Rams News

Players meet, then complain to Vermeil
09/15 12:06 AM

By Jim Thomas
Of the Post-Dispatch Staff

It looks as if the Rams will lead the league in at least one category this season: players-only meetings.
They held their second such meeting in 72 hours Monday at Rams Park.
"We're trying to create some togetherness," offensive tackle Wayne Gandy said. "Get everybody to play for each other. . . . You're looking for any edge. You're looking for any kind of solution, because it seems like we're only one or two things away from crossing that hill. We're looking for anything to try to get over it."
Their near comebacks from big deficits against New Orleans and Minnesota showed a lot of heart.
But Gandy added: "There's something that we're missing. I think if we ever capture it, we're going to be a pretty good team."
One thing the players would like to be missing is some time on the practice field and in the meeting room. So after the players held a discussion amongst themselves in the Rams' main meeting room Monday, they dispatched NFL Players Association representative D'Marco Farr to fetch coach Dick Vermeil.
Vermeil then joined the meeting and heard some of the players' complaints.
"We discussed the length of practices, and the length of meetings in the morning, and the length of walk-throughs," Vermeil said. "We discussed all those things. They wanted me to know what was on their mind in regard to our normal routine. It was a good discussion."
Gandy said the players suggested to Vermeil that they might be a little peppier at the start of games with a little less work during the week.
The Rams have trailed 14-0 entering the second quarter in both games. They have been outgained 188 yards to 70 in the first quarter, been minus 2 in turnovers, and committed seven penalties for 67 yards compared to one penalty for 15 yards by the opposition.
"Maybe with a little more rest, we can come out a little crisper," Gandy said. "We're spotting good teams points - 14 this week, 24 last week. We're fighting back. But it's like we're fighting a championship boxing match - you lose the first four rounds, and you're trying to make up the last eight.
"Maybe we can change that. Maybe if we can get off the (practice) field, 10, 15, 20 minutes earlier - getting off your feet - maybe that's it."
At his Monday media session, Vermeil was asked if there was any room for compromise on the team's daily routine.
"Sure, there's room for adjustment," Vermeil said. "I'm not going to jeopardize what it takes to have them prepared to play, but there's always things you can adjust."
On Friday, the players also held a players-only meeting, in large part discussing how the team could improve upon its play after the disappointing loss to New Orleans. But a persistent theme at that Friday session - and since the first couple of weeks of training camp - has been Vermeil's grueling daily regimen of practices and meetings.
One player told the Post-Dispatch at the end of August that "you might see a revolt" if the team started slowly and Vermeil didn't lighten the daily regimen. Gandy was asked if he felt the team got its message across Monday to Vermeil.
"I'm one of those guys, that I anticipate the worst," Gandy said. "If you give me a bone, I'll take it. But he is the coach. He has his way. He went to the Super Bowl basically going this way."
But that was nearly 20 years ago. Can that approach still work?
"I was 8 then," Gandy said, laughing. "It's his philosophy. I understand coaches have their own philosophies. And when you're not winning, it's hard to go in there and say, 'Hey Coach, we need to change this, change that.'
"I'm not going to sit here and second-guess him. Because we have been playing hard. But the most important part of the game seems to be the first 10 minutes, and that's where we're lacking."

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