RamView, 10/27

* London injury report:
Out: Wayne Hunter (back); Rodger Saffold (knee); Eugene Sims (knee).
Looks like it will be the legendary combo of Joe Barksdale and not-ESPN's Shelley Smith on the
left side of the Rams' offensive line again this week.
Questionable: Matt Conrath (knee); Mario Haggan (thigh); Mike McNeill (knee).
Probable: Brandon Gibson, who missed a practice earlier this week due to illness.

And then there's Danny Amendola, who practiced with the team all week on a limited basis and is also listed as questionable for Sunday. He's not expected to play the Patriots but is targeting the San Francisco game on the 11th, meaning he would only miss three games.

Danny tried to return too early from an injury last year and wrecked his season; I hope he's not falling into the same trap here.

You know by now, but I'll repeat here, that Patriots TE Aaron Hernandez didn't even fly to England with the Patriots, so one less weapon for the Rams to worry about there.

* Legatron is big, and he's nationwide. This week's Sports Illustrated has an article in which all four of the kickers who share the NFL record for longest field goal are interviewed, and Greg Zuerlein is mentioned prominently as the kicker who may break that record. Writer Tim Layden even had to worry that Zuerlein would ruin his article by breaking the record this year before he could put the story together. Whenever SI deigns to allow us to look at the article online, I'll post a link.

* Ex-Rams news:
- Zac Diles' season is over in Tennessee. He broke his leg in their win over Buffalo last Sunday and has been placed on injured reserve.
- Keith Toston re-signed by the Jagwires, who need another RB for a while with MJD down. Anyone surprised Jones-Drew went down with an injury after holding out all summer? Me either.
- I don't remember Rams training camp fullback Todd Anderson being suspended, so the news his suspension was lifted on Tuesday came as a surprise. He was released August 27 when the Rams cut down to 75 players. The commissioner suspended him for four weeks Sept. 26 for "undisclosed reasons". Four weeks is consistent with a first-time violation of league drug policy. Anderson's now an eligible free agent.

Pro Football Focus recently published its ranking of the league's offensive lines. The 49ers came in best. The Rams were only 29th, but with the acknowledgment they've played well for having had a ton of injuries. The other team to catch my eye was Cleveland at #10. Cleveland? Top ten? Yes, in part because of ex-Ram John Greco's play since becoming a starter there. Not only am I pretty sure anybody could have signed Greco this summer, I'm pretty sure somebody around here recommended the Rams do it. You're welcome. And no, I don't link back to all my awful free-agency and draft misses, though I am feeling a lot better these days about panning Cam Newton prior to last year's draft.

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RamView, 10/22

RamView for Sunday's 30-20 Rams loss to the Packers should be up at ramview.com in the next couple of hours. Link

Positives from Sunday: more explosive play from Chris Givens; patchwork offensive line held together pretty well; Jackson and Richardson continue to run well; Greg Zuerlein got his mojo back with 2 FGs.

Negatives: horrific game in the secondary, sliced and diced by Aaron Rogers for 340-plus; Rams have little receiving threat besides Givens; special teams fooled by onside kick; Chris Long appearing locally on milk cartons.

* Injuries: Eugene Sims suffered a knee injury, that, while unspecified, gives the impression of being a long-term injury. First question for next week is if Wayne Hunter will be ready to return, though Joe Barksdale held his own in Hunter's place.

* Transactions: not-ESPN's Shelley Smith had such a good game at LG Sunday that the Rams have gone ahead and cut previous starter Quinn Ojinnaka for the second time this season. He's replaced on the roster by former Bears draft bust Chris Williams, drafted out of Vanderbilt to be a tackle but likeliest to be in the mix at guard here. Theoretically he can play either. He's really a finesse lineman who might help the Rams in pass protection but wasn't good at it in Chicago at all. He should be something of an upgrade over Ojinnaka, but I doubt by much.

* The Rams are flying to London tonight for their game Sunday against the Patriots. New England is a touchdown favorite. I assume the game will be on CBS, with the Patriots having the "road" team role. Noon kickoff CST.

A question: if the game had not sold out in London, would it have been blacked out here in St. Louis? Hey, the NFL's done weirder things.

* Ex-Rams news:
I think Fox reported during yesterday's game that 27 players who played for the Rams in 2011 are not only no longer with the team, they're no longer in the league. Well, make that 26, and congratulations to Danario Alexander, who has been picked up by the Chargers. Let's see now if he can make it to the end of the season in one piece. Hell, let's see if he can make it to the end of October in one piece.

The Rams continued their fairly ridiculous game of practice squad three-card monte over the weekend. They cut Mason Brodine and signed Chase Beeler on Saturday, then turned right back around today and re-signed Brodine and cut Beeler. This is the second straight week they've done this. The hell?

Bryant Browning wasn't without a team long, joining the Browns' practice squad Monday.

Joe Vitt's league suspension has ended. He should be in charge of the Saints Sunday night when they play in Denver.

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Rams update, 10/19

Photo: NBC Sports

* Friday's injury report: while no new injuries were reported immediately after the Rams' 17-14 loss to Miami, the big injury situation in camp all week has been left tackle Wayne Hunter's back. He is listed as questionable for Sunday's game against Green Bay, but he hasn't practiced all week. The Rams haven't chosen a backup plan yet. Either Raider waiver wire pick up Joseph Barksdale will step into Hunter's spot, or Quinn Ojinnaka will slide out there and Texans waiver wire pick up Shelley Smith will step in at LG.



If the Rams are thinking about sliding a guard outside, RamView's pretty sure they're thinking of the wrong one. Ojinnaka's a poor enough pass-blocker at guard, and we saw in preseason how terrible he could be at tackle. Repeating that is just insanity. A better move would be to slide Harvey Dahl out to RT. He excelled there late last season in a spot role. Barry Richardson's the best option the Rams have at LT as well. Yikes, but true. But that combination is a far sight better than putting Ojinnaka out there to whiff on Clay Matthews all game.

Or, here's another idea: Slide Dahl to tackle, Robert Turner to guard and put Tim Barnes in at center. That's probably your best five. Without Raji lining up over him, Barnes wouldn't be as bad a weak link as Ojinnaka trying to do anything in space.

The rest of the injury report:
Out: Danny Amendola (clavicle); Mario Haggan (thigh); Rodger Saffold (knee).
Probable: Janoris Jenkins (back). He missed Tuesday's practice but has been full-go the past two.

Some good news coming the Rams' way is that Saffold and Scott Wells (IR, foot) are on track to return to practice. Saffold is possibly just a week or two away and Wells is out of his walking boot.

* The Packers, who are six-point favorites, are projected to be without Greg Jennings and four defensive starters Sunday: B.J. Raji, Nick Perry, Sam Shields and D.J. Smith, who's out for the season after tearing an ACL Sunday night. The game to my knowledge is sold out and will be on KTVI at noon Sunday, though I must have missed the official announcement.

* Adding to Greg Zuerlein's downer of a week, he didn't set the NFL record for consecutive FGs to start a career as previously reported. Garrett Hartley of the Saints owns the record with 16. He went 13-for-13 as a rookie and hit his first 3 his 2nd season before missing a 58-yarder. Scoff, that's a chip shot for Legatron.

* The Dolphins recap isn't quite up at ramview.com yet but will be soon. Link
Positives: Bradford over 300 yards, running game effective, defense holds Miami under 20 yards rushing.
Negatives: Too many penalties, too much settling for FGs, too much missing FGs.

* Former Rams news:
- Jamie McCoy cut from Pittsburgh's practice squad.
- Bryant Browning cut from Carolina's practice squad.
- Brody Eldridge signed by Chicago. Not that I care, but I never saw a transaction where the Rams officially cut him.
- Cleveland got away with what they wouldn't let the Rams get away with last summer, adding Thaddeus Lewis back to their practice squad after cutting him.

Now out of the league, former Ram draft bust Jimmy Kennedy released a statement calling NFL commissioner Roger Goodell a liar and vehemently denied that he had any role as a whistleblower in the Saints' bounty scandal. The denial is likely his best effort as a pro. The league says he told investigators that former teammate and fellow Rams failure Anthony Hargrove told him the Saints had a bounty on Brett Favre in the 2009 NFC Championship. Kennedy denies that conversation with Hargrove ever happened and that he only told investigators that he didn't know anything.

-$-

Rams update, 10/12

Photo - Stlouisrams.com

* Thursday's injury report:
Out: Danny Amendola (collarbone); Mario Haggan (thigh); William Hayes (back); Rodger Saffold (knee). Amendola's and Haggan's injuries are from the Arizona game. Hayes injured his back in practice Wednesday.

Matt Conrath, Matt Daniels, Brit Miller and Eugene Sims were all full participants in Thursday's practice. Quintin Mikell didn't miss any practice time this week despite getting concussed in the Arizona game. He will start against Miami.



Going back to Arizona for a second, Ryan Williams' season was ended Thursday night by that devastating hit from Darian Stewart. Tore up his shoulder.

Here's a belated link to the wrapup for that Arizona game: Report
Positives: domination by the defense with nine sacks.
Negatives: Amendola injured and offense sputtered most of the night.

The Rams are 3 1/2-point underdogs to the Dolphins. Reggie Bush has been limited in practice due to a knee injury from about 3 weeks ago.

* Johnny Hekker became the second straight Ram to win the NFL's Special Teams Player of the Week award. He averaged a team-record 56.9 yards per punt against the Big Dead. Patrick Peterson's going to win this award the next time the teams meet if they don't do a more thorough job kicking away from him, though.

* Transactions: a little musical chairs on the practice squad: Chase Beeler was re-signed, replacing Mason Brodine, but by the end of the day Thursday, Brodine was back, replacing Beeler. The Rams also tried out former Oklahoma DE Jimmy Wilkerson, a long-time RamView favorite who can get after the passer but has knees roughly as healthy as Joe Namath's.

Also, and this happened very quietly, Brody Eldridge's suspension has ended. It would seem that a move to either keep or cut him has to happen pretty quickly. Nothing yet, though.

In transactions involving ex-Rams, Thaddeus Lewis is available again. He has been cut by the Browns, who filched him off waivers last summer as the Rams were attempting to move him to their practice squad.
Also:
- The Colts cut Justin King and added Gentleman Kris Adams back to their practice squad.
- Daniel Muir signed with the Jets.
- Anthony Hargrove's suspension by the league was reduced to two games.
- Bryan Mattison was cut and then re-signed by the Chiefs.

-$-

Amendola out 4-8 weeks

Photo - Sports Illustrated

Danny Amendola suffered a separated right collarbone after diving for a pass in Thursday night's 17-3 win over the Big Dead. It's a joint separation that caused his collarbone to separate from his sternum. Sounds nasty, but it was a clean injury with no other bone fractures or ligament damage, and he does not need surgery, so he can be back sometime in the next 4-8 weeks, as long as he doesn't try to rush back like he did with his elbow injury last season.

I have Ryan Mathews on one of my fantasy teams, and know he was out 4-5 weeks after a collarbone injury in preseason. Though that was a different injury, I can see Amendola back in 4-6 weeks, and one of those is the Rams' bye after the stupid London game.

Other injuries from Thursday night:
* Quintin Mikell suffered a concussion after (iirc) striking his head on a teammate's knee. I doubt he'll play next week against Miami but it's obviously too early to know anything officially.

* Minor unspecified injuries for Bradley Fletcher, Mario Haggan, Brit Miller and Quinn Ojinnaka, but no indication that any of them will miss time.

-$-

RamView, 10/3: Wednesday practice notes

* Injury report for Thursday night:
Probable: Danny Amendola (ankle); Brandon Gibson (knee); William Hayes (knee).
Questionable: Steven Jackson (groin); Wayne Hunter (ankle, knee); Matt Conrath (knee); Matt Daniels (hamstring). We can expect Jackson and Hunter to play.
Out: Rodger Saffold (knee); Eugene Sims (concussion).


RamView for the game will be up Saturday morning at the very earliest, sorry. The game did qualify as a sellout and can be seen locally on KPLR-11, and also NFL Network, I assume.

* Rams rookie kicker Greg (Legatron) Zuerlein has been named the NFC Special Teams Player of the Week for his performance against Seattle. Zuerlein became the first kicker in league history to hit a 60-yard kick and another kick over 50 yards in the same game. Link

* Ex-Rams transactions:
- New England signed Bobby Carpenter.
- Kansas City signed Bryan Kehl.
- Detroit added Jimmy Saddler-McQueen to their practice squad.

- Speaking of hyphens, The Hyphen himself, Nate Hobgood-Chittick, was interviewed by Sports Illustrated recently for an article about Packers center Jeff Saturday. The two were roommates at North Carolina, and Hobgood-Chittick helped Saturday get his original tryout with the Colts. Article

Hobgood-Chittick is now a retirement specialist and financial planner in Los Angeles.

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RamView, 9/30

RamView for yesterday's 19-13 win over the Seahawks is up now at ramview.com.   Report

* Positives: The Rams dominated on special teams, with Greg "Legatron" Zuerlein banging 58- and 60-yard field goals among his 4, and Johnny Hekker and Danny Amendola pulling off the fake FG/TD pass that Brad Seely has been taunting me with for seven years. The secondary's sublime play continued, with another 3 interceptions. The offensive line all-but silenced Chris Clemons and Bruce Irvin as pass rushers. Jeff Fisher clearly outcoached Pete Carroll.

* Negatives: Ram defense will be co-stars of Marshawn Lynch's highlight reel. Rams couldn't run for themselves, with Robert Turner getting beaten badly by Brandon Mebane almost every snap.



* Injuries: the only new one I know of is Eugene Sims, who suffered a concussion and will probably miss the Rams' next game.

* Which is already, stupidly, on Thursday night, against the undefeated Big Dead. The Rams are 1,500 tickets sold short of being able to dodge the NFL blackout rule, which is about the only thing about the NFL stupider than games on Thursday night, now that the replacement referees are gone. Anyway, the Rams have asked the league for an extension. See if they'll push it back to Friday. Arizona is an early 1 1/2 point favorite.

* Transactions: Ty Nsekhe has been added to the Rams' practice squad, at Chase Beeler's expense.

-$-