Sunday certainly established one thing: The Indianapolis Colts are a heck of a lot better than the Jacksonville Jaguars. A week ago, the Rams went toe-to-toe with the Jags before losing 23-20 in overtime. This week… well, this week the Rams were never really in it.

After the Colts drove for a touchdown on their first possession, the Rams responded with an eight-play, 69 yard drive. That drive included what is almost certainly the biggest highlight reel play for the Rams to date this season: a 51-yard flea-flicker pass from Marc Bulger to Donnie Avery that got the Rams to the Indianapolis 14. Unfortunately, as we have seen all too often this year, that drive stalled right there, and the Rams settled for a field goal and a 7-3 game.

That’s as close as the Rams would get to the Colts in a 42-6 rout.

While I’d certainly hoped for a more competitive game, I can’t honestly say I expected a much different outcome. Peyton Manning has been running this offense with no interruption for more than a decade now, and, surrounded by a host of gifted playmakers, he operates it to near perfection. Their defense, once the Achilles’ heel of the high-flying Colts, has risen to become a tenacious top 10 unit.

The Rams, on the other hand, are in the throes of rebuilding, struggling for consistency, and trying to establish an identity. They are filling key areas of their depth chart with rookies and no-namers of every sort, desperately searching for difference-makers.

On Sunday, those differences showed.

I don’t even really fault the Rams for giving up yards and touchdowns to Manning and the Colts. Indianapolis has been doing the same thing to teams that are in much better shape than the Rams. I know it feels like a copout, but it’s true. In fact, the eternally optimistic among us might find a small victory in the Rams ending Manning’s season-long streak of 300-yard passing games. Still, there are plenty of grievances to air.

The Colts haven’t been giving up many sacks (none in the last four games, in fact), but other than Leonard Little getting near Manning a couple of times and causing one deflection, there was no pressure on Manning whatsoever. Manning may be tough to get to the turf, but he should at least feel the Rams’ presence.

Likewise, I know covering Reggie Wayne is a tough assignment, but he ran wild on Ron Bartell, with seven catches for 83 yards before leaving the game with an injury. Bartell is getting paid a lot of money to help keep players like Wayne in check. I can’t help but wonder if maybe Bartell is still suffering some lingering effects from the thigh injury he suffered against Green Bay. He hasn’t really seemed the same since then.

Offensively, there seems to be an ongoing debate as to whether Bulger or his receivers are to blame for the errors in the Rams’ passing game. I don’t really see any reason to point fingers — Bulger and his receivers share the blame for the miscues. Bulger isn’t always finding the open receiver. Both of his interceptions were on ill-advised throws. However, Bulger’s receivers aren’t doing anything to help him either. I share Bernie’s frustration over Tim Carter — he dropped an easy reception after the flea-flicker when the Rams were driving for a possible TD, and he hasn’t really made any plays. Then again, big plays are in short supply among all the Rams’ pass-catchers. These guys need to get some separation, and try to come back to the ball to help Bulger out when he’s in trouble.

Speaking of the flea-flicker play, I wish offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur would be calling a few more plays like it. We all realize that Shurmur has a difficult task in trying to coax big plays from this offense, given the ongoing struggles in pass protection (another issue in itself), Bulger’s recurring skittishness in the pocket, the lack of anybody proven at receiver, etc., but he still has to try. Flea-flicker aside, the offensive play calling of late harkens back to the darkest days of the previous regime here. I’ve been trying to cut the coaches some slack considering their inexperience and what they have to work with, but seriously, test the opposing defense once in awhile. That flea-flicker showed us that good things can happen when you do. If nothing else, it might force the other team to move someone out of the box and give Steven Jackson a little more room to operate.

Notice I said Jackson, and not the Rams’ running backs. That’s because Samkon Gado and Kenneth Darby haven’t done anything to distinguish themselves as options behind Jackson. Could anyone else sense that the Rams’ one viable third quarter drive was doomed the second Jackson ran off the field? Sure enough, one handoff to Gado and, boom, the Rams are looking at second and long. I know anytime Jackson comes out of the lineup, there is going to be a drop-off no matter who the backup is, but that person should at least be able to keep the offense moving forward.

Oh, and the team lost long snapper Chris Massey, one of its few consistent performers, for the season with an injury.

Aye aye aye…

Okay, so, what good can be salvaged from this Colts catastrophe?

Well, there is Jackson. No. 39 got his touches Sunday, and got some hefty production out of them, gaining 134 yards on 23 carries for a very nice 5.8 yard average. He looked to have the Rams barreling ahead for a potential touchdown until the ill-fated Gado substitution. It’s a shame that the Rams almost seem to forget about Jackson the most in the close games, where he can be most effective. In the Rams’ 9-7 loss to the Redskins, Jackson got the ball 17 times. Last week, in the OT match against the Jaguars, the Rams oddly went away from Jackson in the second half. As he showed Sunday, that’s when Jackson can do the greatest damage — after he has had the chance to wear a defense out. Of course, any running back’s effectiveness diminishes once you fall behind and have to go airborne to try to catch up. However, in games like those in Jacksonville and DC, where the Rams are close at the end, Jackson is more than capable of helping to salt away a victory. Shurmur and the Rams need to remember that.

I also think there’s reason to be excited over the play of some of these young guys that are trying to carve out a football career for themselves. I briefly mentioned last week that I thought the Rams were doing a pretty good job of finding potential gamers in all the kids and nobodies that they’ve been bringing in. Since the Rams’ focus at this point is clearly long-term, one of the most fascinating aspects of the team is seeing who’s making a case to stick beyond this season.

Danny Amendola continues to impress me. True, five catches for 39 yards is nothing to get too excited about, but you can see when Amendola touches the ball that he has the quickness and shiftiness to make guys miss, and the speed to pull away if given the chance. Keep in mind, too, Amendola wasn’t even with the Rams until week 3. He’s still finding his comfort zone in this offense. Regardless, he has been able to contribute right away after Laurent Robinson’s season-ending injury and Donnie Avery’s nagging issues. Anyway, Amendola’s biggest value to the Rams probably isn’t as a receiver (although I could see him becoming a pretty nifty slot receiver for this team).

The great thing about Amendola is that he looks like he might finally be the answer for the Rams’ long-suffering return game. Through week 6, the league average on punt returns was 8.5 yards. On kick returns in was 23 yards. Amendola’s a hair off the average punt return with his 8.1 yards per try, but he’s above average bringing back kicks, with 24.3 yards per return. The stats don’t even tell the whole story. As I said, Amendola has the speed and quickness to make things happen in the return game. What’s more, he’s decisive. He decides where he wants to take the ball, and he goes. No standing still and dancing. No wasted lateral movement. In his short time here, Amendola has already just missed on going all the way several times. It’s only a matter of time before he breaks one. For the first time since the days of Az Hakim and Tony Horne, I get excited when the Rams line up to bring back a kick.

If Ron Bartell’s play has been somewhat disappointing, the flip-side of that has to be Bradley Fletcher. The rookie third round draft pick out of Iowa began the season as fifth on the depth chart at cornerback, but has worked his way up to start opposite Bartell. As expected, he’s had some rookie moments, but he has held his own. He played a great game yesterday, with eight tackles and a pass defensed before leaving with a hyperextended knee. His aggressive, physical style fits what Steve Spagnuolo wants the Rams to be defensively. Expect to see a lot of Fletcher in the future.

Players like Jackson, Amendola, and Fletcher are what the people in St. Louis have to be excited about now. They are the ray of hope for our Rams.