Greg Salas, a new hope for the St. Louis Rams

St. Louis Rams Wide Reciever, Greg Salas. Photo by
Johnny Andrews | jandrews@post-dispatch.com

    The St. Louis Rams have not been doing very well this season, but one of their new rookie recruits, Greg Salas, is keeping their team afloat. Salas played football at his high school in Chino, California, and then went to the University of Hawaii where he was a spectacular wide receiver. He was chosen as third team All-American by the Associated Press and selected for countless other awards. He became the fifth round pick for the St. Louis Rams in the 2011 draft.

    Salas currently leads the Rams with 27 receptions over the course of just six games and is second on his team with 264 yards, just 31 behind Brandon Gibson. Despite his efforts, Salas had not been able to lead the Rams to a victory. The Rams stand 1-7, and they aren’t stepping up their game. Salas, however, has been improving. He started off the season with just one reception, but now he is averaging five receptions a game. Unfortunately for Salas, just as he was beginning to become a key player, his season was cut short.

    On November 6^th, the St. Louis Rams were playing the Arizona Cardinals, it was their eighth game of the season and the Rams were the closest they had been to a victory in a long time. Salas had been playing well the whole game, amassing six receptions. As he caught the seventh ball of the game and ran down the field, he was tackled by Arizona linebacker Darryl Washington and broke his fibula. The Rams coach, Steve Spagnuolo, said on Tuesday, “Somebody fell on him. The guy who was tackling him got underneath ... I’m not so sure there was anything Greg could do about that. The guy tackled him and fell on his leg.”

    The loss of Salas is going to be a major setback; he was starting to impact the team every game and would probably have led the Rams to a long awaited victory. He had become the Rams inside slot and was a favorite target of both quarterbacks Sam Bradford and A.J. Feeley. It is going to be tough to replace Salas, so everyone is hoping for a speedy recovery.