Well, the Rams dropped their 11th in a row at home and their 10th in a row against the Seahawks.  The play was so bad that the rookie T Jason Smith, who was held out due to his concussion he received last week against the Cardinals, threw up on the sidelines just watching the game (OK, he had more concussion related problems, but you get what I’m driving at).  Let’s give the offense credit here – they put up yards and 17 points.  Let’s give the defense credit here – they held Matt Hasselbeck to roughly 100 yards passing and hit him a few times.  But by all accounts, this was a regression – not an improvement.

It’s clear to me that the defense cannot seem to stop the run.  They’ve made huge plays late in games over the past few weeks, but far and away this team is not consistent at its run stopping.  Justin Forsett had his career game this week; last week Tim Hightower ran up and down the Rams front 7; 2 weeks ago Reggie Bush had arguably his best offensive game in his career.  As we get closer to the end of the season, I’m going to start looking towards offseason needs – and one has to be a big bodied defensive tackle to keep James Laurinaitis and Co. clean.  The run defense has irked coach Spags; but we all knew this would be a long term rebuilding project.

Here were some bright spots from the blacked out game:

Donnie Avery catching another TD pass; this time early in the game to knot it up at 7-7;

James Laurinaitis recorded his first sack of the season;

“Action” Steven Jackson continued his awe-inspiring season, with over 100 yards from scrimmage and a TD in his 4th straight game;

The Rams ran 78 plays for 364 yards of offense – a 4.7 yard per play average;

The defense forced another turnover, with Justin King recovering a fumble.

Look, there are positives to every game, but the big negative is one of those negatives that has plagued the Rams for the past few years – INJURIES.

Steven Jackson, Mike Karney, Marc Bulger, Jason Smith, Jason Brown and Richie Incognito are all key players for the Rams who either played hurt, got hurt during the game, or didn’t play due to injuries.  The list continues to mount, and the offensive line just cannot – scratch that, the team cannot – handle another key injury.  Jackson being hurt was bound to happen as long as teams continued to key in on just him, though hopefully Donnie Avery’s reappearance will soften up those defenses, but the Rams have hit the breaking point – they lost 2 starting receivers, 2 starting defensive tackles, the starting quarterback, the blocking fullback, the impressive center, the starting right side of the offensive line, and a couple of starting cornerbacks to injury.  Mind you, the team wasn’t loaded with talent to begin with.  It’s going to be difficult for the Rams to win any ball games unless they:

- Shore up the run defense.

- Keep playing aggressive offense.

- Keep being gutsy with coaching decisions.

- Get turnovers.

This ball club has a shot against Chicago – provided they force turnovers and stop the run.

More to come later in the week.