Eagles, Injuries Decimate Rams

Well that was an absolute disaster. If you would have asked me to describe the absolute worst-case scenario for today’s game, I probably would have come up with something awfully close to what actually happened. First, the injuries. We don’t know a whole lot just yet, but Sam Bradford left with a right index finger injury. He expects to play next week right now, but he will have an MRI on Monday to determine if there is any nerve damage. The MRI room is going to be busy, as Steven Jackson left after two carries with a quad injury, the severity of which will be determined after tests tomorrow. Danny Amendola suffered the most serious injury, as he dislocated his elbow. I haven’t heard what the team expects from this injury yet, but it seems fairly possible the he could be done for most or all of the season. Jason Smith left with what the team called a high ankle sprain. Quintin Mikell and Jason Brown also left early, but I’m still waiting to get news from the team’s PR department that might clear all of these and other injuries up, so stay tuned on Twitter @Ramblinfan and here at the site for updates. When I know, you’ll know.

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.