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In addition to reminding the world just how poorly his team played in London, St. Louis Rams head coach Jeff Fisher also used his Tuesday press conference to put down a few rumors. He squelched the Steven Jackson trade talk, and he also nipped in the bud chatter about the Rams moving left tackle Rodger Saffold inside, from tackle to guard.
"No, I don't," Fisher said when asked if he could see Saffold moving inside to guard. "He's very athletic and talented at left tackle."
In limited work this season, Saffold was showing signs of improvement over his 2011 season, allowing just one sack in limited work through two games.
Saffold has been on the shelf since Week 2, when he injured his knee against the Washington Redskins. Fisher said that the left tackle could have played in Week 8 against the Patriots, but there was a question as to just how much he could do.
According to Pro Football Focus, Saffold's replacement, Joe Barksdale, had a rough outing, allowing a sack, two hits and a hurry. Fisher pointed to improvement from his backups, while noting there was plenty of room for more.
"Shelley had a couple penalties," Fisher said. "He had the holding penalty on the screen where you can't hook the guy. But by in large, they were OK. They tested us a little bit with some games and we were late off the ball once. We got Sam hit once. I thought they improved over the first week against Green Bay."
The Rams expect to have Saffold back in action after the bye. Center Scott Wells could possibly return for Week 10 as well, but Fisher said that the center was further behind Saffold in his recovery.
Fisher left it wide open about how his line would be configured when the injured starters return, except for Saffold slotting back into the left tackle spot.
"When Scott comes back and Rob (Turner) has great experience up to this point," Fisher said. "So, Rob can back up both places and then we've got, obviously, (T) Joe (Barksdale) and (T) Wayne (Hunter) out there that can back up both places and there's potential that one of those guys could begin to move inside and work inside. So, I've got some flexibility."