Cornerback Ron Bartell and safety Craig Dahl bounced back from their pass coverage issues and forced a huge Jacksonville turnover in the red zone.

Bartell put a massive hit on Jacksonville running back Maurice Jones-Drew to jar the ball loose and Dahl won the battle for the loose ball.

A false-start penalty on Alex Barron, of all things, made life difficult for the Rams on their ensuing possession. But a third-down screen pass to Steven Jackson broke big and got the Rams out of their hole.

With the Jaguars loading up the box against Jackson and daring the Rams to throw, Marc Bulger will be obligated to throw over the top of the Jacksonville defense.

On third-and-12, though, Bulger threw well underneath to tight end Randy McMichael and the Rams had to punt the ball away.

On Jacksonville’s next possession, the Jaguars beat a Rams blitz with a quick pass to Maurice Jones-Drew coming out of the backfield. That moved the ball into St. Louis territory.

But the Rams defense stiffened after that play. Veteran defensive ends James Hall and Leonard Little earned sacks against the makeshift Jacksonville line and the Jaguars had to punt the ball back to the Rams.

Tim Carter had to replace Donnie Avery at receiver, since Avery suffered a bruised hip trying to catch a pass earlier this quarter. The loss of Avery’s speed has prompted the Rams to shorten up their passing game.

Short completions to Jackson, Keenan Burton and McMichael earned first downs as the Rams tried to mount one last drive during the first half. The loss of Carter to still another receiver injury complicated the effort.

Then tight end Daniel Fells (temporarily) went down after nearly catching a defense-stretching pass from Bulger. The Rams offense has been subtracting options at an alarming rate this half.

On fourth-and-one at the Jacksonville 35, the Rams went for the conversion and got it — thanks to an offside penalty on Jacksonville.

A tripping penalty on Kenneth Darby (trying to protect Bulger) moved the Rams out of field goal range. A quick completion to Darby erased some of that lost yardage. An even shorter completion to Burton got the ball to the Jaguars 35.

Rather than opt for the punt, coach Steve Spagnuolo opted to try a 52-yard field goal. This gave high-priced kicker Josh Brown a chance to earn his money.

Brown did, splitting the uprights and crushing the ball into the net from that distance. That gave the Rams a 10-6 lead.

After the officials inexplicably stopped the clock with five seconds left in the half — after Mike Sims-Walker was stopped and pushed backward before finally falling of bounds– Josh Scobee got to try a 58-yard field goal.

He missed, so the Rams kept their 10-6 lead.