Bulger has no regrets about remarks

~The quarterback called out players Sunday but didn't name names.

ST. LOUIS -- Marc Bulger had no regrets. The St. Louis Rams quarterback simply wanted to move on a few days after calling out some unnamed teammates for not caring enough about their jobs.

The same went for the two second-year players widely speculated as Bulger's targets, center Richie Incognito and tackle Alex Barron.

"We'll just nip it in the bud," Incognito said Wednesday. "Those comments weren't made about me, and my name wasn't mentioned. It doesn't mean anything to me."

The usually soft-spoken Bulger said it's been business as usual all week, with no repercussions as the team practiced for the first time since a dispiriting 34-20 loss to the Arizona Cardinals.

Running back Steven Jackson, one of those absolved Sunday along with wide receivers Torry Holt and Isaac Bruce, clamored onto a stool with a big grin to catch Bulger's remarks Wednesday.

Holt, walking past a large knot of reporters, said simply, "It's over."

"It's the way I felt at the time," Bulger said. "I still do, and I honestly don't think it was that big of a deal or it was out of line. Maybe it is my job to try to make something happen. That's all I was trying to do, and we'll see if it works."

Again, Bulger refused to name anyone.

"I'm not going to sit here and do your job for you," Bulger told reporters. "I already did that on Sunday, you want to work a little bit."

Defensive end Leonard Little disagreed after Sunday's loss with Bulger's decision to go public with his frustration, contending that such issues should be kept in-house. Much like coach Scott Linehan's mild reaction on Monday, he said it was a case of one player venting.

"That stuff is dead, it's like he never said anything at all," Little said. "That's the way this team is handling it.

"We know Marc was frustrated after that game, and we know what it is when we lose to a 2-9 team the way we did, and I was kind of frustrated, too. We don't even want to talk about it anymore because it's not an issue."

Linehan said his attention was on preparation for Monday night's game against the Chicago Bears.

"We have turned the page," Linehan said. "It's Wednesday, we're getting ready for the Bears, and that's really the focus of anything anybody wants to ask me today."

Bulger doesn't think his criticism would hurt him in the long run. He called the Rams the closest thing to a family that he has in St. Louis.

"If you really look at what I said, I don't think any of it was really that bad," he said. "But it came from me, so for some reason it's been made out a huge deal that I called out the team, which was not the case."

Barron, the Rams' first-round pick in 2005, led the NFL with 18 penalties last season according to a New York Times survey. This year, he leads the league with nine false starts.

"I think I've been doing OK, but the guys want to cut down on mistakes," Barron said. "We're working on that, trying to tone it down."

Barron didn't think he was the target of Bulger's ire, and referred to the remarks as a "he-said, she-said" situation.

"I didn't take it personally," Barron said. "I don't know about anybody else on the team. I'm not going to worry about thinking he was talking about me."

Incognito, a third-round pick last year who missed his rookie season recovering from knee surgery, has had problems with discipline. He was penalized for unnecessary roughness Sunday and two calls helped the Seahawks rally to beat the Rams last month.

"When Marc made the comment, he didn't say any names," Incognito said. "That's an outside source, outside this family, who made those accusations.

"We pay no merit to that. It's only the people in this room who matter."