Questions about Ohio State’s coaching change dominated the conversation when St. Louis Rams linebacker James Laurinaitis spent nearly 19 minutes on SiriusXM NFL Radio recently.

Laurinaitis, who played for Jim Tressel at Ohio State before joining the Rams as a second-round draft choice in 2009, said Tuesday that he hoped people would eventually remember his former coach for a successful 10-year run.

The subject turned to the Rams near the end of the interview. Laurinaitis’ thoughts on the Rams’ recent trip to see tornado victims in Joplin, Mo., seemed particularly well put:

“To be honest with you, it’s one of those things that is hard to talk about because you wish you could have done it in silence. It was an opportunity that we had to get on a plane and fly down to Joplin. The cool thing, finding out about it now, Adam Goldberg told me he had 25 guys wanting to jump on the flight and he had to reject 21 of them because we could only take four with us.

“We just wanted to help out the people down there and take their minds off what had happened for a little bit. The really encouraging thing is when you get down there and visit at Missouri Southern (State) College where the Red Cross had set up a temporary living situation for about 200 people and had a little child care going on. We just wanted to play with those kids and let the people know that there are people out there that care. We wanted to be there to show them that people care about them and love them, and they are in a lot of thoughts and prayers, not only in St. Louis but throughout the United States.”

Crews will focus on debris removal beginning Wednesday.

Arizona Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald finished fourth in ESPN.com voting for the best offensive players who aren’t quarterbacks.

The St. Louis Rams’ Steven Jackson appeared on one ballot, mine, while no other NFC West players drew mention.

Building upon an earlier item, I’d like to narrow the focus by considering a specific question, as presented in the poll.

Which unestablished NFC West players — younger players without Pro Bowl acclaim to this point — will join Fitzgerald in the conversation? I discussed the subject with Matt Williamson of Scouts Inc. and will revisit it on the blog Wednesday after considering your thoughts as well.

The question can reveal plenty about the raw potential for offenses in the division. It can also reflect the value quarterbacks play in maximizing the talent around them.

The St. Louis Rams’ future appears bright with Sam Bradford under center, but the other young players on that offense lack obvious star power. The Seattle Seahawks’ Russell Okung could rank among the top couple left tackles, it appears. The 49ers’ Michael Crabtree was considered a strong value at No. 10 in the 2009 NFL draft, but he hasn’t done much yet.

Punch your ballots and let’s pick up the conversation from there.

ST. LOUIS, Mo. — The agent for Mardy Gilyard denied that the St. Louis Rams wide receiver requested a trade.”Mardy Gilyard never requested a trade,” agent Andy Simms wrote on his Twitter account. “Untrue.” Former Rams assistant coach Rick Venturi, who now works for 101 ESPN in St. Louis, originally declared that Gilyard wanted out of the Gateway City.After signing a four-year, $2.34 million deal in last summer, Gilyard reeled in six passes for 63 yards in 11 games during his rookie season.He suffered a major wrist injury which ended his campaign.The Rams selected Gilyard out of the University of Cincinnati with the first pick in the fourth round of the 2010 NFL draft.

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The St. Louis Rams stand out among ascending teams that finished last season with losing records.

They made a six-game jump to 7-9 and came within one victory of a postseason berth.

Are they more likely than the Dallas Cowboys and other 2010 also-rans to break through with a postseason berth in 2011?

ESPN’s John Clayton and I considered the matter in our recent Hot Button discussion. He took the Cowboys. I took the Rams. We both painted reasonable pictures, I thought.

The Seattle Seahawks missed the cut because they won the division and won a playoff game, putting them in position to fall off even if they remain on their intended track from a long-term planning perspective.

And what about the San Francisco 49ers? They’ve won plenty of offseason championships over the past few years. Perhaps a break from inflated expectations will do them good.

From a perception standpoint, drafting Colin Kaepernick 36th overall gave the 49ers a long-range outlook that didn’t exist when the team was making shorter-term bets on Alex Smith. It’s also plausible to think an extended lockout might hurt the 49ers in particular as they implement new schemes on offense, defense and special teams.

The 49ers did join the Rams in getting support during a recent “NFL Live.”

Read More: Kurt Warner (QB – ARI), Chester Pitts (G – SEA), Seattle Seahawks, St. Louis Rams

Kurt Warner’s comments in a recent USA Today article about the NFL lockout have earned him the ire of at least one active NFL player—Chester Pitts says in a CBS Sports article that when he heard the former St. Louis Rams star’s comments he was “disappointed” and “disheartened” to hear Warner make comments that seemed in favor of the owners’ positions “now that he’s retired and wealthy.” 

Warner’s comments are, on their face, more pragmatic than ideological; he suggested that “The players have too much to lose. And as much as I hate to say it, at some point, the players have to give in.” But Pitts, offensive guard for the Seattle Seahawks, doesn’t appreciate the idea of the players giving in now because he views the lockout as “a marathon, not a sprint.” 

Football players are in a uniquely weak bargaining position among the three major American sports; Pitts senses that, and it’s clear that he thinks an early resolution to the lockout on the part of the players would do nothing but weaken them further.