After not practicing all week because he suffered a setback on his aggravated sprained left ankle, Rams quarterback 
If that’s the case, the job would fall to veteran
It’s been a whirlwind for Clemens, who was once viewed as the long term starter for the New York Jets and in the past month has bounced to Houston where it appeared he might get a shot to start and then to the Rams, where it looks like he will get a start.
With little knowledge of coordinator Josh McDaniels’ offense, Clemens and the Rams will face a tough task with the Bengals coming to town for a noon kickoff Sunday.
“Kellen’s done a nice job,” McDaniels said. “Being such a short time here and now he’s really had two practices kind of with the first group in the huddle. He’s shown some maturity, a lot of leadership for just being here. He knows the best way for him to go out there and give us an opportunity to play good football is to show his teammates he knows what to do. He’s responsible for his job and I think that generally that’s what he’s done, which is impressive. Hopefully we’ll have an opportunity here to see what it’s like on Sunday if that’s the way it ends up going. I think everybody’s got confidence in him at practice. He’s built the respect of the teammates over the last week here and we’ll carry it through on Sunday if that’s where we go.”
At 2-11, the Rams find themselves in position of playing for pride and working to get better over the final three games. This week, they have some potential added motivation in trying to help play spoiler against a Bengals team that is fighting for its playoff life.
Cincinnati comes in at 7-6 with a team that has some exciting young talent on offense and a stout defense with no real stars but a group that is greater than the sum of its parts.
If indeed it’s Clemens leading the offense, the task the Rams must face in trying to get some offensive rhythm going figures to be a tough one.
In looking at the Bengals defense, one thing sticks out to coach Steve Spagnuolo.
“Speed, right off the bat,” Spagnuolo said. “They’ve got it all the way across the board there- upfront, linebackers, in their secondary, their safeties. They’re real aggressive. (Defensive Coordinator) Mike Zimmer does a great job, coaches aggressive, calls the game aggressive, so that’s what we’re preparing for.”
That defense doesn’t exactly boast a bunch of household names though there are some recognizable players in the group.
But there is plenty of talent at every level of that group, led by a stout defensive front led by two talented defensive tackles.
“They’re a really active front seven,” McDaniels said. “They create a lot of negative plays with their front four guys. (DT Geno) Atkins, he’s really come on and become a real disruptive player. I think he has seven or eight sacks as a defensive tackle which in this league is kind of rare and unique. They play an aggressive style. Coach (Defensive Coordinator Mike) Zimmer is I think one of the finest coaches in the league in terms of what he presents to you, in terms of the problems with his scheme. They pressure a lot with the secondary, which is one of the things we focused on hard yesterday and today, talked about that’s one of the ways that they really like to come after the quarterback, with the safeties. They present a lot of different problems. They’ve got some veteran corners, they do a good job of trying to take the ball away from you if you’re sloppy in the passing game and they’ve really been pretty good against the run all year. I know they’ve had a couple games the last couple of weeks where they’ve given up some yards, but I think this is a really good unit.”
Rams running back
Cincinnati ranks 7th in the league in total defense, allowing 314.8 yards per game. And the Bengals don’t really have much of a weakness as they are 7th against the run and 10th against the pass.
“(They are) very aggressive first, that’s what sticks out,” Jackson said. “They’re very aggressive. They have multiple looks where their secondary will be blitzing from different depths. Their linebackers are downhill and they play with intimidation, so they try to intimidate and try to come down hill and stuff the hole up. We have a challenge ahead of us.”
On the other side of the ball, Cincinnati is led by veteran running back Cedric Benson, who will be priority No. 1 for the Rams defense.
Benson is the focal point of the offense but the Bengals boast young talent at quarterback, receiver and tight end that is quickly making them a dangerous, multi-dimensional offense that presents a lot of problems.
Rookie quarterback Andy Dalton has been a revelation for Cincinnati and he has a pair of dynamic pass catchers in receiver A.J. Green and tight end Jermaine Gresham providing him with play making targets.
“The one thing that A.J. Green and the Gresham kid, the tight end, do very well is they catch the ball,” Rams defensive coordinator Ken Flajole said. “They have long arms. They have a way of catching the ball well outside the frame of their body. They’re very true, natural receivers and again, the ball doesn’t have to be right on the money for those guys to make receptions. It’s really probably a trademark of a very talented receiving group.”
For the Rams to get a win this week, it might come down more to what they do than anything Cincinnati does.
In the past month or so, the Rams defense has battled hard to keep the team in the game and eventually worn down before succumbing.
Flajole believes there are ways for that trend to come to an end, though.
“I think you gain confidence with success,” Flajole said. “I think if you’re in those situations and you find ways to make plays in those situations to win games I think it feeds off each other. Probably the one thing for us that we’ve been unable to do on a consistent basis is probably generate turnovers. For us, we need to do that. We need to give the offense short fields for scoring opportunities. We’ve had our moments at times where we’ve created some but we’ve never either intercepted the ball and taken it down the field and given the offense optimal field position or created turnovers down on their end of the field. That’s something that we need to do. And we continually preach it. When they come and how they come we don’t really care, but they just need to come.”
