THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAS
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30, 2006
SPORTS
5B
NFL
Quarterbacks play for roster spot
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ST. LOUIS — Ryan Fitzpatrick and Dave Ragone are down to their
last opportunity to make a favorable impression in the battle for the No. 3 quarterback job for the St. Louis Rams.
The Rams (1-2) travel to Miami (1-2) Thursday for the final preseason game for both teams.
Coach Scott Linehan on Tuesday
ASSOCIATED PRESS
St. Louis Rams quarterbacks Ryan Fitzpatrick (11) and Dave Ragone (8) walk to practice July 27 during the team's summer training camp in St. Louis. Both quarterbacks will get their last chance to win the No.3 quarterback slot in the team's final preseason NFL football game Thursday.
was still deciding if starting quarterback Marc Bulger or backup Gus Ferrote would play at all against the Dolphins. Other starters are expected to see limited duty, or none at all.
So the game will be largely to decide which backups earn roster spots. The Rams must trim 22 players to get down to the NFL regular-season limit of 53 by Saturday.
"Our No. 3 quarterback certainly will be getting a lot of attention and it should because it's been a heck of a battle," Linehan said. "Both will play a very significant amount in this game. We'll split it down the middle pretty much."
Neither played in Saturday's 16-12 loss in Kansas City. Statistically, the two almost are in a dead heat.
In the preseason opener at home against Indianapolis, Fitzpatrick was 8-for-11 for 51 yards while Ragone was 7-for-11 for 80 yards, though with an interception that cost the Rams a score.
In a home loss to Houston the following week, Fitzpatrick was 5-for-10 for 59 yards while Ragone was 9-for-11 for 76 yards.
Fitzpatrick won the No. 3 job last year as a rookie seventh-round draft choice from Harvard. After both Bulger and Jamie Martin went down with injuries, Fitzpatrick was named NFC offensive player of the week after leading the Rams past Houston on Nov. 27. But he lost his next three starts.
"You can't go out there and say, 'OK, I've got to throw a deep ball on this one to try to show off my arm and throw a touchdown,' Fitzpatrick said. "I've just got to go out there and play and move the ball down the field and score touchdowns."
Ragone was acquired this summer from Cincinnati for a 2007 seventhround draft pick. Both know the importance of this week's game.
Ragone knows he has to give the coaches a reason to award him the job.
"This is the last time to really kind of give the coaches something to look at," he said. "It's your last impression."
"He was getting better and he said I'm ready to go," manager Tony La Russa said. "I just don't know how ready he is."
BY R.B. FALLSTROM ASSOCIATED PRESS
"They've basically told me to do what I can do until we figure out what's going on," Edmonds said. "All I know is some days it's good and some days it's terrible."
in his only start since being removed from a game on Aug. 15, Edmonds struck out four times with a walk on Friday. He also struck out as a pinch hitter on Saturday, but has not played since.
ST. LOUIS — Jim Edmonds was out of the St. Louis Cardinals' lineup again on Tuesday, giving him one start in two weeks while battling post-concussion syndrome, and he doesn't know when he'll be ready to play again.
Edmonds sustained a concussion when he crashed into a wall in Chicago in an interleague game against the White Sox in June while trying to rob Joe Crede of a home run. Since then he's had intermittent bouts of dizziness, blurred vision and disorientation.
Edmonds, an eight-time Gold Glove center fielder, was batting. 260
Edmonds underwent a battery of medical tests in mid-August after leaving a game with blurred vision and dizziness. He said another trip to the doctor on Monday, a day off for the team, provided no answers.
MLB
with 18 homers and 65 RBs in 104 games. He said every day has been an adventure.
"Some days I'll wake up with a nasty headache and some days I'll wake up not feeling too bad," Edmonds said. "Depending on how that day starts, is usually how it ends."
Edmonds said he's not getting pushed by management to play. The Cardinals signed outfielder Preston Wilson after the symptoms began to intensify.
"I'm not getting any read on that," he said. "I'm getting the doctor telling me to be careful."
The more activity he has, the worse the symptoms usually become for Edmonds. He said team doctors have told him he just has to wait for the symptoms to subside.
"The doctor said there's no timetable," Edmonds said. "It could be a week, it could be 10 days, it could be two months."
The Cardinals are likely to go a player short for a few more days until rosters can be expanded on Friday.
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Juan Encarnación has moved from right field to center in most of the games Edmonds has missed.
"My guess is we'll find a way to get through it," manager Tony La Russa said. "The key is can we get him in there so he's performing and contributing, being productive.
"I had him playing tomorrow, but I don't know if I can play him tomorrow."
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