Battered Bulger isn’t looking for pity
September 28th, 2007 | by Kevin Morris |
By
STLTODAY.COM SPORTS COLUMNIST
Yes, Marc Bulger is still hurting. Those broken ribs bark at him a bit during
practice.
“On game days, there are ways to correct that,” he said after Wednesday’s
workout.
But Bulger is a stand-up quarterback. He isn’t looking for pity, despite the
physical beating he has absorbed on the field and the verbal thrashing he gets
on Rams message boards, forums and chat sessions.
“There are a lot of worse things,” he said. “I could be over in Iraq right now.
Two broken ribs isn’t the end of the world.”
He isn’t using the injury as a cop-out, either. He insists he is healthy enough
to put the ball where he needs to put it.
“I dealt with it last year,” he said. “That’s just an excuse. They haven’t
effected throwing at all.”
Bulger knows there is a difference between hurting and being injured – and he
believes he is on this side of the line. Coach Scott Linehan saw enough good
things in practice to play him and, except for a few errant throws, he believes
Bulger did OK in the game.
When would Bulger take himself out of the lineup?
“When I can’t throw the ball where I want to,” he said. “With my shoulder a
couple of years ago . . . I couldn’t throw the ball. This is pain tolerance.”
His ribs will take time to heal, but Bulger can’t wait for nature to run its
course. He must play better and he knows it. The 0-3 Rams need to elevate their
offensive play immediately, by a lot.
They need to clean up some breakdowns in communication that led to two
interceptions last Sunday at Tampa Bay. On one, receiver Drew Bennett went
deeper into the end zone than Bulger anticipated.
On another, rookie running back Brian Leonard went one way after releasing from
the backfield and Bulger threw another.
“The one in the end zone, I promise you, if I was aiming . . . we were just on
the wrong page,” Bulger said. “If I was aiming for the back cone, where he was
headed, the ball wouldn’t have been thrown on a line drive. I know for a fact I
wouldn’t have missed by five yards. It was just miscommunication and I have to
fix it.”
Rams fans want to see Bulger take more shots down the field in the passing
game. Bulger wants to see that, too.
“Sure, but not at the expense of putting us in bad situations or turning the
ball over,” he said. “It was pretty clear Tampa’s objective was to keep
everything in front of them and let us make mistakes – and we did.”
Bulger wasn’t eager to discuss the Rams’ game planning or play calling, since
those aren’t his departments. The coaches have that responsibility.
“They study a lot of film and I just run what they call,” he said. “We trust
what plays they call and why they are calling it. Coverages tell me where to go
with it.”
But the execution hasn’t always been good enough. “We had opportunities,”
Bulger said. “As players, we just didn’t get it in the end zone.”
Running back Steven Jackson will miss the game at Dallas — and likely more
games to follow -– with his slightly torn groin muscle. Offensive linemen
Orlando Pace, Mark Setterstrom and Todd Steussie have been wiped out and guard
Richie Incognito looks less than iffy this week.
Mounting casualties give the Rams a built-in excuse for failure this season.
Bulger, though, insists his team won’t take the easy way out.
“We’re losing guys,” he said. “We’ve lost Steven now. They’re all excuses and
losers make excuses. Our head coach isn’t a loser.
“All I can do is control what I do. I can’t worry about who’s playing, who’s
practicing . . . why even go play if we’re worried about that? We have good
enough guys to go win. Some guys will have to step it up more, but the rest is
excuses. We start getting into a game of this guy is hurt, that guy is hurt -–
nobody wants to hear that.
“I can just control what I do. If everybody on the team does that, we’ll start
winning games.”
