By:  Warner4Prez

From Saturday to Thursday makes a pretty short week in the football world, but these guys aren’t much for complaining. The Rams are geared up the travel to New England for a Thursday night match-up against perennial playoff contenders the Patriots.  The game should prove to be a great test for both sides of the ball as Belichick invented the defense capable of stopping the Bill Walsh west coast offense during his days with the NY Giants, and there’s the subtle story line of how Steve Spanuolo ended Belichick’s reign of terror in Super Bowl 42.

Last week AJ Feeley took a helmet to his throwing hand.  After a couple of days it became obvious that Feeley was going to be unable to go, and Sam Bradford was going to be given the starting nod for Thursday’s game.  Though Feeley hasn’t looked great thus far in the preseason, he has led the team to the end zone.

Last week against the Browns he and the rest of the Rams offense came out swinging on a well oiled and very efficient 10 play 65 yard TD drive. It was during that same drive the hit occurred and set the stage for Bradford’s early arrival into a game that didn’t exactly shake out how the team had hoped for him.

Things looked pretty meek on offense while Bradford went 6 of 14 for 24 yards, but this week it looks to change as Bradford takes the start and trots onto the field with Steven Jackson and the rest of the first team offense in tow.  The starting offensive line played well together against the Browns and carries over another week healthier blocking for the franchise’s $50 million dollar man.  To add to it, it looks like the forecast calls for clear skies in Foxboro, MA.  Surely it will be a welcome change from the torrential rains that plagued the game Saturday.

The key to offensive success has got to be the play calling with Bradford in the game.  Offensive Coordinator Pat Shurmur and Sam have to set the tempo early and find ways to keep a tough Patriots defense off kilter.  Defensively the Patriots boast a great set of linebackers, as well as a very impressive group of young secondary players.  If you were hoping to see the Rams stretch the field, this might not be the week to get your hopes up.

Last week the defense drew the ire of coach Spagnuolo after taking bad angles and failing to wrap up on routine tackles.  Hopefully they took heed of the boss’ orders, because thus far in the preseason the Patriots have run the ball quite well.  The Rams front seven will face one of the deepest rotations of runners in the NFL and each Pats runner features a slightly different style.   This is just compacted by the fact that you’ve got all-pros Randy Moss and Wes Welker to watch out for.  Last week Ron Bartell and Bradley Fletcher looked in great shape after each returning from injuries, and they certainly get an exercise in game speed this week against Tom Brady.

There’s still some uncertainty on the injury front going into this week as well.  George Selvie’s status is still unclear after he was wandering the sidelines in a boot this past week.  Thankfully rookie Hall Davis seems to have found his groove after bagging a couple of sacks. B randon McCrae seems to have returned after a bad ankle sprain sustained a couple of weeks ago,  but Mardy Gilyard is still missing time due to an illness.  I’m sure he’ll tough it out for game day though.

This really should be a great test for the Rams as the Patriots really don’t lack depth at any position and are a solid team from top to bottom.  The game kicks off Thursday at 7:30 ET and will be rebroadcast at (gasp!) 11:00PM ET that night on NFL Network.