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.

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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.

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RamView, 9/28: Friday practice notes

Photo: AOL/Sporting News

* Friday's injury list:
- Steven Jackson (groin), limited, didn't do much, starting to look like a game-time decision again this week
- Michael Brockers (ankle), limited, seems to have a good chance of playing Sunday
- Wayne Hunter (knee, ankle), did not participate but says he's good to go Sunday
- Matt Daniels (hamstring), out
- Matt Conrath (knee), out but reportedly getting close
- Rodger Saffold (knee), out

* Transactions: the Rams signed offensive lineman Joe Barksdale, last with the Raiders, and cut Ty Nsekhe. Barksdale was the Raiders' third-round pick last year, but they cut him to make room for Andre Carter. He's a 6'5", 330-lb tackle who played for LSU. He played in every game as a rookie in Oakland but spent the first three games of Dennis Allen's regime on the inactive list. Scouts Inc. grades him as "a good backup." Has good initial quickness and agility, but plays too high and has poor knee bend. Long arms allow him to steer rushers past the pocket and make up for poor footwork on the edge.

Per Howard Balzer, Quinn Ojinnaka, Lord help us, will be the Rams' third tackle on Sunday.

Ex-Rams on the move: the Chiefs signed Bryan Mattison after losing Rodney Hudson for the season last week. Man, Hudson, Marvin Austin, David DeCastro, Prince Amukamara... I sure have a bad record for mock-drafting players to the Rams and getting them hurt lately. Also, the Dolphins cut Ray Feinga.

* Referee nonsense: I'm happy the regular referees are back. The first thing we should see is better control of the games and better flow created by, oh, about a million fewer conferences. Standing ovations like Gene Steratore's got Thursday night, though, are silly, even though they are a good crew. Jerome Boger, Ron Winter and Jeff Triplett are all going to be calling games somewhere Sunday too, you know. Ed Hochuli once blew a game for the Chargers even worse than the scabs blew Monday night's game for the Packers. Also, Super. Bowl. XXXVI. Officiating should be better this weekend, but let's all get a grip here. This is a lot more like Steve Bono coming in for Tony Banks than it is Kurt Warner coming in for Trent Green. When I heard Mike Carey was getting the call for the Rams-Seahawks game Sunday, the first thing I thought wasn't standing ovation, it was one of the worst officiating jobs I've ever seen was Mike Carey doing a Rams-Seahawks game in Seattle. Hopefully, since he'll be in St. Louis this time, he'll know enough not to call the Rams "Los Angeles".

* Kickoff vs. Seattle noon Sunday. The game will air on KTVI. The Seahawks are surprisingly just 2.5-point favorites. Since I'd more than likely be 0-3 betting Rams games this season, I'll go ahead and pick Seattle to cover.


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RamView, 9/25

RamView for the Rams' 23-6 loss in Chicago is up now at ramview.com... Report

* Pluses: the defense generally played well. Cortland Finnegan picked off another pass and Chris Long scored his first two sacks of the season. Greg Zuerlein hit 56- and 46-yard FGs.

* Negatives: Sam Bradford threw a pick-six, was sacked six times, and had a passer rating of 39.2. Offensive line badly outmatched by the Bears. Running game got nowhere. No receiver besides Danny Amendola could get open, except when Brandon Gibson dropped a bomb in the 2nd. Stupid penalties by Mario Haggan and Darian Stewart kept Bears scoring drives alive.

* More bad news: the 2-1 Seahawks, coming off one of the most controversial finishes in NFL history (refereed by the incompetent crew that did the Rams' home opener), are next, and they sacked Aaron Rodgers EIGHT times Monday night. In the first half. No line on the game yet, but the Rams have to be getting four at the least, maybe as much as six. (EIGHT sacks in the first half?)

* Injuries: no new injuries for the Rams after the Bears game, and Michael Brockers could be back for Seattle. I'm thinking Arizona is more likely; I don't know that I'd want him to play twice in five days off his ankle injury.

* Ex-Rams watch: after being waived, Greg Salas has been added to the Patriots' practice squad.

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RamView, 9/20: Wednesday practice notes

* Wednesday injury list:
- Steven Jackson did not participate (groin)
- Wayne Hunter did not participate (ankle)
- Same for Matt Daniels (hamstring), Brit Miller (quad/calf), Michael Brockers (ankle), Matt Conrath (knee or ankle), Rodger Saffold (knee).

Neither Matt Forte nor Julius Peppers practiced for the Bears Wednesday.

* Transactions: Brandyn Harvey has been dropped from the practice squad and replaced by center Chase Beeler. Beeler, out of Stanford, was on the 49ers' practice squad last season and was recently released from Philadelphia's PS. Undersized at 6'3", 285, he had 33 starts at Stanford, 7 at LG, and is assuredly the only Ram who has interviewed Condoleezza Rice.

* Ex-Rams watch: the Lions picked up Jerome Murphy; the Jagwires cut Stephen Spach.

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RamView, 9/19

Ramview.com is up to date now with the report for the first win of the Jeff Fisher era: Report

* Positives from Sunday: Sam Bradford not just outplaying RG3 but exceeding his rookie form; a million receptions for Danny Amendola; another pretty, long TD catch by Brandon Gibson; lightning off the bench from Daryl Richardson; offensive line holding together somehow; flawless special teams; excellent pass pressure in the clutch; Janoris Jenkins when he's very good; another pick for Cortland Finnegan.

* Negatives: more offensive line injuries; Janoris Jenkins when he's very bad; idiot reporters who think Steven Jackson is being benched when he's actually injured; Jeff Fisher's inconsistent trigger finger on challenges; the worst NFL officiating crew of all time. Bar none. Jerome Boger drunk working with 6 Elbonian goat herders would have called a better game.

* The Rams are 7-and-a-half point underdogs to a Chicago team that probably won't have Matt Forte and can't protect its quarterback, who's notably already berating his linemen on national TV.

* Injuries:
- Steven Jackson tweaked a groin muscle during the 2nd quarter Sunday. Nothing bad showed on the MRI; we'll see how things proceed on Wednesday.

- More offensive line madness. Rodger Saffold sprained an MCL returning a fumble and will be out at least 4 weeks. Wayne Hunter steps in at LT, though he missed part of Sunday's game with an injured ankle. Rokevious Watkins has been placed on injured reserve so the Rams could re-activate Austin Pettis. With a now-guaranteed season of inactivity, I'm predicting Watkins weighs 420 by next year's OTAs.

- Matt Daniels injured a hamstring covering a kick late in the game. Darian Stewart was inactive; no idea whether that was a healthy scratch. Or just chillin'. Michael Brockers and Matt Conrath remain out.

* Transactions:
Besides re-activating Pettis, the Rams have also re-added Quinton Pointer to the practice squad, where they had an opening after calling up Tim Barnes late last week.

* Ex-Rams watch:
- Danny Gorrer signs with the Seahawks.
- The Saints cut Jerome Murphy.
- Adam Carriker tore a quad early in Sunday's game and is out for the rest of the season.
- Ron Bartell's season is also over. He didn't even last one game with the Raiders, breaking a shoulder blade (ouch) in last Monday night's loss to San Diego.
- The Patriots have already cut Greg Salas, which is awesome, because it means the Rams are getting a future late-round draft pick from them for free.

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