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Butler might need surgery
By Jim Thomas
Of the Post-Dispatch
08/11/2005
What originally was diagnosed as a bruised knee could be a season-ending injury for Rams cornerback Jerametrius Butler.
Further examination has revealed that Butler has a torn posterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. According to coach Mike Martz, Butler is facing two options:
* Try to strengthen the knee and play through the injury.
* Undergo season-ending surgery.
"He's leaning toward playing right now," Martz said Thursday. "The doctors have told him he can - he's just going to have to really rehab it. Or he can have surgery and repair it. So he's got a choice. He and I have talked a great deal about it."
With encouragement from Martz, Butler is seeking other medical opinions before making a final decision.
"The first thing you do on something like that, you go and get several opinions - just like anybody would," Martz said. "If you're diagnosed with anything, that's what you do. And this is serious."
Losing Butler for any length of time, much less the entire season, would be a blow for the St. Louis defense. A two-year starter in the secondary, Butler has developed into an above-average cover corner, with good instincts and good ball skills.
Last season, he led the turnover-impaired Rams defense with five interceptions. (The Rams had only six interceptions total.) In 2003, he tied for the team lead with four interceptions.
Butler feels no discomfort running forward. But backpedaling has been a problem.
"At that position, a little bit of looseness in the knee is going to bother you more than it would a receiver, just because of the backpedaling," Martz said. "There's a lot of players playing in the league right now with this (injury). A lot of them. We've got a lot of them on this team playing with it. But they're not DBs, and that's the issue. Obviously, he's very concerned."
If Butler decides against surgery, Martz isn't ready to rule him out of the regular-season opener Sept. 11 in San Francisco.
"Not necessarily," Martz said. "It just kind of depends on what these other doctors says, too. Our doctors felt that he could rehab it and play on it. He's going to have to understand, it's going to feel real loose. ... That's why he's got to spend a lot of time really strengthening that leg and tightening it up."
Butler suffered the injury on the first day of camp, July 28, and hasn't practiced since July 29. Butler's injury, coupled with Tuesday's release of Dwight Anderson, leaves DeJuan Groce and rookie Ron Bartell as the leading candidates for the starting cornerback job opposite Travis Fisher.
But there are a host of other candidates, including Kevin Garrett, Terry Fair, Corey Ivy and Michael Hawthorne.
By Jim Thomas
Of the Post-Dispatch
08/11/2005
What originally was diagnosed as a bruised knee could be a season-ending injury for Rams cornerback Jerametrius Butler.
Further examination has revealed that Butler has a torn posterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. According to coach Mike Martz, Butler is facing two options:
* Try to strengthen the knee and play through the injury.
* Undergo season-ending surgery.
"He's leaning toward playing right now," Martz said Thursday. "The doctors have told him he can - he's just going to have to really rehab it. Or he can have surgery and repair it. So he's got a choice. He and I have talked a great deal about it."
With encouragement from Martz, Butler is seeking other medical opinions before making a final decision.
"The first thing you do on something like that, you go and get several opinions - just like anybody would," Martz said. "If you're diagnosed with anything, that's what you do. And this is serious."
Losing Butler for any length of time, much less the entire season, would be a blow for the St. Louis defense. A two-year starter in the secondary, Butler has developed into an above-average cover corner, with good instincts and good ball skills.
Last season, he led the turnover-impaired Rams defense with five interceptions. (The Rams had only six interceptions total.) In 2003, he tied for the team lead with four interceptions.
Butler feels no discomfort running forward. But backpedaling has been a problem.
"At that position, a little bit of looseness in the knee is going to bother you more than it would a receiver, just because of the backpedaling," Martz said. "There's a lot of players playing in the league right now with this (injury). A lot of them. We've got a lot of them on this team playing with it. But they're not DBs, and that's the issue. Obviously, he's very concerned."
If Butler decides against surgery, Martz isn't ready to rule him out of the regular-season opener Sept. 11 in San Francisco.
"Not necessarily," Martz said. "It just kind of depends on what these other doctors says, too. Our doctors felt that he could rehab it and play on it. He's going to have to understand, it's going to feel real loose. ... That's why he's got to spend a lot of time really strengthening that leg and tightening it up."
Butler suffered the injury on the first day of camp, July 28, and hasn't practiced since July 29. Butler's injury, coupled with Tuesday's release of Dwight Anderson, leaves DeJuan Groce and rookie Ron Bartell as the leading candidates for the starting cornerback job opposite Travis Fisher.
But there are a host of other candidates, including Kevin Garrett, Terry Fair, Corey Ivy and Michael Hawthorne.
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