St. Louis Rams Preseason Game Preview

Rams face Titans on Saturday in preseason opener

When the St. Louis Rams take the field against the Tennessee Titans for their first preseason game Saturday, things could get interesting.

The two teams have been practicing together since Wednesday. Wednesday’s practices were interesting to say the least. Several times the two teams broke out into scuffles, likely due to it being the first time the teams faced someone other than a teammate during training camp.

The Rams defense will get a good test from Titans quarterback Vince Young, who can create problems for a defense with his arm and his legs. The Rams will need to be able to contain Young if they have hopes of winning the game. A good showing by the defense would be very encouraging for the Rams heading into the rest of the preseason. The Titans had the league’s fifth best overall defense in the NFL last year. This will give Ram fans a good indication early on of how the offense is doing. Reports out of training camp have said that the first team offense is really beginning to click together.

While this is just the preseason, this game should be an early indicator of where the St. Louis Rams stand coming in to the 2008 season.

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Keep an Eye On: Head coach Scott Linehan said that he would like to leave the starters in longer than usual for a preseason game, just to see where they are as far as progress.

The battle for the third quarterback spot is heating up between Brock Berlin and Bruce Gradkowski. Saturday’s game will likely be a good chance for both of them to show the coaches what they are capable of.

With Steven Jackson’s holdout, Antonio Pittman is listed as number one on the halfback depth chart. However, Pittman has been slowed by an injury this week, leaving the snaps with the first team offense to Brian Leonard. Pittman should be ready to go for Saturday’s game, so it will be interesting to see how Linehan utilizes Leonard – as a halfback or where Linehan would prefer to play him at fullback.

If Leonard is indeed used as a halfback, that will likely leave the fullback position to Dan Kreider, who has had health issues thus far in camp, or Russ Weil. Weil has seen a decent amount of action in camp as the number one fullback since Kreider has been injured and Leonard has been working as a halfback.

Lance Ball will also likely get plenty of chances at halfback during the game. Ball is an undrafted rookie free agent out of Maryland. He has been gaining the attention of coaches during training camp with his hard work ethic and running style, but could still end up on the bubble of making the team.

Strongside linebacker Chris Draft has also been slowed by an injury this past week, which could allow second-year man Quinton Culberson a chance to step up and see a lot of playing time in the game. Culberson burst onto the scene in St. Louis last year as an undrafted rookie free agent in training camp.

By Scott Vicker
ProFootball-fans.com St. Louis Rams Correspondent