by BY JIM THOMAS ¿ jthomas@post-dispatch.com > 314-340-8197 , St. Louis Post-Dispatch

- Things didn't really go my way sometimes. I would just like to tell you that I love you all.

A few minutes later, Roach finally came clean:

- Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. I made the team.

"They all called me yelling and screaming," Roach said. "It was a good moment."

On more than one occasion over the past few months, Steve Spagnuolo has told his players that Rams Park was the "land of opportunity."

Roach, offensive guard Roger Allen III, offensive tackle Eric Young and defensive end C.J. Ah You made the most of the opportunity. All four were among the longest of long shots to make the Rams' 53-man roster over the weekend.

Additional personnel tweaking will take place over the next week or so. So this isn't the best time for any roster long shot to buy that dream home in Town and Country. Spagnuolo said as much Monday.

"For right now, they're on the Football team," Spagnuolo said. "And we know that this thing is forever changing. But they deserve to be here. I told the guys this morning. I congratulated everybody first of all for being on an NFL Football team. It's special. Not everybody can do that.

"And I told them that they should feel proud of it. And then never take it for granted. Coaches, players, should never take this for granted. It can be taken away from you like that." (Spagnuolo snapped his fingers.) Hopefully, the message got through. Hopefully the guys feel that way."

Based on his preseason play, there was no bigger roster long shot than Roach. He had several notable missed tackles, some of which contributed to big plays. He was flagged for a couple of penalties on special teams.

"I had some rough moments, and I also had some good moments," Roach said. "You can't really focus on the bad things when you're out there on the field. You have to have short-term memory, go to the next play and try to make a play the next play."

Roach does have good size at 6-2, 216 pounds, good range, and is a physical player.

"Basically, I'm just going to focus on my weaknesses that I had this preseason now, and make those strengths also," he said.

Originally signed by New Orleans in 2008 as an undrafted rookie out of TCU, Roach spent part of last season on the Rams' practice squad and was promoted to the active roster for the final two games.

But he has yet to play in a regular-season game. The same holds true for Ah You, who has spent most of the past two seasons on the Rams practice squad; Young, who was out of Football last season because of injury; and Allen, a rookie from Missouri Western State.

For the past two training camps, Ah You has stared at a depth chart that included Leonard Little, Chris Long, James Hall and Victor Adeyanju. Most teams keep only four defensive ends, so no matter what Ah You did, there probably was no way he would beat out that group.

He didn't beat them out this year, either. But he played so well in the preseason that he's currently one of five defensive ends on the roster.

"It's been a work in progress," said Ah You, 27, a former Big 12 Conference defensive newcomer of the year. "Every year since I've been here, I've just tried to get better every day. Work on a specific skill and just try to show the coaches I'm improving every day."

Ah You shared the team lead with two sacks this preseason and also had two tackles for loss, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.

"In games, when you get the opportunity, that's when you've got to kind of showcase your stuff," Ah You said.

Allen wasn't sure where he stood until offensive line coach Steve Loney informed him last week that he was being promoted to the second unit for the Governor's Cup game against Kansas City.

"That let me know that they liked me," said Allen, a KC native. "And the fact I was going against Kansas City just amped it up that much more."

Even so, Allen spent much of Saturday - the final cutdown day - waiting for the phone NOT to ring.

"You just go about your day, just take your mind off of it," Allen said. "Watch some TV. Play video games. But in the back of your mind, every phone call, you look down and if it's a number you don't recognize, you say, 'Uh-oh.' "

For Young, finding out that he made the 53-man roster went beyond surprise.

"I was stunned," he said.

He also realizes that the roster can change on a daily basis, especially this time of year.

"I jumped offsides twice today," Young said after Monday's practice. "That can't happen."

---

Up next ? 3:15 p.m. Sunday at Seattle, KTVI (Ch. 2)

Copyright 2009 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc. All Rights Reserved
	Terms & Conditions     Privacy Copyright © 2009 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.