St. Louis Rams rookie offensive tackle has a sprained knee, and will likely miss one or two games. The Rams first round pick, second overall, played his way into the starting lineup in the waning days of the preseason, consistently showing improvement from game to game.
He has done well in pass protection, and his run blocking looked better this weekend too, I thought. Adam Goldberg will start in his place. For now, the dropoff isn't huge. Goldberg is a solid backup who has seen plenty of time in the starting lineup because of injuries in recent years. I say "for now" because Goldberg is at the top of his game, and Smith has a world of potential he's starting to grow into with more experience. Smith left the game this week in Washington during the second quarter.
C Jason Brown also has a sprained knee, but not quite as severe as Smith's. He's day-to-day.
The offensive line was not without its flaws this week. I think they're getting an undue amount of flak though. Early in the game they were a little sluggish, but got better throughout the game. One noticable element was better cohesion among the front five, something that I expect to improve as the season goes along. The Redskins got too much pressure on Bulger, but considering their front four, the o-line did a decent job. I'll be anxious to see how they fare against Green Bay's 3-4 on Sunday.