Rams rookie WR Mike Thomas trying to move on from costly mistakes

Rams rookie WR Mike Thomas trying to move on from costly mistakes

Alden Gonzalez

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. -- His stint as the Los Angeles Rams' interim coach is only a week old now, but John Fassel -- energetic, engaging and warmhearted -- has already found an aspect of his new job that he thoroughly enjoys: lifting spirits.

"That part of coaching is kind of fun," Fassel said. "Take a kid that you can tell is just distraught like, 'Come on, there's a lot of balls coming back at you left. Next time it comes, you've got to make the play.'"

Fassel was referring to Mike Thomas, the rookie receiver and sixth-round pick who had a nightmare four-day stretch. On Sunday, he fumbled the opening kickoff in an eventual 42-14 loss to the Atlanta Falcons. On Thursday, seven minutes into a 24-3 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, Thomas dropped a deep pass that would've gone for at least a 45-yard gain and could've resulted in a touchdown.

After fumbling the kickoff -- a ball that bounced off his shoulder pads that Thomas then failed to recover -- Fassel immediately got in his ear.

"This is a really, really good test for you Mike," Fassel told him, "to see how mentally tough you are to bounce back for the next 59 minutes and 56 seconds."

Thomas, fulfilling the duties of an injured Benny Cunningham, returned kickoffs the rest of the game without incident. But then Thursday came. The 6-foot-1, 200-pound receiver sneaked wide open on a fly route towards the middle of the field, a good 5 yards behind Seahawks free safety Steven Terrell. Jared Goff's pass was slightly underthrown, but still very catchable. It trickled off Thomas' fingertips and onto the ground. Thomas buried his face in the turf for a second, then sprung up and clapped his hands together.

"I was very hard on myself," Thomas said, "because you don't expect to make major mistakes like that at all. Just hard on myself."

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