PRO FOOTBALL DAILY REPORT : RAMS : Joke on a Box Makes for Big News

Fox-TV’s NFL pregame show broke the big news Sunday morning: Boxes had been spotted in the Ram scouting department and they were addressed to St. Louis.

Now the rest of the story. . . .

There were three boxes there, all right, three boxes of 1988 college media guides that were going to be thrown out or given to some sports collector. As a joke, someone with the team had written on the boxes, “St. Louis Rams.”

ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reported Sunday that the Rams have a deal in place with St. Louis, and the announcement could be made as early as Monday. An ESPN camera crew arrived at Rams Park, but left without any such announcement.

The only development Monday was that St. Louis officials said they will not meet a Ram request that the city guarantee 55,000 ticket sales per game to play in the 70,000-seat domed stadium.

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Coach Chuck Knox pointed to two fumbled punts by Todd Kinchen as reasons for the Rams’ loss to New Orleans on Sunday. Kinchen has fumbled away three punts in the last two games.

The Saints turned Kinchen’s fumbles into 14 points, which may prompt the Rams to replace Kinchen this week with Johnny Bailey on punt returns.

“I had a bad game,” Kinchen said Monday.

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Saint quarterback Jim Everett spent $500 to treat his teammates, as well as the equipment men, trainers, coaches and front office staff to lunch at a deli to celebrate New Orleans’ second victory in a row over the Rams.

“I don’t care about the cost, it was worth it, going 2-0 that way,” Everett told the Associated Press. “I just enjoyed doing something for the guys. So many of them came up to me before the game and said ‘Let’s make this a team win,’ Everybody wanted me to know they were behind me.”