EARTH CITY, Mo. — St. Louis Rams head coach Jeff Fisher caused a bit of a stir with the six players he sent out as game captains for the pregame coin toss Sunday against the Washington Redskins: wide receiver Stedman Bailey, defensive tackle Michael Brockers, cornerback Janoris Jenkins, linebacker Alec Ogletree, running back Zac Stacy and tackle Greg Robinson.

Those players were selected by the Rams with either the same picks or subsequent traded picks that resulted from the 2012 trade with Washington in which the Redskins acquired the Rams’ second overall selection and picked quarterback Robert Griffin III. In Sunday’s game, Griffin was on the bench for most of the game as Colt McCoy started.

Bailey told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch none of the players knew of Fisher’s plan until just before kickoff and even then didn’t realize why he was doing it. Bailey said each player was told separately when Fisher “whispered in everybody’s ears that we’d be out for the coin toss.” As they walked out on the field, he said, “We just kinda looked at each other like, ‘OK, maybe these are the guys that have been playing good lately.’ We weren’t really sure.”

Of course, that wouldn’t have been the case because Stacy has hardly played in recent weeks since the emergence of rookie running back Tre Mason. When told by a reporter after the game about the players being direct or indirect parts of the deal, Bailey said, “I didn’t know that was the statement that was made. Now that you’re telling me, that makes a lot of sense. I’m glad coach Fisher did that.”

Fisher wasn’t asked about it after the game, but was Monday. He said, “It made too much sense to us to go ahead and recognize the guys that probably wouldn’t be here had it not been for that trade. We wanted to do that before the game. It was a memory that will last them for a lifetime. It was a good idea. I’ve sent other people out for different reasons as well. I’m glad you guys all noticed it, too, by the way.”

Asked whether it was a little jab at the Redskins, Fisher said, “No, not at all. We’re not like that.” He did say, however, “I think they’ve got more issues than the coin toss.”