Rams at Denver mini-preview

The Rams' third preseason game of 2013 will kick off in Denver tomorrow night at 7:00 Central. The game will be broadcast nationally on CBS. Dan Dierdorf will be the color commentator, which I assume makes Greg Gumbel the play-by-play man. NFL Network will replay the game at 2 a.m. Monday morning and at noon Wednesday.

Starters should play at least the first half and possibly the first series of the second half. That was Jeff Fisher's intent going into last year's third preseason game, but Sam Bradford got battered in the first half behind a makeshift offensive line and he was pulled at halftime instead. Austin Davis should be the first QB off the bench with Kellen Clemens in the mop-up role again. Chris Williams should get the start at left guard, and Joseph Barksdale should start again at right tackle barring a big surprise from Rodger Saffold. Rodney McLeod should get a start at safety in place of the injured AGAIN Darian Stewart. The running back rotation is anybody's guess. Fisher sensibly named Daryl Richardson the starter earlier in the week but it remains to be seen how much he'll be used against the Broncos.

One running back who won't be in the rotation is Terrance Ganaway. He left the team earlier in the week to pursue his graduate degree at Baylor. Best of luck to Terrance in his future endeavors. The Rams will have to cut 13 more players to get down to the 75-man roster limit by Tuesday.

Updated injury information:
The Post-Dispatch only reported three players sitting out practice Thursday:
Sammy Brown out, calf
Matt Giordano out, calf
Darian Stewart out AGAIN, hamstring

Updating the rest of the last injury report:
Jermelle Cudjo (foot) is now a full participant in practice but is not expected to play tomorrow night.
Sean Hooey (ankle), latest status not reported
Lance Kendricks (knee) won't play, either; limited participant.
Rodger Saffold (shoulder) was at least a limited participant at last word but is not expected for tomorrow night.
Jabara Williams (hamstring), latest status not reported

Eugene Sims and Tavon Austin have returned from funeral leave absences. Ty Nsekhe returned after sitting Wednesday out due to the flu. Zac Stacy is full-go by all indications. With a chance of taking the RB2 job, I'd like to see him on the field tomorrow night.

Like Rams fans, Broncos fans are counting heavily on preseason performance so far not being indicative of regular season results. Though they did win the opener in San Francisco, they've scored a meager 20 points in two games and just got rolled 40-10 in Seattle. They'll be at home this preseason for the first time, though. Rams receivers won't get to go up against future Hall-of-Famer Champ Bailey (foot) and I would imagine Wes Welker (sprained ankle) is doubtful. The Broncos are still sorting out their RB situation themselves. Ronnie Hillman's had ball security issues. St. Louisan Montee Ball has to improve in pass protection. That's where Knowshown Moreno has excelled, but he hasn't been much of a big-play threat. Von Miller, who is suspended for the first six regular-season games, will play.

The most important goal for the Rams in Denver is a clean game. Make your tackles and make your blocks.

I'll try to get some of these foggy injury reports cleared up between now and game time.

Enjoy the game and everybody stay healthy.

-$-