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Shoulder injury likely to end Oshiomogho Atogwe's seasonBy Jim Thomas, St. Louis Post-Dispatch Dec. 8--Since taking over as the Rams' starting free safety in 2006, Oshiomogho Atogwe has been a takeaway machine. Over that span, which encompasses 60 consecutive starts, Atogwe has 37 combined forced fumbles and interceptions. But the team's best defensive playmaker may be out for the season following a right shoulder injury in Sunday's 17-9 loss to Chicago. "O.J. has a significant shoulder injury," coach Steve Spagnuolo said. "It did dislocate. They're calling it a labrum tear and a little bit of cartilage damage." Atogwe will need surgery, but he's trying to determine whether he can postpone the surgery until after the season, thus finishing out the year playing with a harness on the shoulder. "Those are some of the decisions, or the information, that I'm sifting through," Atgowe said Monday. "Just seeing as soon as we get some of the swelling out how it will feel, whether (the shoulder) will just continue to come out or whether it'll stay in there. That's just some of the things we're discussing right now." Atogwe suffered the injury on the final play of the first half, trying to tackle Bears running back Matt Forte. "It was a weird hit," Atogwe said. "I went down and hit him and he kind of caught me flush with his helmet directly on my shoulder. ... It was just one of those freak hits -- it was perfect placement, I guess you'd say." As players from both teams headed to the locker room for halftime, Atogwe remained in the middle of the field surrounded by Rams medical personnel, getting his shoulder popped into place before 62,000 witnesses at Soldier Field. "Where else would you want to have it?" Atgowe joked. "If they did it wrong, I've got all these witnesses. ... I was fine. It wasn't that bad as far as the pain. I was just wanting to get it back (in place) as soon as possible." Before the injury, Atogwe recorded two forced fumbles Sunday, recovering one of them himself on the second play of the game. For the year, he has two interceptions, three forced fumbles and a sack and is second on the team with 84 tackles. "I tell you what, he does a great job for us and I love the guy," Spagnuolo said. "Really as much the person as the player. You saw him out there (Sunday). He causes the turnover, gets the fumble. He brings a lot of energy. He was right there by me the whole second half, right into the game, and that's what he's all about." Even though he was out of the game, Atgowe said he wanted to do what he could, whether it was pointing out things he noticed from the sideline or simply trying to cheer on his teammates. "I was trying to be a part of the game as much as possible without being a distraction," Atogwe said. Shoulder injuries are an occupational hazard for the safety position, particularly safeties such as Atogwe who are active tacklers. Over the previous three seasons, Atogwe averaged 98 stops, and he's on pace this season for his second straight 100-tackle campaign. He had a partly torn rotator cuff in the same shoulder earlier in his Rams career but was able to play through it. As much as he'd like, Atogwe might not have that luxury this time around, particularly with surgery looming. Playing on a 1-11 squad, and scheduled for free agency again after this season, why wouldn't Atogwe just stay on the sidelines, get healthy and get ready for 2010? "Because in this game, in this life, you're not promised tomorrow," Atogwe said. "So I can't take it for granted while I'm in this season to say, 'Well, I have next season.' You never know what will happen. There's guys who were playing last year who didn't even make it to the field this year due to certain decisions they made, or just life happening to them. So I don't want to take it for granted, the moments that I do have." Even so, it's more likely that Craig Dahl will fill in for Atogwe for the remainder of the season. "I believe in Craig Dahl -- his ability to play in this league," Atogwe said. "And I know he'll do fine." Dahl has been through this before as a Ram, starting three games at strong safety in October when James Butler was sidelined by a knee injury. Dahl has good range and is a sure tackler, although he doesn't have Atogwe's flair for takeaways. Then again, few do in the NFL. "We get a few reps throughout the week, but as a backup you never know when your shot's going to come," Dahl said. "So you've got to be fresh on the game plan and know what to do when you get thrown in there."
