[Elvis]

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/p ... -with-rams

Todd Gurley participates in first full practice with Rams

Nick Wagoner, ESPN Staff Writer

EARTH CITY, Mo. -- Perhaps it was fitting that St. Louis Rams running back Todd Gurley's first two reps in team drills consisted of a fake handoff to him to set up a play-action pass and a toss sweep to the left that got him into open space.

Both figure to be staples of the Rams' offense in 2015 and beyond. For now, they were just the next step on Gurley's road to recovery from the torn left ACL he suffered in November of last year.

“I haven’t done nothing like this in like, nine months, 10 months," Gurley said. "So it’s been a while. I’m definitely excited about it.”



Rams coach Jeff Fisher and his staff informed Gurley that he'd been cleared to return to practice in seven-on-seven and team drills a couple days ago. Since, he'd been champing at the bit to get back on the field and do more than just the individual work and side sessions with athletic trainers that had been his staple in this training camp.

After doing some light work in seven-on-seven, the Rams installed Gurley with the first-team offense at about 5:18 p.m. CT. Quarterback Nick Foles faked a handoff to Gurley and threw downfield. On the next play, Gurley got the ball on a pitch, darting to the left.

To Fisher's eye, all was well for Gurley on his first day involved in all aspects of practice.

"Todd was excited to get in there and get a few offensive reps and get challenged with protections and formations and all that stuff," Fisher said. "He was good and we'll just continue to probably do this for the next few days and then we'll just add reps for him as we move forward."

As expected, Gurley wore the yellow "no contact" beanie on his helmet after receiver Brian Quick removed it permanently Tuesday morning. Quick handed it off to Gurley in a short but quick ceremony.

"It makes sense that defensive guys recognize that Todd's not quite ready yet but he's getting close," Fisher said. "It's good to have him back on the field. We got him a few reps with team."

While Quick, who Fisher said is cleared from his shoulder injury and will play Saturday night against Indianapolis, hated the yellow beanie, Gurley actually likes it better than some of the alternatives.

“The good thing about that is you can’t see it," Gurley said. "In college we’d wear red jerseys. It was definitely better than wearing a red jersey or anything like that.”

Soon enough, Gurley will be able to wear a helmet without any unnecessary accessories and a normal jersey like the rest of his teammates. It remains to be seen when that will happen. But for now, progress is progress and Tuesday was a sweep left in the right direction.

[TSFH Fan]

On the one hand, I can't wait to see him in action. On the other hand, I hope they go slow with him.

On the off topic, I'm glad he didn't go running into a fight in Oxnard with a yellow beanie on.

[The Ripper]

Cleared to practice doesn't mean that he will be active at the start of the season since he's the franchise RB no need to risk further injury. The safe play is to wait till the bye week but unfortunately the schedule may not allow him to sit that long.

[Hacksaw]

F the schedule. Keep him healthy. Win the game in '16.

[Elvis]

They'll play him when he's ready. If he gets hurt we'll think he was rushed. It won't mean he was, that's just how it works...

[Elvis]

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football ... v0.twitter

Beanie's off, Quick's on at wide receiver



Brian Quick has spent a lot of time this summer wearing the yellow beanie on his helmet. Every day, once the Rams went to 7-on-7 or 11-on-11 work in practice, he was handed the yellow beanie by a member of the team’s athletic trainer staff.

Quick grew to hate the yellow beanie. At Rams Park, the yellow beanie means no contact allowed — the defense has to keep hands off of anyone wearing the yellow beanie in practice.

But on Tuesday, Quick cut all ties with the yellow beanie. He’s done with it and never wants to see it again.

That’s because his surgically repaired shoulder is good to go. In fact, coach Jeff Fisher indicated after practice that Quick will play in Saturday’s preseason game vs. Indianapolis at the Edward Jones Dome with an eye toward being on the field in the regular-season opener Sept. 13 against Seattle.

Fisher had joked Monday that the coaches might have a ceremony in practice Tuesday, transferring the yellow beanie from Quick to running back Todd Gurley. (Gurley has been cleared to go from individual drills to team drills, but with no contact.)

Fisher didn’t take part in any such ceremony Tuesday, but Quick took it upon himself to have a quick transfer moment himself with Gurley.

“I did,” Quick said. “Me and Reggie went over there to Todd,” Quick said, referring to head athletic trainer Reggie Scott. “I just kind of presented him with the yellow hat. I was a little dramatic with it, to make sure that he knew that I was passing the yellow hat to him.”

That made Tuesday a bit emotional for Quick — his long journey back from a severe shoulder injury suffered last Oct. 26 against Kansas City is over.

“I was more excited than anything else,” Quick said. “The guys got a chance to rough me up a little bit.”

Out of respect, his defensive teammates didn’t actually rough him up.

“They kind of put a little hands on me, just to welcome me back,” Quick said.

Overall progress has come slowly for Quick since the Rams made him the first player chosen in the second round, and the fourth wide receiver taken overall, in the 2012 draft out of Appalachian State.

But it looked like the light switch had finally come on in 2014. Quick earned a starting spot, caught seven passes apiece in the first two games of the season, and had three touchdown catches through four games. Six games into the season he was roughly on pace to become the Rams’ first 1,000-yard receiver since Torry Holt in 2007.

But then came the shoulder injury on an innocent-looking comeback route, catch, and tackle early in the Kansas City game. You know the story: Fisher said the injury was so severe that for a time it was thought to be career-threatening.

Quick would have none of that.

“There was not even a doubt in my mind,” Quick said. “I told Coach when I got hurt, I’ll be back out there. I didn’t know how serious it was.”

Quick never backed down or let his spirits sag when it came to the long, grinding rehabilitation process.

“Every day, I’d come in and I’m telling myself, you’ve got to get back out there,” Quick said. “You just keep that in your mind that one day hopefully it will come true. I came in every day positive. I don’t know about anybody else, but for me it was just every day I’m glad to be here.”

The rehab wasn’t always pleasant. There were days when he could be heard literally screaming in the trainer’s room when Byron Cunningham, the team’s physical therapist and assistant athletic trainer, was stretching out the shoulder.

“Oh yeah,” Quick said. “There were moments where Byron was stretching me over the limit. I was just like, ‘Look man, I don’t know.’ ”

But just like the wearing of the yellow beanie, those days are over.

The Rams now have another big receiving target on the field in Quick (6-3, 218), who has the range to get down field, and with some mentoring from teammate Kenny Britt, the ability to come down with 50-50 balls.

So barring a setback in the next few weeks, quarterback Nick Foles will have another option in the passing game in the opener against the Seahawks.

“Oh, I’m excited to have him back out there just running routes, getting the cap off his head,” Foles said. “He’s such a big target, and he’s got a big range of catching the ball. He’s a big piece of this offense.”

Granted, it might not come immediately because Quick has some rust to scrape off. But Fisher says there’s no reason Quick isn’t capable of reaching or exceeding his pre-injury level of play from last year.

“At that point, he was productive,” Fisher said. “He was making a lot of big plays for us. He was in the right place at the right time. He was blocking really well. So we just have to get him back in a couple of preseason games before he’s ready to go.”

Soon, Gurley will grow weary of the yellow beanie like Quick did. But for now as Quick told Gurley on Tuesday, “It’s a transition. It’s a step towards getting it off later on.”

[Hacksaw]

Ha ha. The psychological 'beanie' effect. To funny. Here's to Quick and Gurley having the better sense than to let that silly looking cap risk an injury.