PRO FOOTBALL DAILY REPORT : RAMS : Tests Show Injuries Are Not Serious

All three Ram starters injured during Sunday’s game received good news after having magnetic resonance imaging tests.

Neither right tackle Jackie Slater (right shoulder), linebacker Fred Strickland (left knee) nor defensive tackle Alvin Wright (right shoulder) had serious damage. Coach John Robinson said the three would each miss three weeks at the most. The Rams had feared one or more could have been out for much longer.

“Great news,” Robinson said Monday afternoon. “Any one of the three could have been bad.”

Slater’s injury was at first thought to be a partial tear in the shoulder but was downgraded to a bruise.

Strickland, who has often been sidelined with various injuries in his three-year career, has a strained knee but no major cartilage damage.

Wright’s shoulder injury was found to be a sprain, instead of a tear, and Robinson said that Wright had the best chance to make it back before three weeks.

But the Ram coach did concede that the Rams would probably have to add at least one new player today--a linebacker or a defensive tackle or both--to help cover for the injuries.

“We’re putting those (options) on a menu and make the decisions tomorrow,” Robinson said.

No. 1 pick Todd Lyght, sidelined the first two weeks with a sore left hip and rustiness after holding out all training camp, will play on pass downs this Sunday, Robinson said. . . . How did it feel to watch Tony Zendejas kick a 50-yard field goal Sunday with room to spare after all of Mike Lansford’s struggles last season? “Absolutely wonderful,” Robinson said. “And you know, he is replacing one of the fine kickers in recent years in the NFL, in my view, in Mike Lansford. We had some frustration there, but for a long time, whenever it got down to the key time, Mike Lansford delivered as well as any kicker in football.

“But Tony’s obviously proven his range, and he’s proven his ability on kickoffs.”

Last year, Lansford was three for nine from 40 yards and beyond, and hadn’t kicked a 50-yarder since 1986.