We like playing CSI here at RamsHerd, especially when strange things happen, like the Rams getting a win. The white lab coats, the sunglasses, the snappy dialog, and those millions of CBS viewers.

This week's mystery: did the Browns lose that game, or did the Rams actually win it?

Central to the mystery is whether James Hall got a hand on the potential game-winning 22-yard field goal try by Cleveland. (Of course, there were nearly two minutes on the clock, but with Sam Bradford completely uninstalling his "Rams passing game" program from the Matrix in the fourth quarter, we all know those were going to be the game-winning points.) In his press conference today, when he wasn't cataloguing the insanely long list of injuries his team has continued to pile up, Coach Spagnuolo made a definitive claim that Hall did get a piece of that ball.

CSI quip: "Looks like a bad snap got a bad rap."

Let's break down the game video, after the break.

With 151 total yards, Steven Jackson accounted for more than half the Rams' total offense in an ugly win.

Sam Bradford earned his first ever fourth quarter comeback today against the Cleveland Browns. Here's how he did it:

Drive 1: Incomplete (negated by tripping penalty on Goldberg), Incomplete, Delay of game, 7 yard pass on 3rd and 20. Punt.

Drive 2: Incomplete, incomplete, punt.

(DAVID NIXON FORCES A JOSH CRIBBS FUMBLE)

Drive 3: 7 yard pass on 2nd and 10. Sacked.

(Watch as team kicks go-ahead field goal. Watch as Cleveland marches down the field. Watch as Alex Mack steps into his own snap on the Browns' attempt at a game-winning field goal.)

Drive 4: Kneel. Kneel. Kneel.

Okay, so it's not one that Bradford or the St Louis Rams will be looking to hang on the mantle, or tell the grandkids about. But somehow -- cue Steven Jackson highlight reel -- the team got a win today, and that's all that matters for the moment.

It was a game that honestly should not have been won, as the Rams had only one good quarter of football (the second). But just-good-enough play in the other three, with a stout defensive performance helped by the Pat Shurmurest of Pat Shurmur offensive gameplans ("Third and two? Let's dial up a one-yard pass...") that held an opponent's offense without a touchdown for the second consecutive week.

With jobs on the line, the Rams will take a just-good-enough performance and a win over 55 minutes of dominance and a loss, which is what they got last week in Arizona.

#1 Star: Steven Jackson (128 yards rushing, 23 yards receiving, endless motor)

Running behind an offensive line with more patches than the AIDS quilt, Steven Jackson literally carried the Rams offense on the day. He was kept from the end zone, as the Rams ended up kicking two very short field goals, but he helped set the tone for the Rams, and erased a lot of mistakes by his teammates. Just one example: breaking off a 17-yard run immediately after a stupid penalty set them back to 1st and 15.

#2 Star: Brandon Lloyd's 1st Half (4 catches, 48 yards and a TD)

Brandon Lloyd made the difference in this game, coming up with two very difficult catches - a one-handed tiptoe job on the sideline to rescue a botched drive, and making a tunnel for Bradford to throw into in the end zone, with Joe Haden draped on his back. His scoring catch was the first Rams touchdown thrown by Sam since October 2nd, and gave the Rams a 7-3 lead.

#3 Star: James Laurinaitis (10 total tackles, 1 sack)

The Rams' continued inability to move the ball after halftime placed yet another game in the hands of their defensive quarterback, and Laurinaitis came through with yet another big game. Laurinaitis and Chris Long teamed up for a pair of drive-killing sacks of Colt McCoy, forcing a punt with the Browns clinging to a 12-10 lead. When they next got the ball, they were down 13-12.

Honorable Mention: The Rams' replacement players

St Louis got stung by yet another set of maddening injuries. Another tackle (Rodger Saffold) suffered a concussion. Another two defensive backs (Al Harris and Darius Butler) left the game with injuries. Michael Hoomanawanui took a bad shot to the knee. Sam Bradford limped off for a play after having his knees rumbled on a 3rd down scramble. And in the oddest injury of the day, Cadillac Williams pulled a calf muscle while jogging onto the field. 

But the Rams' depth saved them. Mark Levoir stepped in and stopped a certain amount of bleeding at left tackle, Josh Gordy and Justin King (yes, Justin King) played well at cornerback, and the Rams' linebackers got extra time on the field once Spags ran out of healthy safeties.

Oh, and David Nixon: Welcome to the Rams.

The Rams performance last Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals from an offensive standpoint was nothing short of maddening. Dominating nearly all statistical aspects of the game yet no pay dirt. That is about as frustrating as it gets for a fantasy GM. Add to the mix head coach Steve Spagnuolo seemingly looking to run out the clock with 20 minutes left and it would seem Spagnuolo has a personal vendetta against any fantasy owner of a Rams offensive player.

The defense however was another story. Dominating as well in a game they played more than well enough to win. With three sacks, two forced fumbles and two, yes two, safeties with only 13 points allowed. This week’s opponent, the Cleveland Browns present a similar opportunity.

It has been a rough fantasy season for anyone associated with the Rams, players and owners alike. Looking ahead the best bet for fantasy redemption lies with the Rams defense. The Rams have shown some life during the past few weeks, thanks largely to their relentless pursuit of the pocket and their trio of effective defensive ends. With Chris Long leading the way and savvy vet James Hall benefiting from the attention on Long. The real gem of the line is rookie end Robert Quinn, who has emerged for the Rams of late. In dynasty and deep keeper leagues, Quinn is one to keep an eye on, as he and Long could thrive together in the seasons to come.

Here are this week’s plays.

Brandon Lloyd: Lloyd's value rose when he was reunited with OC Josh McDaniels, but he's still not a must-start wideout in fantasy land. In fact, he's someone to avoid this week against CB Joe Haden and the Browns. Just one opponent's No. 1 wideout has scored in double digits against them since Week 1.

Steven Jackson:  On a major roll right now and Browns are giving up 6th most FPG to RBs in last five weeks and should get a ton of touches.

Sam Bradford: In his first game back from a bad ankle sprain, Bradford threw for 255 yards and scored a mere 8.40 fantasy points against a questionable Cardinals defense. Now he faces the Browns, who have given up the third-fewest fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks. He needs to be placed on the fantasy sidelines.

Mark Clayton: Head coach Steve Spagnuolo said Clayton is about 90 percent healthy, so the team decided to activate him and give him a shot at playing this week. Since Clayton is still not fully healthy, consider him questionable for Week 10.

Josh Brown: Starting to come on a little bit and certainly this should be a close game.

Danario Alexander: Alexander (hamstring) is out for Sunday's game against Cleveland.

Brandon Gibson: He'll likely start again and he did have 5 catches on 5 targets so not worthless but Browns don't give up much in passing game. With Greg Salas and Danario Alexander out of the way, Gibson could get enough targets to be worth a look in deep and/or PPR leagues.

Rams D: Brown offense is a disaster right now and giving up 10th most FPG to DTs in last five weeks.

IDP Leagues

Chris Long: with four sacks and a forced fumble in the past two games. Long's four sacks in the last two games puts him at a near sack-per-game pace (seven sacks in eight games). While it's unlikely he will continue to churn out this type of production over the remainder of the season, he should be able to easily pass his career-high for QB takedowns (8.5, set last season).

Quintin Mikell: Mikell is the NFL’s top-ranked safety according to the guys at profootballfocus.com and is also a top-10 IDP performer. He remains a virtual must-start in all IDP leagues. Look for a strong outing against a terrible Cleveland offense.

James Hall: Hall isn't nearing his dominant 2010 performance, but does have a sack in two of his past three outings and could benefit from the attention the raring Long will regularly demand.

James Laurinaitis: The Rams strongest player on the defensive side of the ball this season, Laurinaitis continues to produce quality numbers and remains a decent IDP option. Laurinaitis has 61 tackles and one interception on the season.

Robert Quinn: Over the past two weeks Quinn has recorded 2 sacks, 2 hits and 5 pressures on 77 snaps against the Saints and Cardinals, also adding a blocked a punt against New Orleans. Now he is seeing 55%+ of snaps he will start to creep onto the IDP radar as he gets on the stat sheet.

Pat Shurmur's transition from the booth to the sidelines hasn't been as smooth as he'd hoped.

The St Louis Rams and Cleveland Browns might only face each other once every three years, but these two teams are far from strangers. With former Ram nemesis Mike Holmgren in the executive office, former Ram offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur roaming the sidelines, and Sam Bradford's former foil in the Big 12 Colt McCoy under center, there is no shortage of storylines to choose from.

Add to that intrigue the real possibility that each team might actually get a win against the other, and you have some actual NFL drama. Mixed in with hapless comedy, of course, because these are not very good football teams, but drama nonetheless. In a season like this, we'll take it.

This week I'm joined by Dan Parker of Waiting For Next Year, a Cleveland Browns blog, and he answers some burning questions about his football team.

Many of us were surprised when Pat Shurmur was tapped to be the head coach, after so little time as an offensive coordinator. How has his transition from the booth to the sideline been for the Browns?

Dan: It's been bumpy, at best. It's clear that not hiring a full-time OC to support Shurmur was a mistake; this has been stated by team president Mike Holmgren. Shurmur's offense has been predictable, and yet at the same time hard to explain at times. Peyton Hillis is routinely under-used even when healthy. Colt McCoy's not a 40-throws-a-game guy, and yet that seems to be what Shurmur wants to do... either by design or by necessity because of the score. It's clear that Shurmur has too much on his plate right now.

Rams center Jason Brown was Billy Devaney's signature signing. No one imagined he'd be a "healthy scratch" three years later.

The Rams coaching staff wanted to send a shock wave through their team, and no better place to start than the middle of it all, I suppose. Center Jason Brown has been benched, held up as an example for an offensive line that has underperformed as a whole.

You could, if you wanted, justify this move on performance reasons. Brown had hardly lived up to his free agent spoils, when he was billed as the "prize free agent blocker of 2009" and paid as the best center in the league. We ripped him frequently on this site, particularly last year when the entire middle of the line simply collapsed. But Brown was much improved this year, and he was far from the line's worst performer, giving up only 2 sacks and 2 hits on Bradford for the season. (If you wanted to bench the guy who has been playing the worst, look two positions to Brown's left. Rodger Saffold leads all offensive linemen in penalties (10) and sacks allowed (11).)  

Brendan Wiese (@bwiese16) of KFNS, who originally broke the story on Twitter yesterday afternoon, also spoke directly with Brown on his benching. According to Brown, the team told him "We're trying to make changes." But Brown adds: "As far as giving me an acceptable or good reason, they actually couldn't give me a good reason, other than that they wanted to test out some of the other guys."

The other guy in this case is former 49er Tony Wragge, who was last employed as a starter (at guard) back in 2008. In limited action since then, Wragge grades out relatively neutrally. At 32, Wragge is 4 years older than Brown, but perhaps his legs are fresher, and perhaps he actually knows how to throw a cut block on a must-have fourth-and-one. But then again, perhaps he's been bench fodder for the last three years for a reason.

Either way, the move is more telling about the mood at Rams park than it is about one individual's play.

The Rams waited until the last possible day to make their decision, but Mark Clayton has finally been activated from the PUP list and added to the regular season roster.

When the Rams re-signed Clayton and placed him on the PUP, he was the eighth receiver in house and seemed like a ticking time bomb for someone on the roster. In particular, the Rams' struggling young rookie slot receivers -- Austin Pettis and Greg Salas -- seemed particularly at risk, as though the two might be sharing a single roster spot and a single place in the Rams offense. After a string of season-ending injuries to the position (Danny Amendola in Week 1, Salas in Week 8), we dno't have to worry about whose place Clayton will take.  

Instead, we have to wonder whether he's healthy enough to contribute. 

Clayton has been practicing with the Rams on and off for the past three weeks, a benefit of being designated Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) at the beginning of the year, rather than being placed on Injured Reserve (IR). The latter ends your season and all association with the team. While you can still collect a paycheck and still rehab with the team's training staff, once you're IR'ed you aren't allowed back on the practice field. 

Last week, Clayton reported some soreness in his achilles tendon, a residual effect of putting his legs through NFL reps after such a long downtime. Rehab has been a long, hard road for the Rams receiver, and until he gets on the field, runs routes in earnest and gets hit in earnest, we won't know if he's all the way back. For what it's worth, Jim Thomas told us yesterday that "Clayton says the Achilles tendon feels much better and he's ready to play."

One thing we can hope for sooner rather than later is for Clayton to reestablish the immediate chemistry he built with Sam Bradford, chemistry established in just a handful of practices. He caught 10 of 16 passes thrown his way in week one, and went on to build the best catch percentage (60.5%) of his career in his limited time in a Rams uniform. 

Practice time and chemistry building with Bradford is in short supply right now, though, especially with another hungry fish in the pond in Brandon Lloyd. Sam was reportedly limited in practice today, and is still considered "day to day" for this Sunday's reunion with Pat Shurmur, Colt McCoy and the Browns. My guess is he'll start, though. 

Now the question is, who does he throw to, and can they help the Rams get past that invisible shield at the goal line?  

Oklahoma State WR Justin Blackmon looks like the cream of the crop.

We just published an early draft profile on Oklahoma State wideout Justin Blackmon over at This Given Sunday, and it's interesting to note that Blackmon is already being mocked to the Rams at #3 overall in preliminary mocks (OptimumScouting.com). But then again, South Carolina's Alshon Jeffery has been mocked to the Rams as well (Sportingnews.com). And Blackmon and Jeffery replace Notre Dame's Michael Floyd as the Rams' odds-on pick before the season even started (SBNation.com).

I'm no draft expert when it comes to college talent. I like to think I'm pretty good at assessing team needs and reading tea leaves, though, and even with the acquisition of Brandon Lloyd and slot weapons in Greg Salas and Austin Pettis, and even with Danario Alexander getting heavy usage, I have to think that a young elite X wideout (with healthy knees) is still high on the Rams' preliminary draft board.

With the season trending the way it is (i.e. straight down), it looks like the Rams will have their pick.

Here's a quick introduction to the top three: