Rams' Bruce Recovering

Game days are a lot tougher on Isaac Bruce than his auto accident earlier this week.

The St. Louis Rams' wide receiver blew out a tire at 70 mph and rolled his Mercedes Benz Tuesday night, then walked away from the crushed vehicle without a scratch.

"I didn't even break a fingernail," Bruce said Thursday.

Bruce, one of the NFL's best at his position, had his 21st 100-yard receiving game in the division-clincher at Carolina last week and is second in the NFL with 11 touchdowns.

"He's the man around here and everyone knows it," cornerback Dexter McCleon said. "It's a big relief for the whole city."

After a day off mainly to catch up on sleep, Bruce was back at Rams Park for a Thursday meeting and practice.

"I still feel the little bumps and bruises from Sunday's game, and that's about it," Bruce said. "I'm cool."

Bruce's nickname is "Reverend Ike" because he wants to be a minister in the Church of God and Christ, like his mother, after his playing days are over. He said he knew he'd be fine when he shouted "Jesus!" as the car began to spin, then he took his hands off the steering wheel and waited for the chaos to end.

"I knew I was healed and I knew I'd be protected, and that was it," Bruce said. "The moral of the story is to yell out `Jesus' when you're in trouble. That's what I tell everybody."

The 1997 Mercedes, a vehicle Bruce said he rarely has used, didn't fare so well.

"I looked at it and I was like `Forget it, you can keep it,' " Bruce said. "It looked like a can that you stepped on. The inside was fine but everything else, the wheels, the hood and the trunk, were done."

Bruce wasn't wearing a seat belt in the accident, but said he'll buckle up from now on even though he and his date, Clegzette Sharpe of St. Louis, escaped injury. Sharpe, who had accompanied Bruce to the Missouri-Indiana basketball game, had only a sore back.

"She's fine," Bruce said. "She's ready to roll."

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