by Jeff Roberson - AP

Donnie Avery was the last St. Louis Rams WR to have more than 100 receiving yards in a game. That was October of 2008.

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One-win or not, we've all grown accustomed to St. Louis Rams RB Steven Jackson clawing out a 100+ yard day on the ground. Triple digit days for Rams receivers on the other hand have been missing in action...for a long time.

No Rams WR has had a 100-yard game this season. In fact, the last time a Rams receiver (or any Rams player) had 100 receiving yards or more was last season during week 8 in a tough loss to the New England Patriots when Donnie Avery had 163 yards and a TD on 6 receptions. That was the only game in the last two season to feature a Rams WR to top the century mark in receiving yards. 

What's that say about the state of the Rams offense?

Nothing you didn't already know.

1. We need talent at the WR position, a true number one guy that the QB can consistently rely on to catch passes and move for some yards after the catch. 
2. The Rams offense has been bad, bad, bad since 2006. One of the big reasons for this has been the decline of Marc Bulger. A guy just can't be a punching bag season after season and expect to play at a high level at 30-years-old.
3. Pass protection has been a huge weak spot for the Rams until this season. Through 14 games Rams passers have been sacked just 32 times this season. The team is on pace for its first season of fewer than 40 sacks since 1999. Digest that fact for minute.

Dr. Saturday, Yahoo! Sports' college football blog, is beset with "All-Decade" fever too, with college football's All-Decade Team. 

No member of the St. Louis Rams made the list, which should come as no surprise given the Rams drafting history of the last ten years. Could there be a future member of the Rams on this list? Nebraska DT Ndamukong Suh was selected as the All-Decade DT, along with LSU's Glenn Dorsey. 

On offense, there are several guys who have burned the Rams as professionals and one guy, OT Jake Long, who the old regime would have very much liked to make part of the Rams had Miami not selected him with the first overall pick in 2008. 

More photos » by Jeff Roberson - AP

Being this good means you have to drink lots of water.

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Alright, the calendar says it's almost the end of December, and thus the end of the year...and the decade as well. That means we should move on TST's honoring of unwritten rule of making lists at the end of [insert unit of time measurement here] by continuing the St. Louis Rams All-Decade Team. 

To start we named Ryan Pickett and La'Roi Glover the DTs of the decade. It was a tough position to consider for Rams fans. This week we'll take an easy one, defensive ends. 

I think we know the obvious names here: Grant Wistrom and Leonard Little. 

Any objections to those two names? 

It's Tuesday, and that means only three shopping days until Christmas. If you need my shirt size, just send me an email. Just kidding. You find any gift ideas for your sweet heart among this group of news items about the St. Louis Rams, but you will find some info about Christmas in April, better known as the draft. 

Rams add DE James Wyche - The Rams picked up a new DE to fill the roster spot vacated by Daniel Fell's trip to IR. 

The flu means nothing to Darrell Scott - Darrell Scott played a good game for a guy that missed Friday's practice with the swine flu.

More praise for Suh - ESPN's Todd McShay calls Suh "elite" and has him being drafted first overall by the Rams. However, the well-known draft guru does point out some areas where Suh must improve, just in case you started to think he was flawless.

Fresno's Ryan Matthews jumps to NFL - The Fresno State running back will enter the draft this year. He's a big runner, not a super fast guy, so he might not be exactly what the Rams are looking for to complement Steven Jackson. Still, it's worth keeping an eye on RBs entering the draft given the Rams glaring need for a #2. 

2010 NFL Draft prospects playing in non-BCS bowl games - Without 3k in the mix right now, we'll have to scrounge prospect info where we can get it. This is a pretty interesting read as bowl season heats up.

More photos » by Duane Burleson - AP

Fells is headed to IR.

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Another Monday, another player to the Injured Reserve list for the St. Louis Rams. Today's entrant is TE Daniel Fells who was placed on IR after a fracture in his thigh and a sprained ligament. Though Fells had just 4 receptions in his last two games - he left late in the first quarter this week - the third year TE was an important part of the Rams injury-depleted pass catchers.

CB Quincy Butler has a knee and an ankle sprain that will probably keep him out for the rest of the season, definitely this week.

The Rams will activate CB Jonathan Wade for their game against the Cardinals. Jeez. Remember, Wade was a starting CB when the season began, and was gradually replaced by Bradley Fletcher. At first, it just seemed like Fletcher was a better corner, because he was, but then Butler and Justin King got more reps after Fletcher went to IR. Such is life in the NFL...

In one other item of interest from the injury report today: OT Jason Smith has not taken another baseline neurological examination. Hmmm. That most likely means he's still experiencing symptoms and is thus close to being shut down for the season, officially or unofficially. That's too bad. I'd really like to see more Smith, but there's no point taking a risk with your investment for two more games of what could very well become a one-win season.

For those of you keeping count at home, that's 12 players on IR for the Rams, 9 of those players were starters. Here's the list:

• DT Adam Carriker
• WR Laurent Robinson
• DT Gary Gibson
• LS Chris Massey
• WR Keenan Burton
• FS Oshiomogho Atogwe
• OG Jacob Bell
• CB Bradley Fletcher
• TE Daniel Fells
• WR Brooks Foster
• DE C. J. Ah You
• S Eric Bassey

If you include players that could and probably should be put on IR, you've got quite a team.

More photos » by Jeff Roberson - AP

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Nobody would call moving the ball one of the St. Louis Rams strengths this season. Scoring was, once again, hard to come by for Spagnuolo's group this week, for several reasons. However, offense lovers did get some relief from the endless procession of three-and-outs as the Rams set a season high for third down conversions against the Texans this week, converting 8 of 15 third down attempts. The 53 percent conversion rate was the highest of the season.

On fifteen third downs during the game, the Rams had an average distance of 6.9 yards to convert it for a first. Naturally, that meant they had to throw the ball plenty, 11 times in fact. The Rams were successful on 5 of those 11 pass attempts. Two of the unsuccessful throws came on third-and-12 and third-and-19.

They ran the ball four times on third down, converting three attempts. Each run came on third-and-1 or third-and-2. Shurmur called a pass on one third-and-2, Null's TD to Danny Amendola.

Now, third down conversions mean nothing if you can't move the ball well enough to score, but for the Rams of 2009, this is measurable progress and something to build on for next week and beyond.

More photos » by Jeff Roberson - AP

What's next for Null and the Rams?

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Alright, what's the point of overraction Monday without a little Keith Null talk, huh? The St. Louis Rams rookie, third string QB erased (some) memories of his five INT introduction to the NFL last week with what was an all-around solid outing, though not without rookie mistakes, in a near-win against the Houston Texans.

For the second week in a row, the young man from a little school in West Texas showed the poise and composure that had everyone talking last week. Null completed 18 of 27 passes for 173 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT. Nothing special, but Null did throw one more TD than Brett Favre and had better stats than Tom Brady. As far as the playcalling goes, the Rams did use more three and four receiver sets for the experienced spread QB compared to last week. And offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur had his rookie QB airing out, taking shots down the field too. Last week, Null averaged 3.5 yards per pass; this week it was 5.0 yards per pass. It wasn't the best QB performance for the 2009 Rams - that was Bulger's outing against the Saints back in week 10 - but in a season where good QB outings have been few and far between, Null's game does grade out as one of the better performances we have seen from a QB this season. (Just going by QB rating, Null's 81.2 was the second best for a Rams QB playing a complete game this season; Bulger had a 93.5 against NO).

One digression: I feel a little bad for Null or any QB. The Rams are so talent starved every single mistake gets amplified because they just can't overcome those errors.

So, that makes Null the next Kurt Warner by default? Absolutely not. Ryan Leaf's former protege has a long way to go before he earns the title of anything other than fill-in. However, he is the team's best option at QB at this point in the season, and should start the last two games.

Why not Boller? We've had five games of Boller's six year career. We know what he is capable of when he is under center. Maybe he's less likely to muff a snap because he's at least used to taking them directly, but at least he can go through his progressions and find a receiver...even though that receiver will probably drop the pass. Null seems to be working better with the team around him than Boller.

What about "beating him down" a la JaMarcus Russell, as PD columnist and sometime Rams watcher Jeff Gordon suggests? Ridiculous. Sacks weren't Russell's biggest problem; Russell was Russell's biggest problem...that and being part of the Raiders. Null, whether he pans out or not and he could very well not, at least has the passion and committment to keep pouring every ounce of effort into it. His follow up to a 5 interception proves that.

It sounds like the Rams do plan to start Null over the season's final two weeks, which will go a long way toward determining how he fits into the plans for 2010. Whether he winds up back on the third string or not, Null is the only Rams QB to see the field this season that actually does figure into the plans for 2010.