The Rams defense opened the second half with a penalty, a pass-interference call on Ron Bartell (defending Torry Holt) for a first down.

Then the Jaguars worked the ball to Maurice Jones-Drew through the air and on the ground, marching into Rams territory.

Jaguars quarterback David Garrard gunned a pass right to Bartell downfield . . . but Bartell dropped the interception.

The Rams defensive line picked him up. Defensive tackle Clifton Ryan sacked Garrard when David tried to take off. Then Leonard Little jarred the ball loose from Garrard on a sack attempt and Craig Dahl eventually recovered it.

The officials ruled the play a fumble on the field. The Jaguars challenged the call, arguing that Garrard’s passing arm was moving forward.

They won the review, but the Jaguars still had to punt the ball away. So the Rams defense opened the half with a stop.

Then the Rams offense moved the ball. Jackson ran for a first down. Daniel Fells caught a short pass. On third-and-5 play, Marc Bulger tried to execute the bootleg passing play that teammate Kyle Boller runs so effectively.

Bulger is not nearly as nimble. He spun, lumbered to his right and threw the ball into Danny Amendola’s feet. So the Rams had to punt the ball back.

Dahl nearly got another turnover, making a terrific read on a deep ball over the middle. Alas, he couldn’t quite reel the ball in.

Bartell got flagged for another pass interference penalty on Holt, but at least he has stayed in the vicinity. Then a late pass interference penalty on cornerback Jonathan Wade — called, basically, by Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio — kept the Jaguars moving.

Finally the Rams made the drive-ending defensive play, with Quincey Butler breaking up a third-down pass without drawing a flag. All in all, Steve Spagnuolo will like a lot of what he saw during that entire defensive sequence.

(In the middle of all that, defensive tackle Clifton Ryan blew up a screen pass and dumped Rashad Jennings in the backfield.)

The Rams offense continued to sputter, though, with Marc Bulger’s third-down completion to Daniel Fells coming up a yard short. The Rams had to punt the ball away again — and punter Donnie Jones continued to struggle.

Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo used his challenge wisely, questioning an alleged first-down completion to Holt. The replay showed that Holt didn’t have a firm grasp on the ball while going out of bounds.

Somehow that play was ruled a completion. Oh, well.

Another completion to Holt earned another first down and moved the Jaguars into scoring range. But C.J. Ah You deflected a Garrard passed and rookie middle linebacker James Laurinaitis claimed the easy red-zone interception.

So the Rams went into the fourth quarter with a 10-6 lead and the football.