Rams News

Carter, Lyght, Styles also suffer injuries against Buffalo

09/20/98

By Jim Thomas
Of the Post-Dispatch Staff

The injuries to Isaac Bruce (hamstring) and Greg Hill (broken leg) aren't the only worries for coach Dick Vermeil and the Rams medical staff.
Kevin Carter, arguably the team's best defensive lineman, did not play in the second half because of a calf injury after recording two sacks and a pass breakup in the opening half.
Todd Lyght, the Rams' top cornerback, left in the third quarter with a bruised thigh.
And linebacker Lorenzo Styles, replacing the injured Roman Phifer (hamstring) in the starting lineup, had to be replaced because of a groin injury.
Lyght suffered his injury on Buffalo's second offensive play of the game, when he took a helmet to the thigh. Almost immediately thereafter, he started telling backup cornerback Taje Allen to stay in the game mentally because Lyght knew he wouldn't be able to finish.
``It just got too fatigued and too tight, so I had to take myself out of the game,'' Lyght said.
Carter suffered his injury rushing the quarterback. ``I lost strength in it and can't really push off on it, but it's just a strain,'' Carter said.
Sack-a-rama: OK, a couple of them were cheapies, with Rob Johnson scrambling out of bounds for no gain more than once. But the Rams had nine sacks Sunday, including two each by Carter, D'Marco Farr and Charlie Clemons.
Johnson was sacked eight times the week before against Miami, so the Rams came into the game thinking they would get plenty of face time.
``We knew he scrambled a lot,'' Farr said. ``So we wanted to keep the (rush) lanes defined and make him run into people.''
Then, Farr added, with a chuckle: ``He ran into a few people today.''
The last person he ran into, Rams middle linebacker Eric Hill, knocked Johnson out of the game on a quarterback sneak in the fourth quarter. Johnson was woozy with what might have been a mild concussion. Johnson is the third quarterback in as many games to leave a Rams game injured.
Billy Joe Hobert of New Orleans suffered a season-ending Achilles' tendon injury in Game 1. Minnesota's Brad Johnson suffered a broken leg in Game. 2.
``We're not trying to hurt anybody,'' Farr said. ``But that's what we practice: Get upfield and get some hits on the QB.''
Road warriors: Sunday's victory was the fourth in a row for the Rams on the road.
``That's the best record on the road in the '90s, isn't it?'' coach Dick Vermeil said, in a sarcastic spinoff on the Rams' status as the NFL's losingest franchise in the 1990s. ``Now we have to find a way to win one at home.''
The Rams have lost seven in a row at home.
Ram-blings: Farr has at least one sack in the Rams' last five regular-season games. . . . Tight end Roland Williams and running back June Henley joined Bruce on the Rams' Sunday inactive list. . . . The crowd of 65,199 was the smallest for a Bills' home opener since 1984.

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