PRO FOOTBALL DAILY REPORT : RAMS : Dallas’ Smith Cool to Bettis’ Challenge

Earlier this week, Ram running back Jerome Bettis said that if Dallas’ Emmitt Smith hopes to repeat as NFL rushing leader, Smith will have to gain more than 2,000 yards.

Smith’s response in Dallas: “If he’s not obsessed with me, then there’s something wrong with him.”

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Quarterback Chris Miller’s surgically repaired left knee is fine, but his right knee has been sore, and as a result of favoring it, he has injured an abdominal muscle, missing some practice.

“He’s champing at the bit,” quarterback coach Mike Martz said. “It’s just the risk--you don’t want him to really hurt it.”

Miller, who has been impressive since leaving the Atlanta Falcons to join the Rams, has shown no ill effects from the two operations on his left knee.

“It’s the knee where they took the tendon out to repair the other knee,” Miller said. “I plant on my right leg and I must have been coming across my body in a different way because it was tender. As a result, I did something to my abdominal muscle and it’s just a little sore.”

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Defensive tackle Marc Boutte injured a knee in practice, but Coach Chuck Knox said it was not serious.

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In what many consider an unprecedented move, Knox invited a reporter who regularly covers the Rams to speak to the team this week.

“I thought it was good--it’s a step in the right direction,” Knox said. “The media is a very large and important part of pro football.”