1. Talk about the development of rookies Andy Dalton and AJ Green.
Andy Dalton has quietly been putting up one of the best rookie seasons in a long time. He’s about to join Cam Newton on the list of the only 5 rookie QBs to ever throw for more than 3000 yards in a season. And he’s still improving. He’s making all the throws you want him to make, and he hasn’t thrown a pick in the past 3 games.

Of course, he and AJ Green only make each other better. Andy and AJ have a lot of trust in each other to make the play. You’ll probably see Andy hurl a few balls downfield (perhaps slightly underthrown) that AJ will ‘climb the ladder’ and bring down. It wouldn’t work with many other receivers. AJ has been this way since the start of the season, but he’s definitely gotten better with his releases and being more physical. He struggled in those two areas early on.
2. Do you put the recent struggles on the schedule alone, or is there another culprit?
Well, the team is 1-4 in their last 5. They haven’t been able to beat the supposed elite teams like Baltimore and Pittsburgh, and the entire organization feels like they let one get away last week against Houston. Everyone was mad. I feel like schedule has certainly been a part of it, but another major thing has been injuries to key players. We lost our Chris Long in Carlos Dunlap for the past 4 games. And losing Leon Hall for the season was big too. Those two guys were our best defensive players, and I think most fans don’t quite realize how big a loss they have been.
3. Give us an injury report… Any big names going to be out Sunday?
DE Carlos Dunlap will finally make his return after missing the last 4 weeks. I already mentioned how much he means, but his pass-rushing skills are incredible.

And there may be a few missing cogs in the offensive machine. Third-down runningback Brian Leonard is doubtful. And our starting fullback Chris Pressley is questionable. Bernard Scott is the obvious replacement to Leonard, but the team doesn’t really have a backup to Pressley. I’m quite interested what the team chooses to do at fullback, especially after Pressley didn’t practice all week.

Finally, we lost our starting RG last week when long-time starter Bobbie Williams went down for the season. And at right tackle, 2009 6th overall pick Andre Smith is questionable after hurting his ankle last week. He was seen in a boot on Friday, leading me to believe that the Bengals may have an entirely new right side of the o-line. So you might see a lot of running to the left tomorrow.

It was a nice vacation week for the Rams, but it’s time to get back to work in preparation for the San Francisco 49ers. The team was back on the practice field today, and it looks like the bye week did the team some good. First, offensive tackle Jason Smith has been fully cleared from his concussion, and he will be good to go this week in San Fran. Regardless of what you might think about Smith, he is of vital importance to this team, and they will be much better with him back in the fold. Also, Ron Bartell practiced today while dealing with shoulder and thigh issues. He was limited, but he was at least able to do some work, so that’s good news.

In less encouraging but still not terrible news, Danario Alexander, James Butler, Fendi Onobun, and Britt Miller were all unable to go today. The good news here is that all players are being called day-to-day by the team, so they might be able to go this weekend. Alexander has been doing some running, and it seems possible that he could be able to play on Sunday. It would be a pretty quick turnaround after the knee surgery, but we will watch his progress closely. I have a gut feeling that Butler will play, but it will depend how he feels as the week goes on. As far as Onobun and Miller go, I wouldn’t be shocked if we didn’t see either one of them.

On the enemy front, we know that former Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith will start under center this weekend. I’m not really sure how I feel about this. I mean, this guy isn’t a Pro Bowler by any means, but for some reason he makes me nervous. The Rams will have to be prepared for him to get out of the pocket, and I really hope he doesn’t hurt us with his feet. CB Nate Clements was limited in practice with an ankle, but he is expected to go. TE Vernon Davis was full-go, so we will have to deal with him, unfortunately.