Backup Ryan Fitzpatrick could get his first career start Sunday against the Redskins.
ST. LOUIS — St. Louis Rams interim coach Joe Vitt has been coy all week about whether rookie Ryan Fitzpatrick had earned his first career start.
But it was telling that Wednesday it was the rookie from Harvard and not Jamie Martin who met with the media, the usual duty for the No. 1 quarterback. And that Fitzpatrick was taking snaps with the first unit while Martin, who had a concussion and blurred vision after absorbing a blow in the first quarter of last week’s overtime victory at Houston, watched in sweat clothes.
Regardless of Martin’s status, it’s been more or less an open secret around Rams Park that Fitzpatrick, a favorite of Mike Martz since he took him in the seventh round of the draft, will get the nod this week against the Redskins. And why not? It’s tough to bench the NFC offensive player of the week.
Fitzpatrick threw for 310 yards in three quarters and got the Rams (5-6) to overtime with a pair of scores in the final half-minute, before throwing the winning touchdown pass to beat the Texans. His yardage is the third-highest by an NFL quarterback in his first game.
Still, no official announcement.
“I know, it’s unbelievable, it’s like the Kennedy assassination,” Vitt said after practice. “We’ll make that decision later in the week.”
The decision could be a rubber stamp if Martin isn’t cleared to return for the fill-in role behind injured Marc Bulger, who’ll miss his second straight game with a shoulder injury and could be out for the season. Martin still had blurred vision Wednesday. The third-stringer is Jeff Smoker, who has been released twice this year.
Fitzpatrick didn’t seem to care what happened.
“The coaches are going to do what’s best for the team and put us in the best situation,” he said before practice. “And whatever decision they make is a good decision.”
Since leading the comeback, Fitzpatrick has had a whirlwind of attention with an appearance on ESPN’s “Cold Pizza,” a mob of reporters surrounding him Wednesday and countless telephone calls from long-forgotten school friends.
“It is pretty comical,” he said. “Me not doing any interviews and then being the guy with cameras in his face.”
What he’s not getting much of is jokes about his Ivy League schooling.
“Guys respect his skill level, guys respect his intensity, guys respect his commitment,” Vitt said.
Vitt said he doesn’t need to keep Fitzpatrick’s ego in check, either.
“I don’t think he’s a nightlife guy and I don’t think he’s got a lot of distractions in his life,” Vitt said. “He comes to work, he studies his game, he goes home and studies his game some more and gets up and comes to work.”
RETURN UNLIKELY: Rams president John Shaw says he would be shocked if Mike Martz got medical clearance to return to coaching this season.
Martz stepped down Oct. 24 on doctors’ orders while suffering from endocarditis, a bacterial infection of the lining of the heart. Vitt has coached the team the last six games, going 3-3 heading into Sunday’s game against the Washington Redskins. Shaw expects Vitt to finish out the year.
“I would be totally shocked if Mike got cleared,” Shaw told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “At the time he left it was pretty clear to him that he couldn’t come back. But he’s a coach and you get anxious.”
On Tuesday, Martz told TV station KMOV that “this is the best I’ve felt. And when you feel this good, you feel like you should be working.”
Shaw said he’s spoken several times to the infectious disease specialist in charge of Martz’s case. That specialist told him he’d be feeling much better about this time of the year but that he’d face a risk making an early return.
Beyond this season, Shaw said there’s no decision regarding Martz’s future with the team amid widespread speculation that he won’t be back. Next season is the final year of his contract, and Shaw said lame-duck status was only one of the variables to consider.
Shaw would not rule out Martz, who is 58-39 in six seasons with the team, coaching the team next year. Martz coached the team to one Super Bowl in 2001 and was the offensive coordinator in 1999 for the franchise’s lone Super Bowl championship.
“Would he change his staff, would he be able to hire new coaches in the last year of his contract?” Shaw said. “When you start weighing them, you start formulating in your head what type of commitment you need to make and which direction you want to take.”
The biggest factor against Martz returning is an adversarial relationship with director of football operations Jay Zygmunt. Martz said after stepping down that he didn’t know if he and Zygmunt could co-exist professionally.
Shaw said a possible reorganization of the front office “will be on the table at some point.”
“It usually starts and ends with the head coach, he’s the main piece to the puzzle,” Shaw said. “Once there’s a head coach, depending on who you hire and what the person’s wishes are, or if you keep Mike, you start to formulate the pieces around him.”
Martz has made several visits to Rams Park since stepping down and every time proclaimed he felt much better. Shaw said when he last spoke to Martz about three weeks ago, the coach told him he’d feel strong for stretches before fatigue set in.
Shaw said he’s been “pleasantly surprised” with the team’s play under Vitt, the assistant head coach and linebackers coach.
“The team has played hard,” Shaw said. “It’s limited right now by injuries but the team plays with great energy and conviction and those are all positive things.”
BARRON OUT: Rams offensive tackle Alex Barron will undergo surgery for a thumb injurytoday, possibly leaving the team without both starting tackles for this week’s game.
Barron, the team’s first-round pick, was subbing for an injured Orlando Pace when he was hurt early in the fourth quarter of Sunday’sgame. Pace underwent an MRI exam for a right hip flexor and left hamstring Monday and was listed as probable though he missed practice Wednesday.
Vitt said Barron would miss this week’s game, but was expected back next week. He said Barron would wear a cast the rest of the season.
Barron wasn’t sure when he was injured, remembering only that his hand got caught in an opponent’s jersey or helmet. He was unsure how long he’d be sidelined.
“I don’t even know what it was, I just know it happened and I came to the sideline and checked it out and something was wrong with it,” Barron said. “I’ll just try to get back as soon as I can.”