Harrah to Be Out Four Weeks
Dennis Harrah’s thigh injury, the one that was supposed to keep the Ram All-Pro right guard out of just two games, turned fickle Thursday. The change of disposition will cost the Rams their best offensive lineman for another four weeks, courtesy of the injured reserve list.
Harrah returned to practice and full-contact drills earlier this week after tearing a muscle in his left thigh Sept. 15 against the Philadelphia Eagles. He was expected to start Sunday against Minnesota.
But that was before Harrah became adventuresome Wednesday, took part in an ill-advised blocking drill and, in the process, aggravated the injury.
“A stupid move,” Harrah said. “They told me to take it easy, but I was a little bullheaded. I jumped into a drill I shouldn’t have been doing, and now I’m paying for it the next four weeks.”
The Rams are poorer for the loss, too. In less than a week’s time, they have lost Harrah, as well as his replacement, Russ Bolinger, during the two-game absence. Bolinger broke his left arm during last Sunday’s victory over the Atlanta Falcons and is out for the season.
The injuries to Harrah and Bolinger have inspired several unlikely personnel moves. For instance, tackle Irv Pankey remains at guard, a position he inherited last Sunday following Bolinger’s mishap. Pankey, a six-year veteran, last played guard--briefly--during his stay at Penn State.
Pankey will share time with free agent Tony Slaton, a second-year lineman from USC. Coach John Robinson also said the Rams “in all probability” will activate UCLA rookie Duval Love for Sunday’s game. By doing so, the Rams use one of their five free roster moves but gain some measure of insurance and depth on the offensive line.
“That’s when those guys start playing their best football--when there’s nobody else,” Robinson said.
This is only the second time in Harrah’s 11-year career that he has become a member of the injured reserve list. A knee injury in 1977 cost him six games of service. Now he must contend with the thigh tear.
“I was just trying to do everything normal,” Harrah said. “I thought it was OK. Doc Kerlan (team physician Dr. Robert Kerlan) said I tore it in a different spot . . . ripped it even farther.”
Harrah met with Kerlan Thursday morning, and, while walking back to the clubhouse, he held up four fingers to indicate the minimum number of weeks he’ll spend as a spectator. Harrah considered a painkilling injection but abandoned the idea as impractical.
“If you shoot it up, all you do is end up ripping it more,” Harrah said. “It’s not an injury that you can shoot it to play on.”
During his stay on the sidelines, Harrah will tutor Pankey, Slaton and Love. It will mark the third consecutive game that Harrah has acted as a pseudo-assistant coach.
No one seems to mind.
“He’s out there,” Pankey said. “The coaches give you the basics, but we’re out there and talking. We’re always talking. He (Harrah) knows the things we know. It’s not like we’re keeping things from Hudson (Houck, offensive line coach), but we’re out there in the heat of battle right then. We can see things and we talk things out.”
Pankey seems unimpressed by his starting status. While Harrah said the transition from tackle to guard was demanding (“Totally different blocking assignments.”), Pankey made the position switch sound as uncomplicated as adjusting his socks.
“It’s all the same, really,” Pankey said. “You’ve got to put your mind to doing it. I hate the circumstances why I’m here, but you’ve got to keep moving.”
By his own grading system, Pankey awarded himself a passing mark for last Sunday’s effort against Atlanta. “One assignment error--a half sack,” he said. “After the first couple of series, you start to settle down.”
Said Houck, who administered a higher grade for Pankey’s skills: “I thought he did a super job.”
A more telling compliment may be the Ram staff’s insistence that no tinkering is planned for the offense. “We’re staying with the same offense we’ve had,” Houck said. “We’re not changing a thing.”
And if Pankey falls victim to injury?
“I’m suiting up,” said the 42-year-old Houck.
Ram Notes
Wide receiver Ron Brown, who has missed two games because of pancreatitis, may be available for limited play Sunday. “If he’s got some bounce, he might (play),” Coach John Robinson said. Brown underwent blood tests Thursday to help determine the progress of his treatment. . . . Following the Rams’ morning practice, offensive line coach Hudson Houck conducted a workout with linemen Dave Toub, a rookie guard-center from Texas El Paso who was cut by Philadelphia earlier this year, and Tom Taylor, a rookie guard-center from Georgia Tech. Taylor was on the Ram roster two years ago as a free agent. He was later cut.