The Rams were irritable when they had to practice in the cold this week. The Titans got testy when they were warm.
Practices were moved to the Georgia Dome on Friday after two days outdoors.
In the final two-minute session with the No. 1 offense and defenses against each other, Tennessee receiver Derrick Mason and safety Blaine Bishop came to blows after an incomplete pass and had to be sent off the field after trying to get back at each other after teammates separated them. Coach Jeff Fisher met with the two after the 1-hour-40-minute practice, and the players walked off the field together.
“It’s over with,” Fisher said. “They are highly competitive. Those two are about as competitive guys as I’ve got.”
Quarterback Steve McNair took fewer snaps than at previous practices this week, but Fisher said it was more than before the AFC championship game when McNair did not practice at all.
The Titans were delayed 15 minutes before their practice while security completed a check of the Georgia Dome to ensure that only legitimate workers were inside.
Kick starting: Jeff Wilkins rested his sore left knee and did not kick Friday but will be the Rams’ placekicker Sunday. Nick Lowery, who worked out last week as a possible late replacement, is in Atlanta with his kicking shoes but the Rams do not anticipate needing him.
Scheduling: The NFL and the networks are kicking around the idea of “flexible scheduling” in which national television games would not necessarily be determined when the schedules are announced in the spring. NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said the chances of such a plan being implemented are “no better than 50-50.” One argument against the idea is that big-name teams still can draw viewers even if they’re having a disappointing season.
“Allegiances don’t change that quickly,” Tagliabue said.
Bad idea: Denver coach Mike Shanahan has suggested the NFL allow teams to go over the salary cap to keep their own big-name veterans.
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“Mike Shanahan has had a lot of good ideas but that isn’t one of them,” said Tagliabue, who added owners he has talked to want no part of it.
Getting advice: McNair, scheduled to become the second black quarterback to start a Super Bowl, finally had a chance to speak Wednesday night to the first–Doug Williams, who led the Washington Redskins to a Super Bowl victory in 1988.
Williams is coach at Grambling and told McNair “not to go out there and do something I haven’t been doing all year,” McNair said. “Continue to do the things I’ve been doing all year and not change things. He also said I should play my game and don’t try to force the issue.”
They’re No. 2: If the backup quarterbacks play Sunday, Tennessee will have a distinct advantage. Neil O’Donnell led the Steelers to the Super Bowl four years ago and guided the Titans to a 4-1 record when McNair was recovering from back surgery.
“The last few years, we’ve had slow starts and had to fight to get to .500, and this year Neil helped us get off to a fast start,” Fisher said.
The Rams’ No. 2 quarterback is Paul Justin, a seventh-round pick of the Bears in 1990 who has been with three NFL teams and one Arena Football League team. Justin, who played at Schaumburg High School and Arizona State, was acquired from Oakland for a seventh-round pick Aug. 29, the day after the Rams lost starter Trent Green for the season with a knee injury.
Remembering: St. Louis punter Mike Horan wore a Columbine High School baseball cap to interview sessions to honor the victims of the shooting last year.
Horan’s Littleton, Colo., home overlooks the school.”I want to show support for the people involved,” he said.