Rams : Tim Tyrrell Ready to Come Off the Sideline With a Bang Sunday
Tim Tyrrell hasn’t hit anything that moves for weeks now, and well, he’s funny that way. A badly pulled hamstring has kept the Rams’ special teams star on the sideline since early training camp, during which time he has felt like a prize fighter shackled to his corner.
“I just miss a big hit out there,” Tyrrell said, “that loud sound of just popping somebody.”
This happens to be Tyrrell’s lucky week--not so lucky for kick returners around the National Football League.
Tyrrell will be moved to the active roster after today’s practice, just in time for several head-on collisions (he hopes) with Vai Sikahema of the Phoenix Cardinals, perhaps the league’s top all-around kick returner.
Sikahema enters Sunday’s game at Anaheim Stadium as the conference’s No. 1 kick returner with a 25.4 yards-per-return average. Sikahema ranks fourth in punt returns with a 9.4 average.
Before Wednesday’s practice, Tyrrell, with a maniacal grin, showed a reporter the picture of Sikahema that’s pasted in this week’s playbook.
“I’m going to have to hang that up and drool at him all day,” Tyrrell said.
It’s been a tough two months for Tyrrell, who suffered the injury early in camp and hasn’t been heard from since.
“It’s been unbelievable,” he said. “I first hurt it eight weeks ago. I tried coming back a week later and restretched it. I waited another week and pulled it real deep. I’d never hurt my hamstring in life. It still hurts a little, but it’s way better than it was.”
Tyrrell isn’t the type who can kill that much time playing Scrabble.
“Hell, I’m hyper-active as it is,” he said. “Just the thought of sitting and watching . . . I’m just glad to be able to practice the last couple of weeks. Game day to me has been Wednesday and Thursday practice.”
No question, the Rams’ kickoff coverage hasn’t been the same without Tyrrell, who goes about his job with deep, um, passion.
“I like to set examples rather than just B.S.,” he said. “I like to go out and make something happen. It makes the kickoff team more competitive. We all got into it last year, who was going to make the first hit. We make a little game out of it.”
The game this week: Sikahema Pursuit.
Speaking of comebacks, Greg Meisner returns this week to take Gary Jeter’s spot at defensive tackle. Meisner hasn’t played since undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery in August.
Meisner will only be asked to replace the NFL’s sack leader. Jeter, with 6 1/2 sacks, will be out three to five weeks with a knee injury.
“It’s the best I’ve seen him play since I’ve been here,” Meisner said of Jeter. “I’m just going to take advantage of the scheme on defense. I think it will help my style.”
Meisner admits feeling left out of a defense that leads the league with 25 sacks.
“I felt like if I was on the Mayflower, they would have just thrown me overboard as dead cargo,” he said.
The Charles White countdown: The Rams’ tailback is due to return from his 30-day suspension on Oct. 7. And the question remains: Will he be able to get his job back from Greg Bell, who just turned in his third consecutive 100-yard rushing game last weekend?
“I’m not thinking about it,” Coach John Robinson said Wednesday. “It’s an interesting subject and I’m trying to pretend it’s a snap.”
Robinson has suggested that White and Bell would share duties, which is contradictory to the coach’s philosophy that a tailback gets stronger as the game gets longer, and is at his very best after 20 carries in the fourth quarter.
Bell, for example, has averaged 26 carries a game for the last three weeks. In those games, he has gained 360 yards.
“As long as he plays that well, he’s going to play,” Robinson said. “But I don’t know if either of them can get through the year without getting hurt.”
Ram Notes
The Rams on Wednesday released center Navy Tuiasosopo, who had been on injured reserve with an ankle injury. . . . According to a chart kept by CBS during Sunday’s telecast, tailback Greg Bell took 137 direct hits in the game. “And believe me, 137 hits from the Giants are a lot different than from the Boys Club choir,” Coach John Robinson said. . . . Bell’s third consecutive 100-yard performance proved to Robinson that he’s no enigma after all. “He’s running powerfully,” Robinson said. “Unfortunately, Greg carried a lot of baggage with him here--rumors, innuendo. I don’t think there’s any baggage left. He’s played his way out of that.” With 385 yards in 4 games, Bell is the NFC’s second-leading rusher behind Herschel Walker of the Cowboys. Walker has 402. . . . The Rams have 25 sacks in 4 games. The average for all other NFL teams so far is 10.3. . . . The Rams also lead the NFL in points scored with 118. “No one’s recently bothered to add that up in the past,” Robinson said. . . . Both cornerback LeRoy Irvin (calf) and guard Duval Love (ankle) practiced in full uniform Wednesday. . . . For the Cardinals, receiver J.T. Smith (shoulder) is questionable, and tackles Tootie Robbins and Luis Sharpe are probable with minor ankle injuries.
