ST. LOUIS -- Injuries have taken their toll on the offensive line of the St. Louis Rams, who have lost both starting tackles and a backup to injuries.
St. Louis placed right tackle Jason Smith on the injured reserve list Friday. Smith sustained a concussion and a neck injury Oct. 23 against Dallas. He is the 13th Rams player now on the IR list.
Smith did some work on the bike Monday but had to shut it down.
"We just thought it was the right thing to do now and here's the reason why. When you really look at it, he's getting close but he's not there," coach Steve Spagnuolo said after practice. "He hasn't done anything for a month. The concern got to be if we waited another week or two weeks, and try to get him ready to go, are we doing the right thing for the player in that you don't do anything for five weeks and then you rush him out there?
"We're trying to be smart about it. He'll fight through this thing like he did a couple of years ago and we'll get him back and he'll be ready to roll."
The Rams will host the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday and one of the big goals is to protect quarterback Sam Bradford. In his second season, Bradford has been sacked 31 times for 205 yards in losses. His quarterback rating is 70.9.
Rodger Saffold, the Rams' left tackle, tore a chest muscle lifting weights last week and was placed on injured reserve. Backup Mark LeVoir took his starting spot last Sunday against Seattle and sustained a similar pectoral muscle injury that will have him out up to four weeks.
When LeVoir went down, undrafted rookie Kevin Hughes of Southeast Louisiana took over. Hughes was promoted from the practice squad the day before the game when Safford went on IR.
Spagnuolo has options to mix and match. Guard Harvey Dahl has played tackle before and Brown has played at guard.
"We're going to have five guys line up on the OL and away we go," said Spagnuolo, declining to reveal who was going to play where Sunday.
For a complete breakdown of all injuries around the league, visit NFL.com's injury page.
Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press
