By: StlouisramsX

The Rams (1-2) won for only the second time in 29 games with the best offensive production under second-year coach Steve Spagnuolo. What’s even more surprising is that they did it without their premiere workhorse, Steven Jackson.

Well, for the most part.

Jackson was sidelined during the second quarter after being gang-tackled on a carry. Replays showed a Washington player yanking one of Jackson’s legs during the pile-on, and that attributed to the strain in his groin. Jackson was dominant early in the game, scoring on a 42-yard run for the game’s first touchdown, but finished with just 58 yards on 10 carries.

Jackson broke the news on his Twitter feed after undergoing an MRI exam on Monday that his groin injury is a strain, not a tear. He also tweeted that he’d already had two hours of rehab treatment a day. Spagnuolo remains confident that Jackson will be able to return this Sunday to take on the Seahawks, but he will be monitored daily.

With Jackson out, offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur was forced to get a little creative with his play-calling to compensate. The Rams came out in the 2nd half with 4 wide receiver sets, trip formations, ran out of pass formations, passed out of run formations, and basically kept Redskins defensive coordinator, Jim Haslett guessing the rest of the game. No matter what Haslett called, the Rams, and Bradford, had an answer. Sam Bradford audibled out of obvious run blitzes with quick passes to the outside on multiple occasions – many of them very successful.

Wide receiver Mark Clayton took one of those quick passes and scampered 30 yards to set up a Josh Brown field goal in the 4th quarter to make it a two possession game and essentially sealed the deal. That pass was made possible by a 4th and 1 run by Kenneth Darby just 1 play before. Steve Spagnuolo didn’t hesitate to leave his offense on the field while up by 8 points. It’s that kind of killer instinct that this team needs – from players AND coaches.

“They came right at us, and we weren’t ready,” linebacker Brian Orakpo said. “Thirty points, that’s very unacceptable. They just kept hitting us with big plays.”

Backup RB Kenneth Darby ended the day with 14 carries for 49 yards with a long of 12. That long of 12 proved to be a valuable run, as it gave the Rams a 21-16 lead in the 3rd quarter. A lead they wouldn’t relinquish. The defense allowed only three points in the second half and kept the Redskins to a paltry 1 for 10 on third downs.

Speaking of third downs.

It was announced during the game that Spagnuolo calls all of the team’s third down plays on defense. Defensive coordinator Ken Flajole calls 1st and 2nd down plays and defers to the head coach for third down packages. It’s perceived that Spagnuolo brought his exotic blitz packages from New York and is more comfortable in calling them during the game as well as assigning the personnel to run them. Evidently it works; because, like I said — 1 for 10 on third downs for Washington.

With the defense employing a “bend don’t break” philosophy, the Redskins were able to rack up considerable yardage on the ground (116 yards) and through the air (236), but it was the opportunistic nature of the Rams’ defense that kept the score manageable enough to give their offense enough opportunities to pull ahead. The Rams are now 4th in the league in redzone defense, and as such, were able to keep McNabb from capitalizing on good field position. “When you get in the red zone, you’ve just got to score,” McNabb said. “You can’t keep getting field goals. That’s not going to cut it.”

And it didn’t cut it.

The Rams improve their record to 1-2 in a division that is still entirely up for grabs this year. The 49ers fell to 0-3 after an embarrassing loss to Kansas City, but the Cardinals and Seahawks both improved to 2-1 with Sunday wins against the Raiders and Chargers respectively.

Notes: The Redskins apparently handed in an inaccurate list of inactives, and missed a deadline to swap out players, leaving them with LB Perry Riley active and OL Will Montgomery out.

Rams owner Stan Kroenke made a lap of the dressing room, congratulating each player.

Dominiuqe Curry, one of the Rams’ top special teams players, left with what Spagnuolo feared was a serious injury to his right knee in the first half and will miss the rest of the year with an ACL tear.

Center Jason Brown handed the game ball to Steve Spagnuolo for not only his first win, but for sticking by his players.