Sept. 8, 1999

by James Thomas, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

ST. LOUIS - The Rams' clerical mix-up Sunday has cost the team a player.

Corey Sears, who would have been part of the defensive tackle rotation against the Baltimore Ravens, was claimed on waivers Monday by the Arizona Cardinals.

Because the Rams were late in sending paperwork to the NFL office on waived/injured players June Henley and Jeremy McKinney, the league made the Rams waive two other players and keep Henley and McKinney on the active roster for another day.

So, the Rams waived Sears and former Maryland cornerback Clifton Crosby with the idea of re-signing them once the 24-hour claiming period ended.

Crosby, in fact, cleared waivers and was re-signed by the Rams, but Sears is heading out of town. Crosby joins 1998 Terrapin teammates Eric Barton (Raiders) and Kendall Ogle (Browns) as NFL rookies this season. A fourth, Rasheed Simmons, was cut last week by the N.Y. Giants. Barton, in his final preseason game last week against Arizona, intercepted a pair of passes and returned a fumble 35 yards for a touchdown..

Sears went to bed Sunday unaware that he had been cut. So, he was jolted by the news when he showed up for work Monday morning at Rams Park.

"It's been an emotional roller coaster, but that's business," Sears said. "I woke up (Monday) morning as a Ram, that's what I was thinking."

Sears would have preferred to have cleared waivers and stayed with the Rams. "I love my teammates," he said. "I don't just like them, I love playing with them. They're good guys. I like my coaching staff."

But now, his coaching staff will be headed by Vince Tobin of the Cardinals, not Dick Vermeil of the Rams.

"You can't have hard feelings," said Sears, who started two preseason games for the Rams. "They messed up, so that's their loss."

The Cardinals are short on defensive tackles. Two-time Pro Bowler Eric Swann will be out for another six weeks as he recovers from offseason knee surgery. The team's other starter, Mark Smith, is holding out. Carl Simpson still is recovering from injuries suffered in a recent car accident that also involved teammates Ernest Dye and Lester Holmes.

Vermeil was furious Sunday afternoon when he learned of the paperwork miscue - not so much at his personnel department, but at the NFL office.

"You're damn right I was mad," he said. "It was upsetting to me. I don't know what anyone gains by getting (the paperwork) in 10 minutes later or 11 minutes later. The e-mail was in. The decisions were made two hours earlier."

The Rams had e-mailed the information on Henley and McKinney in plenty of time before the deadline Sunday afternoon. But the league also requires that the same information is faxed to their office, and the faxes arrived a few minutes late.

"We had a breakdown in communication," Vermeil said. "It wasn't done on purpose. ... We just have to write it off as a mistake."

The Rams spent part of Monday night deciding how to fill Sears' roster spot.