Linebacker set to return for Rams

ST. LOUIS -- Like Orlando Pace a week earlier, St. Louis Rams linebacker Chris Draft appears ready to return to the lineup ahead of schedule.

They're setting an example for teammates that it's important to play to the finish, even if the season is a lost cause.

"If nothing else, it shows you some of the character you have on the team," Rams coach Jim Haslett said Wednesday. "Now, it's not equating to wins enough, but it does show you at the end of the year when you're evaluating your team, what kind of guys you want.

"Those are the guys you like to have."

Pace was supposed to be out two to four weeks with a knee strain, but the seven-time Pro Bowler missed only one game. He drew a tough assignment in his return, but helped shut down NFL sack leader Joey Porter in a loss to the Dolphins last week.

"I thought he did a great job," Haslett said. "He's a tough guy who wants to come out there and play."

The Rams estimated Draft would be sidelined three to six weeks with a broken bone in his right foot. He started running last week and is on track to return for Sunday's game, starting at middle linebacker for the first time this season at Arizona after missing four games.

It was an absence Draft described as "kind of torture."

"I'm not going to jump out and say 'Oh man, it feels so great,'" Draft said. "But it feels good. I definitely felt good running around today."

Barring a setback, Draft also expects to see significant duty on special teams.

It's an example that hasn't rubbed off on at least one player still not ready. Cornerback Tye Hill will miss his ninth game recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery, and Haslett intimated the team's No. 1 draft pick in 2006, limited to running on the side Wednesday, might be placed on injured reserve.

"We'll have to make a decision on him pretty soon," Haslett said. "For him sitting around and doing nothing, sooner or later he's got to get back on the field. That's a lot of games."

Draft would be part of a unit coming off its best performance in recent memory. Reversing a trend of four straight blowout losses in which the game was over by halftime, the Rams held the Dolphins to one touchdown.

This week will be a bigger challenge, given the Cardinals' status as an elite offense. Draft points out that the Rams have put it together on defense at least three times, also putting the shackles on the Redskins and Bears in their only victories.

"They've been playing well, so it's definitely a challenge for us," Draft said. "When we play together and we play strong as a team, we're a very hard team to play.

"The games where we've struggled, we've given up big chunks of yardage, and you've got to make people earn it."

Rookie David Vobora, the last overall pick of the draft, got his first career start at middle linebacker last week. He replaced Will Witherspoon, who is undersized for the position and has been hampered by injuries to both shoulders, leading Haslett to limit his playing time to third down and two-minute defense.

This week, Haslett is going with experience. Draft, 5 foot 11 and 236 pounds, is in his 10th season and has made 82 career starts. Draft started five games earlier at outside linebacker, moving ahead of Quinton Culberson.

"I think he brings a calmness to the crew because he's smart and he can get people lined up," Haslett said. "That's why we inserted him early in the season, to settle the defense down.

"We've got a lot of young guys out there and he does a great job of handling those people."