisher expressed confidence that Long would return prior to the completion of the three weeks. So most likely, his first game back will either be the Nov. 23 game at San Diego or the Nov. 30 home contest against Oakland.

“You never know, but I can’t make predictions on how I’m gonna feel one day to the next,” Long said. “It’s a process, and I’m just heavy into the rehab still, while I’m trying to get out there on the practice field. It just felt good to be out there with my teammates.”

The feeling was mutual.

“It’s great to see our brother back out there on the field,” defensive tackle Kendall Langford said. “He’s looking good. He’s feeling good. So we’re hoping for the best.”

Being sidelined for more than two months wasn’t easy, so much so Long nearly drove himself nuts during his down time.

“You know, I was really worried about that,” he said. “And there’ve been some tough times. But the toughest is knowing you can’t help your teammates, and I just want to help us win.

“Even if I can’t help my team win on the field, I like to be able to help off the field and just be available to my teammates and my coaches, because it’s important to me.”

But as the weeks rolled by, one indication that Long was growing stir crazy came on Twitter. Namely his always interesting tweets on @JOEL9ONE got even more “out there” than usual.

For example, he has power rankings of flightless birds, months of the year, and sharks.

By the way, the bull shark was No. 1, and he teased his rankings on months of the year by tweeting, in part: ”There are some surprises.”

He established playoff seedings for athletes with flattop haircuts, and had random tweets such as:

• “Ever forget what year it is? Me neither.”

• ”Listening to ‘Seminole Wind’ in the bat cave with my bulldogs.”

“I’m an ‘out there’ guy,” Long tried to explain. “You’re bored. I’m not as tired as I usually am from work so I’ve got a lot of energy I’ve gotta get out.”

Did he ever have a moment of self-awareness, where he realized his tweets were getting out of hand?

“Yeah, when I started power-ranking like the months of the year, and stuff,” he said. “You just start losing your mind on there. My Instagram posts got weirder and weirder. I did a lot of photo-shopping and stuff like that.

“I spent a lot of time in the training room, so you just sit there and you tweet, and it can get monotonous so you get a lot of stupid ideas in your head.”

But as Long gets closer and closer to playing, things will return to “normal” soon on Twitter. He should join his teammates on the field on game day some time this month. It might just be enough to push November to the top of the power rankings.

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football/professional/rams-report-team-works-outdoors-on-friday-ready-for-broncos/article_bf7743f5-2ef1-5feb-ad4a-fa11a29f40a0.html

INJURY REPORT

Cornerback Marcus Roberson, who suffered an ankle injury in the Rams’ road victory over San Francisco two weeks ago, has been ruled out of Sunday’s game.

Others sitting out Friday’s workout were linebacker Daren Bates (groin), defensive back Lamarcus Joyner (groin), wide receiver Damian Williams (hamstring) and defensive tackle Alex Carrington (quadriceps). Carrington is listed as questionable for Sunday while the rest are doubtful. Linebacker Will Herring (foot) was limited in practice Friday and is probable.

Also listed probable are starting middle linebacker James Laurinaitis (foot) and starting defensive end William Hayes (fibula). Both were full participants in Friday’s workout.

With starting running back Ronnie Hillman out with a foot injury, the Broncos’ Montee Ball could see some action Sunday in front of the hometown fans. Ball, who starred at Timberland High in Wentzville, has missed the last five games with a groin injury but has practiced this week and is listed probable for Sunday.

Hillman leads the Broncos with 378 rushing yards and has scored four touchdowns. Last week, second-year back C.J. Anderson enjoyed a career day when he rushed for 90 yards and added 73 receiving yards. It was his thrilling 51-yard catch and run for a touchdown late in the first half that helped the Broncos erase a 10-6 deficit and go on to a 41-17 rout of the Raiders in Oakland.

Ball, the team’s second-round draft pick in 2013, ran for 559 yards with four touchdowns as a rookie. This season, he started three of the first four games, rushing for 172 yards and a touchdown with nine receptions for 62 yards.

Tight end Virgil Green (knee) did not practice and is doubtful for Sunday. The rest of the players on the Denver injury report _ tackle Ryan Clady (groin), tackle Paul Cornick (shoulder), guard Orlando Franklin (knee), safety Quinton Carter (knee), linebacker Steven Johnson (ankle) and running back Juwan Thompson (knee) _ practiced on Friday and are probable for Sunday.