Sam Bradford: Will Rams QB Rescue Your Fantasy Team vs. Giants?

The bad news is that the St. Louis Rams won't have the services of running back Steven Jackson tonight against the New York Giants. He was hoping his injured quad would allow him to play, but word came out very recently that it's not going to.

The good news is that the Rams will have quarterback Sam Bradford. He dinged up a finger on his throwing hand in Week 1 against the Philadelphia Eagles, but it's not going to keep him out of the spotlight on Monday Night Football.

This is good news not just for the Rams, but for fantasy owners as well. Bradford is, after all, widely owned, and there are no doubt plenty of owners out there who are hoping Bradford will put up big numbers on Monday night.

But will he?

Honestly, I have my doubts. While I don't think Bradford's injured digit is going to hinder him all that much, I worry about his ability to pick up the offensive slack that will be left by Jackson's injury. The Giants have every excuse to dare Bradford to beat them, and I don't think he will.

One of the ways we know this is because Bradford couldn't beat the Eagles last Sunday. He ended up completing just 17 of his 30 passes for a mere 188 yards. He was also sacked four times, and lost a fumble that was returned for a touchdown.

One thing of note is that all four of those sacks came from Philly's defensive line. That speaks of weaknesses on St. Louis' offensive line, and it speaks to good coverage in the secondary. Neither of these things are surprising given what we know about the nature of Philly's defense.

Because of a wave of crippling injuries to their defense, the Giants most likely will not be quite as dominant. But they can certainly be effective, especially seeing as how it has recently been reported (per Mike Garafolo of The Star-Ledger) that defensive end Justin Tuck will be good to go tonight.

So if you're hoping for some kind of 300-yard, multi-touchdown primetime outburst that will save your fantasy team, I'm afraid I have to burst your bubble. Bradford and the Rams are at a disadvantage, and there's just not much reason to think Bradford will be as good or better than the Rams need him to be.

You need him to be that good too, of course. But alas, I see a tough pill to swallow in your near future.