What receiver Cris Carter realizes is that Wednesday's fiasco that could cost him a chance to sign with the Rams was a "terrible miscommunication."

Carter was part of a mad scramble by the Browns to talk to more than a dozen free agent prospects in two days before coach Butch Davis departed for Thursday's workouts at the University of Miami. Carter sensed the rush. In fact, he chartered his own private plane to squeeze visits to the Dolphins and Browns Tuesday so that he could make it to the Rams by Wednesday evening.

"We were running about two and a half hours late in Cleveland," Carter said Wednesday. "I was scheduled to meet the coach at 10, but didn't get to see him until around 12:30. I still had to see Dwight Clark and I was told they were going to make me an offer."

Carter said he sensed the time crunch and called the Rams office to let them know he might not have time to make his scheduled flight to St. Louis. What he didn't know is how extensive Rams coach Mike Martz had his time planned in St. Louis and how much Martz is a person who demands punctuality.

First, Carter called to change his flight. As the day in Cleveland progressed, he knew he was in trouble, and at one point, he faced the decision of leaving the Browns facility without saying goodbye to Butch Davis and Clark.

The next thing Carter knew is when he called the Rams and found out that the Rams cancelled the entire trip. They cancelled a dinner with Kurt Warner, meetings with coaches and assistants, visits with receivers Isaac Bruce and others.

"I still could have gotten into St. Louis by 7 p.m. When I was told that the trip to St. Louis had been cancelled and asked to talk to Coach Martz, but I was told he was not available. To me, I look at situations and try to look back and see if there was anything I could have done. I couldn't be rude and leave the Browns without saying goodbye to them. I believe there is a certain way to do things.

"This was terrible miscommunication," Carter said. "There is no comparison between the two teams. I have a great desire to be in St. Louis. But even though they didn't have the record of the Rams, I had to show respect to the Browns. To me, it's embarrassing."

Carter said he would continue to call Martz to explain what happened and hope that he would have another chance to visit with the Rams. For the moment, that appears unlikely because Martz plans to go a different direction.

"I think there were people in organization who might have had a couple question marks about me like any organization that would have certain questions about anybody," Carter said. "I believe Coach Martz went to bat for me. With the flight changing, that was enough to set off everything."

Carter wants to play at least two more seasons and will continue talking to the Dophins, Browns and other teams. He said the Rams were the only team he was willing to join to be the third receiver.

John Clayton is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.