PRO FOOTBALL / DAILY REPORT : RAMS : Domingos Might Kick Tonight for Zendejas

Kicker Tony Zendejas is questionable with a sore left leg, which means that, because the team recently released Jerry Kauric, the only other kicker on the roster, free-agent punter Steven Domingos could be doing the kicking tonight.

Domingos, who appears to have a slight edge in the wide-open punting position with a 45-yard average in the preseason, did some kicking two years ago at San Francisco State and a little last year as a semipro punter in Fresno.

Domingos said he thought his versatility--he has been sharing the kickoff duties with Zendejas in the preseason--improves his chances of winning the punting job.

“Yeah, I hope so, I really do,” Domingos said. “Now if I can do it in the game situation, at least they know I can punt, kick off and do field goals if I have to, if Tony does go down. So it’s a really big plus for me.”

In three preseason punts, Domingos has gotten two inside the opponents’ 20-yard line and his longest is 51 yards. Although Coach Chuck Knox didn’t want to invest too much meaning in it, Domingos was the first punter called upon in last week’s game against the Raiders.

Domingos is competing with incumbent Barry Helton, who has been sidelined all preseason with a leg injury, longtime Packer Don Bracken, who has averaged 33.5 yards on his two preseason kicks, and Thomas Rouen, who has averaged 33 yards.

Knox said he did not know when Helton would be ready.

“I think I’ve been doing pretty good,” Domingos said. “I feel comfortable with myself. At first out here it was kind of a big change from a semipro team to a real pro team. But after the first couple days the bugs went away and I just felt fine.

“I almost feel at home, I’m not nervous.”

Even about doing the kicking tonight?

“If I do make the team, when Tony comes back I can work with him in case it happens again,” Domingos said. “And maybe I can teach him how to punt.”

Former Rams player personnel director John Math, who resigned a week after this year’s draft, was hired by the Packers as their director of college scouting. . . . The last time the Rams, who are 2-0 in the preseason, won their first three exhibition games was in 1987.