The Rams will be without CB Tye Hill for at least a month due to torn cartilage in his right knee.  Hill has made 20 tackles this season so he will be missed.  This hurts the Rams’ defense big time as they don’t have much depth at the position.

The Rams have lost starting TE Randy McMichael for the season due to a broken tibia.  He was having a decent season for the Rams this year catching 11 passes for 139 yards (12.6 avg).  McMichael will be replaced in the starting lineup by Joe Klopfenstein who is nowhere near the receiver that McMichael is.  He has caught 1 pass for 8 yards this season.  McMichael’s injury will definately hurt the Rams’ passing offense.

The Rams had no choice but to fire head coach Scott Linehan after the team got out to a 0-4 start this season.  The Rams have been outscored 147-43 so far this season and that just could not be tolerated any longer.  Linehan compiled a 11-25 record (30.6%) in 2+ seasons as the Rams head coach.  The Rams have replaced Linehan with 52-year old Jim Haslett.  Haslett was the Saints’ head coach from 2000-05 and he compiled a 45-51 record (46.9%).  Haslett was also 1-1 in the post season for the Saints.  Haslett is not considered a “interim” head coach so if he can turn things around the job will be his for a while.

The Rams have signed 32-year old CB Jason Craft to a 1-year contract.  Craft has played in 2 games for the Saints this season before being released and he made 9 tackles.  Craft has now played in 135 games in his NFL career and he has made 345 tackles, has defensed 52 passes, has 1 sack, forced 6 fumbles and he has 13 interceptions.  Craft will likely slide into Tye Hill’s old role as the nickel back.  But, if Hill continues to get toasted Craft could be in the starting lineup soon.

The Rams are in full panic mode and with that in mind they released starting CB Fakhir Brown.  Brown played in all 3 games for the Rams this season and he had made 8 tackles.  Brown played 3 seasons with the Rams covering 29 games in which he made 122 tackles, defensed 24 passes, had 1 sack, forced 2 fumbles and he intercepted 7 passes (one returned for a TD).  Tye Hill will replace Brown in the starting lineup and that’s likely a downgrade for the Rams as he gets toasted quite a bit.  Hill has 18 tackles this season and he has forced a fumble and defensed 2 passes.  This was a bad move for the Rams.