When the St. Louis Rams traveled west to face the NFC West champion Arizona Cardinals, they arrived in Glendale, Arizona shorted-handed and maligned. And it didn’t get any better with the one constant for the Rams, Steven Jackson, sidelined because of a herniated disc. Then you have rookie quarterback Keith Null making his third straight start this season.
The end result was as anticipated, with the Cardinals winning 31-10. With one game remaining in the season, the Rams need to lose this Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers to guarantee the number selection in the upcoming draft in April. As of right now, the Detroit Lions have one more win than the Rams.
If both teams end the season with the same record, then the Lions would get the number one pick overall for the second consecutive year. That’s because of the strength of schedule. So what does this mean for the Rams’ last home game?
To me it’s very simple. Don’t start Steven Jackson this Sunday. It would be foolish to trot him out in a game that could determine draft position, let alone raise the possibility that Jackson could get hurt even worse. The Rams can’t afford to have their most valuable player hurting into the start of the following season.
This Sunday’s contest should be used as another audition at the backup running back position. Kenneth Darby was adequate in his first professional start. Chris Ogbonnaya was finally taken out of the moth balls and looked good in his backup role. We need to see more of this young man. I think he could be a very good change-of-pace type of back. He can also be very valuable on third-down situations.
On defense, nobody in particular stood out. The defense as a whole has not executed the basic fundamentals of the game this season. I’m talking about the little things like catching the ball on defense. This is something that has plagued the Rams even going back to when Mike Martz was head coach. Nothing drives a coach or a fan mad more than to see a potential game-breaking interception dropped.
One more game, then we can all look back on this season and say, “It was all a bad dream.” Ah, maybe not. Happy New Year.
