By Nick Wagoner

Senior Writer

 

What to Watch: San Diego

 

1. Finding the End Zone

 

By now, you’ve probably heard the statistic ad nausea. The Rams’ first team offense hasn’t score a touchdown in nine consecutive preseason games with Scott Linehan as the head coach.

 

That unit has had some decent drives ending in field goals but has failed to put 6’s on the board. After struggling in about a quarter of action against Tennessee, the top group will likely play as much as a half against the Chargers.

 

“They will play a significant amount,” Linehan said. “We haven’t set a number of plays. It will be significant though.”

 

The absence of Steven Jackson and the potential absence of Torry Holt, who had back spasms in practice this week, will make matters even more difficult for the Rams. Nick Leckey is also expected to start in place of normal starting center Brett Romberg (broken hand).

 

San Diego has one of the league’s best defenses, featuring pass rusher extraordinaire Shawne Merriman. That group will likely play a good portion of the first half as well, giving the Rams an opportunity to show what they can do against a top notch opponent.

 

“I would like to play good every time,” quarterback Marc Bulger said. “Whether it’s practice or a preseason game you want to play well. We have got to do a better job but at the same time we can move on, make some improvements this week.”

 

2. Patching the Holes

 

The other perennial problem the Rams are looking to fix against the Titans is a leaky run defense that allowed Tennessee to romp to 340 rushing yards and 7.9 yards per carry last week.

 

Most of that damage came against the backups and the Rams were without starting safety Oshiomogho Atogwe, cornerback Fakhir Brown and linebacker Will Witherspoon.

 

Once again, it wasn’t necessarily a lot of chunks of yards so much as the continued penchant for giving up long plays.

 

“What happens is, you might play two runs good, but you give up a long run, and that’s what kills you,” Linehan said. “That’s what has hindered us before, is the long plays in the run game. We’ll certainly utilize that as motivation, we’ve got work to do there. It doesn’t matter who’s in there or what part of the game, we played four quarters the other night, and it’s going to be tough for us to win if we give up that many yards rushing to anybody.”

 

The Rams get a steady diet of teams that like to pound the ball on the ground, including the Chargers, the Ravens and the Chiefs. Fortunately for St. Louis, San Diego star LaDainian Tomlinson isn’t likely to play as per his preseason custom.

 

Still, the Chargers feature talented backs like Darren Sproles and rookie Jacob Hester behind a powerful offensive line.

 

“We’ve got to get lined up and be sure tacklers,” Linehan said. “If you do that, you’re going to play good run defense, it doesn’t matter who you’re playing, it doesn’t matter who’s in the game. I certainly feel our guys won’t feel very good about it. The key to all this discussion we’re having is ‘what do we do about it now,’ and how we respond next week, week after, and the week after that, getting ready for the opener.”

 

3. Looking for Linebackers

 

For the second straight week, Witherspoon will be a game time decision. Fellow linebacker Chris Draft will also be a game time decision though indications are that both will play against San Diego.

 

Regardless, the Rams find themselves searching for depth at a position that has plenty of flexibility for roster alterations.

 

Pisa Tinoisamoa and Quinton Culberson will play and probably will play most of the first half. Beyond that quartet, the Rams are still searching for answers.

 

Tim McGarigle started in Witherspoon’s place against the Titans and rookies David Vobora and Chris Chamberlain got plenty of work in that game also.

 

According to Linehan, Chamberlain performed the best of that group but he still would like to see more from the young ‘backers.

 

“Those other guys are going through some growing pains, and if they progress…bottom line for a linebacker is that you have to be right,” Linehan said. “You have to be lined up right, you have to hit the right fit and you have to get the guy tackled. We didn’t do a good enough job of that in that game.”

 

4. Sans Safeties

 

Much like the offensive line a year ago, the Rams secondary has been taking plenty of hits in the preseason in terms of injuries.

 

Atogwe and Brown haven’t practiced since the first day and rookie cornerback Justin King is out for the season with a foot injury. Safety has been hit the hardest as Eric Bassey and Jerome Carter are also dealing with injuries.

 

Carter and Atogwe won’t play against the Chargers and Bassey is a game time decision. That leaves just Corey Chavous and Todd Johnson on the active roster. Expect to see some more of international practice squadder Sebastien Sejean and even some of cornerback Ron Bartell at the safety spots should Carter, Atogwe and Bassey all miss this week.

 

At cornerback, the Rams will use plenty of Tye Hill, Bartell, Jonathan Wade and David Macklin. Cortney Grixby and recent addition Tanard Davis will also probably get some work.

 

“I think it is just a matter of getting back out there now,” Linehan said. “Hopefully it is sooner than later.  It is really affecting our ability to do some things, caused some substitution problems especially in games but it is hard to practice too…it is part of the challenge we have.”

 

5. Running Back Committee

 

Jackson’s holdout has created plenty of opportunities for running backs Antonio Pittman, Brian Leonard, Travis Minor and Lance Ball to get work in during practice. But the aforementioned offensive struggles meant there wasn’t a ton of chances to evaluate those backs against the Titans.

 

In Tennessee, Leonard got the start and got five carries for 12 yards. Pittman rushed six times for 21 yards and scored the team’s lone touchdown.

 

Minor got five carries for 20 yards and Ball got just one tote for 5 yards.

 

“It was kind of a sprinkling here and there,” Linehan said. “I saw some good runs that weren’t maybe the flashiest numbers, I saw some really good 4 or 5 yard runs. We were 50 percent efficient in our run game and if you do 50 percent during the year, you’ll lead the league. So those things you look at, if we played the whole game with that group, I think we would’ve had a heck of a game.”

 

Needless to say, the Rams would like to get more opportunities to run the ball against the Chargers so as to figure out how the carries will be divvied up should Jackson not return to the fold sooner than later.

 

 

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