By Nick Wagoner
Senior Writer

Soon after losing center Andy McCollum for the season to a torn anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligament, Rams coach Scott Linehan began evaluating the options for how best to piece together an offensive line.

When McCollum went down in the second quarter against Denver, the Rams simply plugged backup Larry Turner into the spot. Although Turner got solid reviews for his performance against the Broncos, his work didn’t necessarily solidify the starting job for him.

On Wednesday, the Rams began further exploring their options at center with left guard Richie Incognito as the key element in the experiment.

“You have to ask yourself, ‘Are we weakening two positions or are we getting our best five in the game?’” Linehan said. “Because we have a week and we are playing for an entire season as opposed to somebody that is out for a week or two, our plan is to start now as opposed to waiting for two weeks from now to start playing our best five out there. We have to go through that evaluation and the only way we can do that is to try it.”

Linehan says a final decision on who will be starting in McCollum’s place this week and, perhaps, the rest of the season, will likely be made after tomorrow’s practice. During Wednesday’s workout, Incognito got his share of repetitions at center, but Turner and recent addition Brett Romberg also got some work in.

As it stands, it appears Incognito could have the inside track on the center job with Todd Steussie sliding in at left guard. That isn’t official, but it seems to be the direction the situation is heading.

Should that turn out to be the case, Incognito will be making his first appearance at center since his freshman year at Nebraska. As a true freshman, Incognito worked with the scout team as he took a redshirt. During his redshirt freshman year he played in a couple of games at center, but he hasn’t been the man in the middle since.

With that in mind, Incognito knows it’s going to be a big adjustment sliding a spot to the right.

“(It’s) two totally different worlds,” Incognito said. “There's center, there's guard, there's tackle. It's three different things. It's the difference between chess and backgammon. Center's a thinking man's spot. You've got to think. You've got to react to what they're giving you. And you've got to let everybody know what's going on.”

For the record, Incognito classifies center as chess or a thinking man’s game while guard is backgammon and tackle is more like chutes ‘n ladders. Regardless, Incognito has some work to do to take over for the always durable and steady McCollum.

A center in the NFL has a plethora of responsibilities ranging from something as simple as snapping the ball to the quarterback to as complicated as recognizing an opponent’s defense and making the correct protection call.

“The important thing is getting the ball up to the quarterback so we can get playing,” Linehan said. “I’m not as worried about (the calls) as I am about making sure we handle the exchange without any problems.”

Still, the calls are a big part of what a center does. Turner is clearly comfortable with that aspect of the job since he has played center exclusive for Linehan. But that doesn’t mean Incognito doesn’t know the calls, either.

“Both of them have done it,” Linehan said. “Larry has done it more within what we are doing in our system. Richie knows them. He just hasn’t been the one saying them. It’s just a matter of now being the one that vocalizes the calls. The calls being made by the center directly affect the left guard so he knows exactly what the calls are and when they have got to be made. It just takes a little bit of time and comfort. Larry has been doing it and has done well. It’s important, but we keep it pretty basic and simple to where he’s going to make a call to a certain linebacker or a protection call and execute the technique.”

Like any position that was up for grabs in training camp, Linehan and his staff are approaching the battle for the starting center job like an open competition. Incognito, Turner and Romberg will get reps with quarterback Marc Bulger during this week’s practice.

Although only one of those players will be handling the snaps against San Francisco, Linehan says it is important to have depth because losing a center and having nobody to snap the ball is a coach’s worst nightmare.

“The center spot is the one that makes you the most nervous going into the game…that if you lose your center, what are you going to do?” Linehan said. “Not that anyone is less important, it’s just easier for a guy to swing from guard to guard or tackle to tackle. You lose your center now you have got some issues if you haven’t been taking snaps all week with somebody.”

With Incognito, Turner and Romberg working at center this week in practice, the Rams won’t enter Sunday’s game without a couple of centers capable of handling the snaps. And though Turner might be a bit frustrated that he must compete for the spot, Linehan says his role remains important whether he’s the starter.

“I’m sure Larry probably feels like we don’t have confidence in him,” Linehan said. “I explained to him it has nothing to do with him. What’s going to happen now is we have to give ourselves depth at the position. We were weakened at the position because of an injury. It is a competition and the best man is going to win the job. That’s how we are always going to do it. We have to do our best as coaches to try to get what we feel and think are our best five.”

Whether Linehan will actually announce who will start Sunday remains to be seen, but it appears that he is preparing for all possible scenarios at the position. If indeed Incognito wins out, he knows he has to be on top of his game because the move to center could last longer than a game.

“You've got to really know what everyone's doing because you're directing all the traffic,” Incognito said. “So I've got to know what the left tackle's doing, what the right tackle's doing, where the tight end's going. I've got to make the 'points.' So it's a lot more than in college. In college, it was, 'OK, I've got the guy over me, I'm just going to maul him.' That was it.”

Now, it’s a whole lot more.