Rams at Cleveland mini-preview

The Rams kick off preseason in Cleveland tonight. The game will air locally on KTVI at 7:00. NFL Network replays will be at 6 am Saturday morning and 11 pm Monday night (all times Central).

Usually we can expect the starters to play about a quarter in the first preseason game. Sam Bradford played two series in last year's preseason opener. Some offensive linemen may get extended work tonight. The Rams want to get Rodger Saffold additional reps at right tackle. Chris Williams is expected to start at LG and could see additional time there because the Rams want to look at Shelley Smith at RG behind Harvey Dahl.

The far-from-official injury list for tonight:
- Sammy Brown out, calf
- Jermelle Cudjo out, foot
- Matt Daniels out, knee. Precautionary, as he has been in practices since Monday.
- Terrance Ganaway out, leg. Injured at end of practice Tuesday.
- Matt Giordano out, calf
- Andrew Helmick out, hamstring
- Lance Kendricks out, knee
- Jabara Williams out, hamstring

Nick Johnson (hamstring) and Al Lapuaho (hand) returned to practice since the last update here so the guess here is that they can play. Sounds like Kendall Langford is OK and can play. Zac Stacy was out of practice Monday and Tuesday with a leg injury but is not on the list of players expected out tonight.

Reports from Browns camp say the offense has been struggling, and Trent Richardson is out for tonight's game, so conditions are ideal for the starting Ram defense to shine. The matchup between Robert Quinn and Joe Thomas could tell us a lot. The Ram offense did not practice much against 3-4  alignments, but half their regular season schedule will be played against 3-4 defenses, so they'd better be ready for it. (By my count, 49ers twice, Big Dead twice, Dallas, New Orleans, Houston, Indy).

The Rams' cloudy RB situation only gets cloudier with the Stacy and Ganaway injuries, but then again, Benny Cunningham, welcome to your big chance to steal a job!

I'll try to have the recap up on ramview.com by Friday night. Yeah, I know, nothing like a quick turnaround. Also, there probably won't be any more RamView reports from training camp this year. Can't do Saturday's due to prior commitments, and that's the last one that had much chance of fitting into my schedule. Sorry; this isn't the worst Rams blog on the web for nothing.

Enjoy the game and everybody stay healthy.

-$-