‘He’s With You, but He’s Not Really With You’ : Rams: Miller’s concussion, suffered almost two weeks ago against Saints, still a source of concern.

Last Saturday, while at the University of Oregon to watch his alma mater play, Ram quarterback Chris Miller turned to a friend and said, “Man, I got to hurry up and get on a plane when this game is over. We’re playing Denver tomorrow.”

Miller was serious. His friend was concerned.

“But you got a bye this week,” his friend said.

“Woo, kind of weird,” Miller said with a groan. “You know, a concussion has you saying some silly things.”

On Oct. 23, Miller hit the back of his head on the artificial turf in the New Orleans Superdome, and although he played on through the first half, the concussion he experienced eventually forced him to the hospital for an overnight stay.

“They told me that when I hit my head on the ground, my brain kind of coiled up and shot forward, hitting the front of my skull and bruising it,” Miller said. “That’s why I have a lot of pressure on the front of my head and around my temples. It feels like you have a bad head cold, or drank a bottle of tequila and it’s the next morning.”

Twelve days later, Miller’s head is still not right.

“He’s a little out of it, to say the least,” said Jerome Bettis, Ram running back. “He’s with you, but he’s really not with you. He’s not saying a whole lot, and that’s different from what he’s normally like.

“I’ll tell you, it makes me nervous. Is he going to snap out of it? That’s what the question is with me.”

Miller walked in and out of the Ram locker room the other day, and cornerback Darryl Henley said Miller had no recollection of doing so.

“I saw him this morning when he walked out of meetings and he just looks like he’s kind of walking around,” defensive end Fred Stokes said.

Miller said his condition has improved greatly, but he continues to have headaches and cannot watch videotape for extended periods without turning away because of blurred vision.

“After practicing Wednesday, I told the trainers, the coach and the doctor there is no way I could have played today because I was thumping myself on the helmet to see what it felt like and I could tell if I got hit once I’d be useless,” Miller said. “Just jogging down the field with my head jarring in the helmet I felt like a mush-head.”

Miller is admittedly cautious. Recent news coverage of the retirement of Chicago Bear running back Merril Hoge because of post-concussion syndrome, and his own lingering symptoms, have prompted Miller not to rush back to duty.

“We’re not talking an ankle sprain here,” Henley said. “I’m sure when Chris drives home he contemplates whether he’s going to play again.”

Although teammates are concerned about Miller’s health, most have their own concussion stories to tell.

“I’m used to them; he’s not,” linebacker Shane Conlan said. “I’m always hitting, so I guess your brain gets used to it. He’s not hitting somebody every play, so he’s not used to it. I get about one or two every year.

“I’ve only been knocked completely out like two or three times, but the others are just little concussions. You hit a running back and you get a little buzz, a little ring and then you’re fine. I get headaches, but they go away. The way I play is with my head. That’s the way it is. I couldn’t play if I couldn’t play that way. If it scared me, I’d have to retire, so it doesn’t.”

Miller said he has had four concussions during his career.

“And this one has stuck with me the longest,” he added. “It’s bothered my wife, I know, when I’ve been sitting there mumbling or saying something backward and it makes no sense to her.

“When I return, it will be at the right time. I’m not going to be like (New York Jet wide receiver) Al Toon, (New York Giant linebacker) Harry Carson or Merril Hoge. I don’t know where the point is where you say, ‘I’ve had too many,’ but I see progress. I’d be lying if I said I haven’t been thinking of some of the long-term problems associated with this.

“If I practice Friday and I still don’t feel right, believe me, I’ll be honest with the doctors. This is not something to take lightly.”

The Rams did not wait for Miller’s recovery. They decided earlier this week to start Chris Chandler at quarterback against Denver on Sunday in Anaheim Stadium.

Although no one is questioning Miller’s head injury, there have been rumblings among players that the team needs a consistent presence at quarterback, someone who might be tougher than Miller, someone who doesn’t have a track record of always getting hurt.

“That may be a question,” Stokes said. “But I think it’s unfair with the situation Miller has. When a guy is labeled with having injury problems, he can’t get hurt. If he’s hurt he can’t even mention it, so then he plays with a injury that is something that is minor that turns into something major. This is something else.”

Bettis said such talk is not surprising in the Ram locker room, but that Miller should shrug it off.

“When you have a guy come in and he’s making a considerable amount of money, there are always going to be people on the team who are going to say, ‘Is he worth it?’ ” Bettis said. “Everything in his situation hasn’t been right, but he hasn’t asked to be injured. People have missed blocks, is that his fault? People say he hasn’t produced, but he hasn’t gotten the opportunity to do it.”

Miller, who suffered two serious knee injuries while playing with Atlanta, has already missed playing time here because of a stomach muscle strain, sore ribs and a separated shoulder. When he missed practice last week, Coach Chuck Knox didn’t wait, switching immediately to Chandler.

“If he was a rookie or somebody else, there wouldn’t be much said, but here’s Chris Miller, who is supposed to be the guy, and he’s not the guy,” Stokes said. “He has a knee, a shoulder, abdominal muscle, his head now and people are going, ‘Is he for real?’

“I know those are questions coming up and he has to deal with them every day when he goes home. I was looking at him in the locker room this week and thinking the extent of his problem only he knows. I could see where he could be easily labeled by other guys, like, ‘Hey, the guy’s not tough.’ Or he’s faking or trying to get a way out of a tough situation without actually quitting. I feel sorry for him and my heart goes out to him. I’m praying for him.”

The Rams signed Miller to a three-year, $9-million contract. They gave Chandler $600,000 to work one season as his backup, although the gap between starter and backup appears a little foggier as players and coaches gain confidence in Chandler.

“I’m not concerned about that,” Miller said. “I’m not going to make any more comments on that. It’s a whole picture, it’s a whole offensive unit, a whole offensive staff, and there’s a lot that needs to be worked out. We’re working on a hell of a lot of new things going into the ninth week of the season, making a lot of changes, so obviously we haven’t gotten everything achieved that we wanted, whether I’ve been in the game or not.”

As for Miller’s toughness, he played earlier this season with a painful rib injury, took shots to soothe the pain before each game, but played on nonetheless.

“I have tried to come out here and play injured,” Miller said, “and I don’t know whether that’s showing toughness or showing stupidity. Getting injured bothers me, and affects the team as well, but I can’t control that. Maybe it’s my body.”

Miller’s body has taken a pounding during his eight years in professional football, but it’s not as if he hasn’t tried to change his luck.

“I wore No. 13, thinking I could shake the black cloud,” Miller said. “But hell, look at the airplane that just went down. Sixty-eight people died. I still have my health and there are a lot more people worse off than me.

“There’s only one person who knows if I’m going to be healthy or not and that’s the good Lord, who has the master plan. I don’t know why he decided to have me spank my head on the New Orleans turf, but it’s up to me to get my head right and help the team the best I can.”