Injuries were a huge issue for the Rams last year, especially in the secondary and on the offensive line. This year, it appears the injuries are starting again, at least on the offensive line. When the Rams play the Redskins this week, they will be without starting left guard Rokevious Watkins and starting center Scott Wells.

The Watkins injury is not serious. Watkins is a mere 5^th round rookie and left guard would have been a weakness regardless. Watkins predictably struggled in his NFL debut last week and the drop off from him to Quinn Ojinnaka, his replacement, probably won’t be noticeable. In fact, it might be a positive. However, Wells’ injury is more serious. Not only is it more long term, as the Rams placed him on the NFL’s new retractable IR, meaning he’ll miss at least 6 weeks and possibly the entire season, but Wells is also a much better player. ProFootballFocus’ 4^th ranked center in 2011, the Rams signed Wells to a 4 year, 24 million dollar deal this offseason, expecting him to help solidify the line and anchor the running game. Instead, it will be career backup Robert Turner starting for at least the next few weeks.

The good news for the Rams is that Rodger Saffold was only listed as questionable and he is expected to suit up after practicing this week. It looked a lot more serious than that at first, as it was a neck injury and he was down for a while, but the Rams appear to have caught a break. When healthy, Saffold is an above average player at the most important offensive line position and obviously a huge upgrade over Jets castoff Wayne Hunter, who would have started in his absence. Saffold held his own against a tough Detroit pass rush last week, not allowing a single pressure on 22 pass plays before leaving with injury, and should be able to do so again this week against an also tough Washington pass rush.

For all the criticism their offensive line got in the offseason, they only allowed Bradford to be pressured on 9 of 30 drop backs last week, a very solid 30.0% pressure rate. A lot of that has to do with Bradford being back in a short throw, west coast offense, like he was in 2010, when he and the Rams had a decent season. They have a solid defense and they almost pulled the upset in Detroit last week, so they have a good chance to actually seal the deal this week and pull the upset at home, where they were 5-3 in 2010, against a young Redskin team.

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