St. Louis Rams vs. Jacksonville Jaguars: 5 Things to Watch

The final week of the preseason is here, and the feeling of regular season football on the horizon has fans' anxiety levels high.

The Rams head to Jacksonville this week to play the 1-2 Jaguars. St. Louis is looking for its first undefeated preseason since 1979, when the team was still in Los Angeles.

Other than just looking out to see if the Rams can cap off their preseason on a high note, there are five key things to keep an eye on. All of these events will have an impact on the Rams when Week 1 of the regular season rolls around.

Without further ado, here are five things to keep an eye on when the St. Louis Rams play the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Wide Receiver Battle

St. Louis' battle at the wide receiver position has been anticlimactic, to say the least. Before the preseason started, fans were looking forward to seeing which receiver would break free from the pack. Well, none of them have.

Rookie tight end Lance Kendricks has stood out, but aside from him there has been little to comment on. This will be the final chance for these receivers to show what they have.

Aside from his six-yard touchdown grab, newly signed Mike Sims-Walker hasn't proved that he is capable of being the No. 1 receiver.Sims-Walker has only managed two catches for 32 yards this preseason. You can blame it on injuries, but that is the very reason he wasn't able to be consistent in Jacksonville.

Receivers Danny Amendola and Brandon Gibson appear to have roster spots locked up. Same goes with rookie wideouts Greg Salas and Austin Pettis despite less than stellar play from either.

The battle for the final spot or possibly spots comes down to Mardy Gilyard, Danario Alexander and Donnie Avery. The Rams re-signing Mark Clayton makes it tough on all of these guys.

Gilyard has looked impressive so far this preseason. His stats may not be gaudy, but he has looked comfortable in the system and has done well on returns. Danario played well against Indianapolis in Week 1 but has only caught two passes since. Plus, his knee is acting up again. Avery has caught four passes in the two preseason games and looks to have locked up a spot. He is finally all the way healthy and will look to make an impact this season.

Run Defense

For the sake of this argument, I'm going to discard the game against the Kansas City Chiefs.

St. Louis' run defense has been improving since Steve Spagnuolo has arrived, improving from 29th to 27th to 17th a season ago. The additions the Rams have made this offseason have been to improve the run defense. They added a safety who is very good at playing in the box in Quintin Mikell and added a couple of defensive tackles to create competition.

For whatever reason it may be, the Rams' run defense flat-out stunk against the Colts and the Titans. Let's not forget these were no-name running backs carrying the ball. The 114 yards allowed against the Colts would be perfectly fine if it weren't for the 4.8 yards per carry.

Against the Titans, the defense couldn't do much right. Tennessee ran for 198 yards on a 5.7-yard per carry average. That is completely unacceptable.

While I don't believe we will see games like this from the Rams come the regular season, it is a concern. Hopefully we see more of the Week 3 Rams defense against the Jaguars.

Backups

Very similar to the run defense, we have seen the good and the bad from the backup players. We may hope that these players never see the field, but injuries do happen in the NFL.

In Week 1 against the Colts, the backup players weren't asked to do too much with the game already out of hand, but it was good to see them keep up the production that the starters left off. Rookie safety Jermale Hines was able to get an interception, and the backup running backs did their jobs.

It doesn't get much better than Week 2 as far as backup play goes. You don't expect your backups to engineer the kind of second-half comeback that occurred against Tennessee. The Rams may have a very special backup in Thaddeus Lewis if he can consistently perform at that level.

Defensive players played well against the Chiefs, while the offense played average. Holding Kansas City to 3-of-14 on third down is a very impressive stat.

Expect the backups to play very well against Jacksonville. This is their last shot at making the 53-man roster, so they are going to put everything on the line. I will have my eyes on Lewis to see if he can perform at the level he did against the Titans.

Outside Linebacker Battle

Both outside linebacker positions are still up for grabs going into the final week of the preseason. Right now it appears Ben Leber and Brady Poppinga have the inside track, but it is still anybody's guess.

Ben Leber has stood out as a leader in his short time with the Rams. During practice, Spagnuolo was originally testing Leber at both the weak and strong side linebacker positions, which is a sign of his versatility. Having another veteran on defense will only help St. Louis.

Brady Poppinga is in competition with Bryan Kehl for the other job. Poppinga has the experience of being on the Super Bowl-winning Green Bay Packers, but Kehl already knows the system from a season ago.

Kehl has looked solid this preseason, but the question for the Rams is, do they trust him? He had his chances a season ago, and it is safe to say none of the outside 'backers stood out in a good way. If the Rams want change, then Poppinga should be their man.

Consistency

Consistency is something that is pretty hard to complain about in the preseason. With all of the testing players at new positions and the chemistry not being there quite yet, it's hard for any team to look perfect.

St. Louis is in a good position as it stands right now. The Rams are undefeated heading into the final week of the preseason, and they have positive momentum. Unless something drastic happens (knock on wood), they should be in good shape heading into Week 1.

What you should look for in this department are the mental errors. The starters will only be in for about a quarter, but false starts and holding are things the Rams need to avoid. The final score shouldn't matter as much as the team looking sharp, focused and confident.