I’m sure you sitting on the edge of your seats this past Sunday afternoon watching the Rams drop another home game, their elevenith straight, 27-17 to division rival Seattle. The loss was discouraging in many ways, as the 1-10 Rams failed to show any improvement from the previous home losses to New Orleans and Arizona and in fact, many people would argue they regressed. The game had many disturbing trends, as the offense continued their putridness, the special teams were less than spectacular, and the run defense left much to be desired. It was a game of trends for sure, and the Rams seemed to be trending downward instead of upward.

However, the one thing that seems to be not as discussed are the crucial injuries that the Rams have sustained that past couple of weeks. I know an NFL team is never supposed to give injuries as an excuse to not playing well, but I’m going to grant an exception for this thin Rams team. Spagnuolo and crew took over this team ten months ago with a roster that was already paper thin and devoid of much talent outside of Steven Jackson and Marc Bulger. Devaney and crew had a nice draft and made a few decent free agent pick ups, but the roster was still low on depth. Going into the season, the Rams and the coaching staff knew that any and all injuries to the team were going to be very detrimental to the team’s progress.

The season started off okay in terms of injuries. Bulger missed a few games, but Boller was able to step in nicely and keep the Rams in most games he played in. The Rams lost Laurent Robinson for the season and Donnie Avery missed parts of a few games, and that hurt, but the addition of Danny Amendola and the emergence of Daniel Fells at the tight end position was able to help that loss. On defense, David Vobora was suspended for four games and James Butler missed a couple games, but their backups filled in nicely. During this time, the Rams were able to show marked improvement on both sides of the ball, peaking with the near-miss against New Orleans.

However, it was quite evident (at least to me) that the Rams were hurting from injuries on Sunday. When the team lined up in the second half, they were missing their top quarterback, their top wide receiver, their top three offensive lineman, their starting fullback, and the starting running back was at less than 100%. That’s quite a loss for any NFL team, much less the talentless Rams. The Rams lacked talent at the top of most of their depth chart, much less the middle and bottom of it. The results followed, as the Rams were unable to protect Boller, unable to create holes for Jackson, and unable to do much of anything offensively in the second half against the Seahawks. I’m not looking to make excuses for the team’s losing, but the Rams had suffcient injuries that greatly inhibited their offensive ability on Sunday.

That being said, I’m looking for a much better game on Sunday. Jason Brown and Richie Incognito are expected to play, and Steven Jackson is back in practice this week. Boller should be much better protected on Sunday, and should be able to play at a higher level. The Rams don’t have to win for me to be happy, but I’m expecting a much better game offensively on Sunday, especially up front.

The one thing I am legitmately concerned about is the run defense. Two weeks in a row, the Rams have made Tim Hightower and Justin Forsett look like Jim Brown and Walter Payton. Justin Forsett isn’t even the top running back on the Seahawks, as he was filling in for the injured Julius Jones. I know this unit misses Will Witherspoon, but Paris Lenon, Clifton Ryan, et al have to pick it up in this portion of the game in order for the Rams to be successful. On the contrary, I’m quite pleased with the somewhat positive developments in the pass defense, as Ron Bartell and safeties OJ Atogwe and James Butler finally seem to be gelling to create a formidable unit.

It’s becoming more and more obvious to me that the teams most glaring needs are on the defensive side of the ball. I never would have said that two months ago, but as the season has worn on, it’s become worse and worse, especially on the line. The Rams are going to have to do a lot of work in the offseason bringing guys in and having a good draft, but that’s another p0st for another time.