Rams Week 6 Preview

The number one question for Rams fans this week is can the Rams combine the two most common reasons for in-season improvement to get their first win?A Can the Rams get a bounce from having two weeks to prepare for the surging Washington Redskins?A Can the Rams show fight for their new head coach, Jim Haslett?A Can the Rams get their confidence up so that they don't fall apart at the first sign of trouble?A I know that is four questions, but with the 2008 Rams there are more questions than answers. But, these are all questions that will be answered in Week 6 in Washington against the Redskins.A Rams players are saying all the right things about playing hard for Haslett.A Practices have looked faster and more spirited since Scott Linehan's firing.A Haslett has made the team run conditioning drills so that they do not fall flat in the fourth quarter because of conditioning. The most important point is contained in the Week 4 loss to the Buffalo Bills.A The Rams started out strong and held a lead for the first time for the season.A The Rams were able to stuff the run and block for Steven Jackson.A They were able to defend the pass enough to keep the Bills out of the end zone in the first half.A But, as momentum started turning against the Rams, so did the Rams turn on themselves.A Correspondingly, the most important point for the Rams in Week 6 is to not get down on themselves and know that they can come back late in the game if need be.A The Rams need to take a page from Tony LaRussa and "play a hard [60 minutes]" and good things will happen.A A With the increased conditioning and the fire and reinforcement of Jim Haslett, the Rams should (emphasis on the word "should") have an improved performance in Week 6. The Redskins are a good and improving team, hardened in the NFC East; however look for the Rams to at least cover the 13.5 point spread.A It should be interesting to see how the Rams come out against Washington and even more interesting to see if they can keep playing at a high level after something goes wrong.