Rams News

Notes, Quotes, & Anecdotes
June 24, 1998

Rams safety Toby Wright, who underwent major knee surgery this winter, couldn't stand on the sideline watching any longer. Wright sneaked into 9-on-7 drills during the Rams' mid-June minicamp.

The move earned Wright a chewing out from Rams assistant trainer Ron DuBuque.

"He just talked and I just closed him off," Wright said.

The next day, Wright had an ice pack on his knee.

"It's just a precautionary thing," Vermeil said.

Vermeil wasn't upset about Wright's lack of patience.

"I don't want to keep him out of stuff," Vermeil said. "I think he has to push himself now."

Wright found the whole matter amusing.

"Now look what happens," Wright said. "I sneak and do it and now they're like, `Oh, Toby, you can do that.' "

Wright, 27, tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee on the last play of the Rams' Dec. 7 game against the New Orleans Saints.

After five months of rehabilitation, Wright's knee is slowly getting back into shape.

"I'd say it's abut 75 or 80 percent," Wright said. "It's just feeling comfortable with it -- moving and jumping and doing all the things I used to do. It's like getting on a bicycle again."

Wright isn't expected to be cleared for full contact until August. He's planning on being in the starting lineup for the Rams' season opener against New Orleans on Sept. 6.

"I'm there," Wright said. "I plan on being able to slip into the first game, maybe the second. I just want to come back and fly around and be me. I don't want to go out there and be worried about my knee."

Wright has been diligent about his rehabilitation work.

"I haven't missed a day in five months and I work 5 1/2 hours a day," Wright said. "My rehab won't stop even after this minicamp. Everybody else might go home, but I'll still be here doing my rehab."

The knee injury is the latest health problem for Wright, who has battled hamstring injuries in each of the last two seasons.

"I felt like there was a black cat running through the locker room," Wright said. "It was one ordeal after another. Now it's just behind me."

--Offensive tackle Wayne Gandy and running back Craig Heyward were the only two players who had zero participation in the Rams' off-season workout program.

Vermeil said he thought Gandy reported to minicamp in OK shape.

"I think he's fine," Vermeil said. "There are two people on this field who I'm concerned about their weight --me and Ironhead."

Heyward appeared to be at about the same weight even though the coaching staff has given him a "lose weight or get lost" ultimatum.

"I haven't checked," Vermeil said of Heyward's weight. "I'm only going to check one day. That's when he shows up for training camp."

Heyward recently filmed three more soap commercials for Zest. You have to wonder if Heyward's NFL career and acting career might be over if he doesn't show up at training camp markedly thinner.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "The only thing similar between this group and last year's group at the same time is the color of their helmets." -- Rams coach Dick Vermeil, on the state of his team at the club's second minicamp.

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