Rams not too excited about taking on Bucs

ST. LOUIS -- A regular-season matchup of the St. Louis Rams and Tampa Bay Buccaneers would represent the NFL's best against a team trying to get back to the summit.

But the Rams (0-1) aren't getting too excited about tonight's preseason game against the Super Bowl champions (2-0). They just want to exit healthy.

"It doesn't mean anything," offensive tackle Kyle Turley said. "We're clicking on all cylinders, and we're just biding our time, waiting for the season to start."

Rams coach Mike Martz is more interested in assessing personnel than which team he's playing.

"We've got to be very methodical about the preseason and avoid the temptation to make something maybe more than what it really is, at the expense of losing a good player," Martz said. "The Tampa Bay-Ram thing has been a pretty good rivalry over the years and I think our guys, without saying anything about it, get pretty excited about it."

Bucs coach Jon Gruden respects the Rams, a dominant team before last year's 7-9 finish.

"We realize St. Louis is a great team, not only on offense but defensively," Gruden said. "That's where they've made a lot of acquisitions here in the last couple of years."

Gruden also said the Bucs have a lot to prove.

"We're just like every other team, we haven't won a game," Gruden said. "I do think we have great chemistry on this team."

The Rams (0-1) were winless in the preseason last year and lost their opener last week, 7-6 at Oakland, saddling them with a five-game losing streak. They'd like to enter the year with some success, but it's not that important.

"I don't really pay that much attention to it in the preseason because so many guys are playing," quarterback Kurt Warner said. "It's important to get into a stride, get into a rhythm, get everyone on the same page and start feeling that continuity."

Warner hopes to play most of the first half with Marc Bulger and Kirk Farmer also seeing a lot of action, but he's rarely played more than a quarter in the preseason with St. Louis during his career. Warner again will be working behind a line minus All-Pro Orlando Pace, a contract holdout since being given the franchise tag in the offseason.

Warner, who took a hard hit from the Raiders' John Parrella last week, said he'd like Pace to be in camp "Now! Now!" He said if he were holding out, it would take him probably 2-3 weeks to get ready for the season and the Rams' opener at New York Sept. 7 is just over three weeks away.

"There's always a little bit of buzz about that, guys hoping he gets in there," Warner said. "I don't think anybody has any legitimate information on where it's going and how it's going and what's been said on both sides, I just think everybody here wants him here."

Rams running back Marshall Faulk will miss his second straight preseason game, following the team's conservative early game plan. Since 2000 he's never played in the first two games.

"I don't expect him to see any action until the third preseason game, and then sparingly in the fourth if at all," Martz said. "Just enough to get him in there and get him going pretty good."

Defensive back Aeneas Williams, recovering from torn ankle ligaments and a broken leg that cost him a half-season last year, also will be out due to lingering soreness. Williams won't practice for the time being, either.

The Bucs' quarterback plans are the same as the first two games, with Brad Johnson starting and Shaun King and Chris Simms sharing the remainder of the playing time.

Offensive tackle Kenyatta Walker sprained his right ankle in practice this week and is questionable. Kicker Martin Gramatica has a a sore groin and will sit out the game.

This is the fourth straight time the Bucs and Rams have met on Monday night. The teams played the previous four regular seasons, although they won't meet this year, and Tampa Bay has won three in a row.