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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Steve Spagnuolo never wore his Giants Super Bowl ring in St. Louis during his first season as Rams coach.



Spagnuolo wore the ring Friday while making the Super Bowl media rounds, a reminder of the success he had before his 1-15 debut season in St. Louis.



“One of these days, when we’re just about to try to clinch a playoff berth, I’m going to pull it out and say, ‘This is what we’re trying to get,’ ” Spagnuolo said. “Right now, we’re kind of building step by step. I felt coming to the Super Bowl, I should wear my Super Bowl ring. I’m lucky to have one.”



The Rams will have to resolve quite a few questions for Spagnuolo to wear the ring in St. Louis. He was typically coy in addressing those and other issues Friday:

• The team doesn’t have a specific timeline for making a decision on Marc Bulger‘s future. Bulger might have bigger priorities in the short term; he’s engaged and a wedding could be in his offseason plans.
• Jason Smith will not necessarily open the 2010 season at left tackle. Smith could stay on the right side. A decision has not been made and Spagnuolo said he does not feel pressure to play Smith on the left side just because the team used the No. 2 overall choice on him.
• The team could make a few tweaks to its playbooks and beyond after a self-scouting process that is ongoing. “There’s tremendous growth after the first year,” Spagnuolo said.
• Spagnuolo has interviewed a few candidates to fill the vacancy created with trainer Jim Anderson’s firing. Spagnuolo could interview one more candidate before making a decision. “We want the best guy for our team, our players, to help our players get back on the field quicker, try to prevent injury, etc., but it’s all tied into strength training and those things,” Spagnuolo said. “I look at it as hiring one of the coordinators. I think that is an important position. Anybody who puts their hands on the players directly I think is really important. We will take it real seriously.”
• Spagnuolo gave his coaching staff relatively high marks under the circumstances. “I am relying on my own experience in saying I thought the coaching staff did a real good job in the situation we were in,” he said. “It’s very hard to evaluate that type of thing with 1-15 and all the injuries we have.”
• Spagnuolo provided more clarity on the picture issue at Rams Park. “When we first got there, there were a lot of pictures up there that were individual pictures,” he said. “The gist of what we do is team first, so we changed it a little bit. We took them all down at the beginning, then put them back up in the hallways, little updated pictures, all team-oriented pictures. Now, up on the second floor, there are still a lot of pictures of Kurt (Warner) and Marshall (Faulk) and all kinds of former Rams. But in the auditorium, the actual room where we meet with the players, we have not put the pictures up yet and we are still contemplating what we are going to do. The mindset was that this was a work area, but I have a tremendous amount of respect for the history and the tradition of the Rams and what they did certainly 10 years ago. It wasn’t disrespect to any of that. It was just trying to interject nothing but team. Everything in that building was going to be a vision toward, it wasn’t going to be about one person, one guy, just team.”
• Spagnuolo said he would be “more than happy” to speak with former Rams players interested in helping out with coaching.
• The Rams could have their next wide receivers coach by Wednesday. Spagnuolo has not spoken with Isaac Bruce, who is likely to retire, but remains under contract to the 49ers and off-limits as a result. Spagnuolo spoke with Giants offensive quality control coach Sean Ryan on the phone regarding the job. He has spoke to additional candidates and hopes to speak with at least one more.

Those were the primary notes from our conversation. Spagnuolo is scheduled to fly out of Fort Lauderdale before the game Sunday.

The Colts’ official pool report on practice, filed by Peter King on behalf of the Pro Football Writers Association:

DAVIE, Fla. — On a day when defensive end Dwight Freeney did not practice but cornerback Jerraud Powers got in some work, another player had to leave the Colts’ third Super Bowl practice of the week after aggravating an existing injury: Indianapolis all-pro wide receiver Reggie Wayne.

Wayne pulled up short running a pass-route late in the workout and left Colts’ practice 20 minutes before it ended Friday with what coach Jim Caldwell said was an injury to the fat pad in his right knee.

Caldwell said he didn’t believe the injury was serious, and Wayne walked off the field unassisted into the trainers room at the Miami Dolphins practice facility. Backup wideout Hank Baskett took his place in the remainder of the 1-hour, 25-minute workout, covering mostly short-yardage and red-zone work on a typical Friday practice day for the Colts.

“He just irritated the fat pad in his knee,’’ Caldwell said.

The fat pad is the collection of soft tissue below the kneecap that protects the underlying structure of the knee. Wayne has had the injury much of the season and played through it, and it apparently was quite manageable: He finished his second all-pro season in the last three years with 100 catches for 1,264 yards and 10 touchdowns, playing all 16 regular-season games and both so far in the playoffs.

In other Colts’ injury news, the team got a boost with the limited practice work done Friday by Powers. It’s the first time Powers has practiced or played since injuring the foot in the first quarter of the Jan. 16 division playoff victory over Baltimore. “There’s no doubt in my mind that I’ll be out there Sunday,’’ Powers said on Wednesday, but the team listed him as questionable in its final injury report of the week.

Wayne was listed as probable to play against the Saints on Sunday in Super Bowl XLIV, while Freeney was listed as questionable. Caldwell said Freeney “may do’’ a little running or simulated practice work later Friday afternoon, and though Freeney had said Thursday he would try to practice some on Friday, Caldwell said, “This is right in line with our plans. He’s making very good progress.’’ Freeney suffered a third-degree ankle sprain in the AFC Championship Game victory over the Jets on Jan. 24 and has not practiced in the 12 days since.

The Colts will have their customary 40-minute walkthrough practice Saturday at noon, but for all intents and purposes, this was the team’s last serious pre-Super Bowl practice. Caldwell said he was satisfied with the quality of work and the site of team practices while in south Florida.

“We get spoiled because we practice so well all year long,’’ he said. “Overall, these practices were right in line with what we’ve done all year, and we’re pleased. The Dolphins have a first-class facility and have given us an open-arms reception. We’re grateful for it. Things have worked out great for us here.’’

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Just got this news from Chicago: The Bears have decided to elevate Rod Marinelli to defensive coordinator, part of a series of moves to finalize their 2010 coaching staff.



I’ll have more on this in a bit — including some discussion about what changed after coach Lovie Smith said last month that Marinelli didn’t want the job. But I wanted to make sure you had the news first.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — There appear to be only two locks this year for the 2010 class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, set to be announced Saturday. Based on informal conversations during this Super Bowl hype week, there is little doubt that receiver Jerry Rice and running back Emmitt Smith will get elected.



By definition, that means the three finalists with NFC North ties are on the bubble. So with a little more than 24 hours left until the 5 p.m. ET (Saturday) announcement, let’s take a look at the pros and cons of each player’s candidacy. In alphabetical order:



Cris Carter

Key qualification: When he retired after the 2002 season, he ranked second on the NFL’s all-time list of receptions (1,101) and touchdowns (130).

Working against him: Receivers historically have a tougher time than other positions, and Rice is already a lock. There are currently 20 receivers in the Hall of Fame, less than running backs (25), quarterbacks (23), offensive linemen (34) and defensive linemen (27).



Richard Dent

Key qualification: When he retired after the 1995 season, his 137.5 sacks ranked third all-time in the NFL, thanks in part to a run of five consecutive seasons with 10 or more sacks.

Working against him: From a statistical standpoint, there’s nothing to argue against here. Dent was a Hall of Fame player. In recent years, however, he seems to have fallen victim to competing against other 100-sack players like Fred Dean, Bruce Smith and John Randle. This year, Charles Haley will be added to that list. Sometimes those players cancel each other out in the eyes of some voters.



John Randle

Key qualification: Had more sacks (131) between the years 1991-2002 than any other NFL player.

Working against him: Has the exact career sack total as Dent (137.5), which means he falls in the same category: A player with Hall of Fame sack totals competing against others with similar qualifications. Not everyone gets in.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell discusses the NFL’s labor issues at his state-of-the league address.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — In his rookie season as a head coach, Jim Caldwell has said over and over that he believes in self-fulfilling prophecy. He’s quoted this Chinese proverb several times:

“Be careful how you think. Your life is shaped by your thoughts.”

This week he also pointed to Proverbs 23:7: “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”



If one thing is clear about Caldwell — a serious, guarded and thoughtful man — it is that he is a spiritual person, unafraid of using biblical messages to help guide his players.



Members of his staff are in line with that.



“One thing that’s neat about coaching is it makes you walk by faith, it’s not a by-sight thing,” receivers coach Clyde Christensen said. “We could be home next week and I could be unemployed. You just trust. There is a great verse in Exodus that we shared as a staff Tuesday morning: ‘God doesn’t take you the most direct route.’



“He didn’t take the Israelites the most direct route to the Promised Land because they couldn’t handle it. They needed to develop some character and of course they screwed it up and took 40 years. But he didn’t take them the most direct route.”



Hearing Caldwell and Christensen early Wednesday morning, I started to think about how I view the spiritual aspect of the Colts.



Certainly the atmosphere Tony Dungy created and Caldwell inherited fosters faith. But it’s not a pushy environment and wouldn’t make someone who might be uninterested in such things uncomfortable.



That’s because when Caldwell points out a biblical passage, it typically has undeniable football and life applications. When coachable guys are offered such nuggets, they generally gobble them up.



“He’ll tell you it’s all about winning football games,” special-teams coach Ray Rychleski said. “Now he has a certain belief beyond football obviously, but he wants to send a message that helps our football team — ‘This is how it’s been, this is what can work for us.’



“Everybody makes analogies with things and tries to compare things and that’s his way of doing it and people understand it. Whatever he’s selling, everybody’s buying into it.”



Clint Session said he feels like the bulk of the team’s roster is invested in the spiritual and biblical, that Bill Polian even works to find guys who will fit in with it.



“Guys that know, ‘Whatever this coach is telling me, it’s for a good reason,’” Session said. “… He comes out some mornings and throws a Bible verse on the board, and you look at it and think, ‘This has so much of a connection to our team and what I deal with throughout life.’



“He’s not only teaching us to be better players, he’s also teaching us to be a man with dignity and pride and integrity. Words we will be able to use throughout football and after football. When you take care of that, it’s going to show on the field.”

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — It’s hard to believe that Saints head coach Sean Payton once had his play-calling duties stripped when he was offensive coordinator with the New York Giants in 2002, but that’s exactly what happened. When Bill Parcells became head coach of the Cowboys in 2003, one of his first hires was Payton. In effect, he gave him an opportunity to reset his career.



Payton was instrumental in helping Quincy Carter lead the Cowboys to 10 wins and a playoff appearance in 2003 and it wasn’t long before Al Davis tried to hire him to become head coach in Oakland. Payton came close to accepting the job, but he decided to give Jerry Jones one more chance at the negotiating table. Jones never enjoyed paying big money to assistants, but he increased Payton’s salary from $500,000 to $1 million.



Payton called and told Davis he wasn’t coming. In 2006, the Saints made him their head coach. Randy Galloway of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram has a good column today about how grateful Payton is for the time he spent with Parcells.



“[Parcells] knows how to win, and I learned an awful lot in a short period of time, three years,” Payton said. “When you think about that opportunity for a young guy to work with a Hall of Fame coach, it’s invaluable.”



Payton attempted to take then-Cowboys offensive line coach Tony Sparano with him to New Orleans as his offensive coordinator, but Parcells blocked the move. Sparano might not admit it now, but at the time he thought Parcells’ decision may have ended any hopes he had of being a head coach in the league. He was furious with Parcells for not allowing him to pursue an obvious promotion in both title and money.



Of course, now we know the rest of the story. Parcells and Sparano are running a little team here in South Florida.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — If you’re looking for insight on what kind of transition the Buffalo Bills will go through as they morph into a 3-4 team under defensive coordinator George Edwards, you can do a lot worse than talk to Miami Dolphins linebacker Channing Crowder.



“George is like my second father,” Crowder said Friday morning along Radio Row in the Super Bowl media center. “The coolest coach in the NFL.”



Crowder knows Edwards well. They went through a 3-4 transformation together with the Dolphins, where Edwards was linebackers coach the past five seasons.



Edwards left the Dolphins in January to be the defensive coordinator at the University of Florida, Crowder’s alma mater. Crowder shook his head at the idea of Edwards leaving the Gators after three weeks.



“I guess he thought the opportunity in Buffalo was better,” Crowder said. “I was upset about the Florida thing, but with the love I have for George Edwards and knowing the type of coach he is, I’m happy for him. Buffalo got a great coach.”



The Bills operated out of a Tampa 2 system under head coach Dick Jauron and interim coach Perry Fewell.



Crowder sketched out Edwards’ philosophy as one that emphasizes stuffing the run above all else, with pass-rushing the second priority.



“That’s all he talks about, stopping the run and then try to get pressure on the quarterback,” Crowder said. “He preached that to us the whole time. So, to Buffalo fans, that’s what he’ll do.”



Crowder said Dolphins linebacker Reggie Torbor already had been on the phone with Bills linebacker Kawika Mitchell to give an Edwards testimonial. Mitchell and Torbor won the Super Bowl together with the New York Giants.



How big of a project will it be to switch to a 3-4? Crowder didn’t think it would be difficult.



Nick Saban, who preferred a 4-3 defense, brought Edwards to the Dolphins and drafted Crowder. When Saban split for Alabama, Edwards remained on Cam Cameron’s staff and continued to coach a 4-3.



But when Bill Parcells took over as football operations boss after the 2007 season, the Dolphins switched to a 3-4.



“I didn’t know anything about a 3-4,” Crowder said. “He taught me everything. I didn’t know about taking on linemen. For me, it was always ‘See ball, get ball’ my whole career. That’s basically what a 4-3 is. Stay in your gap, find the ball and take off running.



“He got me to the level where I can be a starting 3-4 inside linebacker in the NFL.”



Crowder foresees defensive tackle Marcus Stroud playing the five-technique position, an outside defensive tackle. The Bills will need to identify the all-important 3-4 nose tackle.



“That nose position,” Crowder said, “I don’t know if they have that guy. That five can destroy one side of an offensive line. Then you need that big nose to plug the middle.



“It’s a different defense, different schemes. There are different blocking techniques. It’s a learning curve, but I believe with the talent they have at linebacker, they’ll be OK.



“I can guarantee their defense will be better.”