MEQUON, Wis. (Camp Day 18/early report)

After stumbling through their preseason opener at Tennessee, the Rams meet the Chargers on Saturday night at the Edward Jones Dome. After seeing his troops pummeled 34-13 by the Titans, coach Scott Linehan is placing considerable importance on the outcome. Enough so that he plans to “play a significant amount with our starting unit.”

“I don’t know what that means; when we’re done, we’re done,” Linehan said. “But we want to play a great game on Saturday.”

Emerging victorious in St. Louis, where ticket sales are lagging, “is very important,” Linehan added. “I don’t discount the importance of any game, preseason or not. There’s not a whole lot of good that comes out of losing a game.”

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That said, here are a couple of unsolicited suggestions:

>>Since the first-team offense hasn’t produced a touchdown in a preseson game since 2005, keep Marc Bulger & Co. in Saturday until they do. If it takes them until the fourth quarter, against the Chargers’ scrubs, so be it.

>>Since the Rams’ most recent first-round draftees, defensive tackle Adam Carriker (2007) and defensive end Chris Long (2008), had zero tackles between them vs. the Titans (according the unofficial press-box stats), same thing: keep them in the game until they start to make some plays.

All for now . . . more following this afternoon’s practice.