Rams News

Furrers had postgame celebration
at hospital delivery room

08/09

By Jim Thomas
Of the Post-Dispatch

MACOMB, Ill. -- Following the Rams' 20-13 preseason loss to Denver on Saturday night, quarterback Will Furrer and his wife, Kelli:
A) Checked into a downtown hotel.
B) Checked out the nightclub scene on Laclede's Landing.
C) Checked into the hospital.
If you answered C, go directly to Missouri Baptist Hospital and meet the newest member of the Furrer family, Caroline Grace Furrer.
Kelli's due date was Aug. 15. Alas, the Rams play preseason game No. 2 that night in San Diego. As Furrer said earlier in the week, he didn't want to be in San Diego with the team and ``miss all the fireworks.''
So he and Kelli basically made an appointment to have a baby. Following the Denver game, in which Furrer completed five of seven passes for 42 yards, he and Kelli headed for Missouri Baptist. They checked in around midnight, medical personnel induced labor . . . and welcome to St. Louis, Caroline Grace!
``Kelli and I both thought it would be the best time because I would be around,'' Furrer said. ``I'd have a 24-hour period off.''
Following the Denver game, the Rams didn't have to be in Macomb until a midnight curfew Sunday night. Furrer is in a tight battle for one of two backup quarterback jobs behind Tony Banks. Baby or not, he didn't want to miss a day of work if he could avoid it.
``I guess I could pull a deal where you say, `Well, my wife's going to have a baby, and when she has it, Rams, you take care,' '' Furrer said.
``But that's not really how we're approaching it. I'm not in a position where I can make my own rules yet. We're thankful to have a job -- we're also thankful to be able to have a baby.''
Caroline Grace is the second child for the Furrers. They also have an 18-month-old son, Charlie.

Ironhead update: Jack Mills, the agent for Craig ``Ironhead'' Heyward, met with Rams executive vice president Jay Zygmunt on Friday and Saturday in St. Louis to discuss the AWOL fullback's situation. There is a chance Heyward will return to training camp in the next week or so if he's close to coach Dick Vermeil's prescribed weight of 260. But even then, Heyward would still have to make the team.

Ram-blings: In keeping with his desired goal to have a more active role in the offense, Vermeil said he called more than a half-dozen plays against the Broncos. . . . Vermeil said the Rams were lucky to make it out of the game with a healthy Ray Agnew because of an illegal ``cut'' block by the Broncos at Agnew's knees. . . . After reviewing game film, Vermeil liked the work of center Mike Gruttadauria and defensive linemen Kevin Carter, Jay Williams and Jeff Zgonina. . . . New punter Rick Tuten averaged 47 yards on four punts with a net average (subtracting returns) of 36.5 yards.

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