Rob Grabowski-US PRESSWIRE
While the St. Louis Rams rebuilding effort has seen some real positive steps thus far in 2012, the team came back to earth a bit in their 23-6 defeat at the hands of the Chicago Bears on Sunday. There were plenty of areas to be concerned about as a Rams’ fan, but here are the primary issues that plagued the team on Sunday.
OFFENSIVE LINE
First and foremost, the O-line was a complete disaster. Coming into the game, the makeshift unit was injury-riddled with just Harvey Dahl remaining healthy from the season’s starting five. Fill-ins Wayne Hunter at tackle, Quinn Ojinnaka at guard, and Robert Turner at center were particularly dreadful in the loss. The unit was largely to blame for the two inceptions, six sacks allowed, and mere 59 yards rushing that the Rams accumulated during the contest. This area needs to show some real improvement if the team has any hopes of competing for the rest of 2012.
RECEIVING CORPS
This area was listed as a deficiency to start the season, but no one thought that it would be quite this bad. Second round pick Brian Quick was on the inactive list for the game which is a bit disturbing for a player taken that early in the draft. Austin Pettis’ return from suspension was the reason for this demotion, but still Quick was chosen well before Chris Givens who was still active for the contest. Danny Amendola was kept under wraps by the Bears’ defense and that really is all that quarterback Sam Bradford has to look for at this point.
RUNNING BACK
Steven Jackson didn’t practice all week, yet still played on gameday. He had nowhere to run however and neither did anyone else in the backfield as the running game sputtered all game long. Rookie Isaiah Pead has been missing in action for the most part all season as he had just one catch on the game. The Rams’ draft class is beginning to look less and less impressive as the season moves along.
Are the Rams improved? Sure. But when a team wins just 15 games over the past five years, it’s hard not to be at least marginally better. This is definitely still a work in progress and the game with the Bears was only further evidence of that.
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