Rams News

Furrer will get shot at QB in preseason

08/02

By Jim Thomas
Of the Post-Dispatch

MACOMB, Ill. -- Dick Vermeil hasn't decided when it will happen, but backup quarterback Will Furrer will start one of the Rams' four exhibition games this month.
``I definitely want to give Will Furrer a start,'' Vermeil said Sunday. ``Chances are it'll either be the second or third game.''
Vermeil said Furrer, 30, deserves a chance to play with the Rams' first unit against another team's first unit as part of the evaluation process.
``He's been around long enough,'' Vermeil said. ``We've seen him do well in practice and all that kind of stuff, and in the fourth quarter against Dallas a year ago. Let's put him in there and play.''
Furrer hasn't thrown a pass in a regular-season game since 1995, when he was a Houston Oiler. But he was the Rams' top-rated quarterback in preseason play a year ago, when he completed 17 of 32 passes for 258 yards, two touchdowns and a 100.8 rating. Both TDs came in a nationally televised game in Dallas.
Furrer is battling veteran Steve Bono and newcomer Kurt Warner for the two backup jobs behind Tony Banks. Vermeil said he will use no more than three quarterbacks in any exhibition game.
June swoon: Vermeil said the first interception thrown by Tony Banks on Saturday against Indianapolis was the result of a busted pattern by running back June Henley, not intended receiver Eddie Kennison.
Vermeil said Henley ``blew the pattern, so it turned a defender loose underneath. When the running back went in the wrong direction -- up the field rather than in the flat -- it freed up the corner to fall back.''
Right into the flight path of the pass.
Ironhead & McNeil: Vermeil said there were no new developments regarding his two AWOL players -- fullback Craig ``Ironhead'' Heyward and cornerback Ryan McNeil. Vermeil said he hasn't talked to Heyward since Heyward failed to show up for a scheduled weigh-in.
For those who think it odd that a head coach wouldn't contact a missing player, Vermeil offered this explanation: ``All my time visiting with Ironhead about certain things has been wasted time, because he says all the right things all the time. . . . he just doesn't do it.''
Vermeil did speak Sunday with Rams Vice President Jay Zygmunt about salary cap ramifications involving Heyward's status. Contrary to an earlier report in the Post-Dispatch, the Rams would be charged only $325,000 this season of the $975,000 remaining in Heyward's signing bonus if they cut him. They are hit with the entire $975,000 this year only if they trade him.
Vermeil had a rather surprising assessment of Heyward's replacement in the starting lineup.
``Derrick Harris is playing (fullback) better than it was played at any time last year,'' Vermeil said. ``I could show it to you on tape. He's playing it better. Now, if Ironhead was playing at his All-Pro level, I don't think Derrick could play it at that level. But at the level Ironhead played it last year, Derrick is playing that position better right now.''
Harris didn't play a down last season. Vermeil said his biggest concern about that position isn't Harris, but finding a reliable backup for Harris.

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