Also likely to make his first appearance of the young season is Ramblin’ Fan favorite Danario Alexander. Danny Amendola is expected to miss at least a month with his dislocated elbow, so I would expect Alexander to get the nod against the Giants. The Rams got absolutely nothing downfield through the air against the Eagles, and although that was mostly due to Philly’s great secondary, DX will provide another deep threat for this team. I really want to see him get involved in the offense this week to solidify his spot on the active roster, so keep an eye on #84.

In other news, Ron Bartell has been ruled out for the entire season, but he told the media on Tuesday that he plans to play again next season. The neck injury is a serious deal, so let’s all keep Bartell in our thoughts and hope for a return in 2012.

As far as Steven Jackson goes, Coach Spags said he expects SJ39 to miss Monday’s game against the Giants with a strained quad. Jackson said on “The Fast Lane” today that he is not ruling himself out, but I would be very surprised if he sees the field. It doesn’t sounds like this is anything too serious, but it should force him to miss some time. Sam Bradford has been diagnosed with a bruised right index finger, and he says he will play against the Giants. Jason Smith has a low ankle sprain, which is far less serious than we originally thought. He is day-to-day, and it looks like he could be back this week. Bradley Fletcher has a sprained toe, and he is day-to-day as well.

CJ Ah You is dealing with a wrist injury, but he should be able to play this week with a brace, and Spags said they expect to get Illini Mike back this week from his calf injury. Rodger Saffold has a leg contusion and he is day-to-day as well, but he should be fine.

Obviously, the injury news is highly disappointing. Losing Bartell for a long period of time is going to severely hurt this defense, and if Amendola misses significant time the offense will suffer as well. I’m a littler concerned about Bradford’s finger, but I guess we will just have to see how things go on Monday. SJ39 is a tough dude, so if he doesn’t play this week I would say he will be fine after that, but with those leg injuries you never know. Spags sounded concerned about Fletcher and his toe, and with out lack of depth in the secondary it could be devastating if he misses time. Other guys are going to have to step up, and now we will see if this really is a deeper roster than we have had over the last few years.

As far as the play on the field, I thought the team looked decent in the first half. The running game was very good for much of the game, (thanks to Cadillac Williams) but the Eagles shut everything down through the air. When we did have an open receiver, Bradford was either off target or we couldn’t catch the ball. It’s inexcusable to have that many drops for any NFL team, I don’t care if they are rookies or not.

The defense did OK early on, but the containment issues we saw against the Titans in the preseason were back in the running game today. I think that is an issue of real concern for this team. Vick had his way with us, which is partly because he is really, really good and partly because the team really lost discipline as the game went on. I think there are real issues on both sides of the ball that are perhaps more prevalent than we thought after the preseason, but let’s keep in mind that it’s only Week 1 and we played maybe the most talented team in the NFL. I’m not saying those are excuses, but let’s not jump off the Rams bandwagon just yet.