LOS ANGELES — In a sea of bad injury news, Los Angeles Rams fans got a small glimmer of hope Wednesday. Don’t get too carried away with it, though.
Unlike offensive lineman Jonah Jackson (shoulder) and safety John Johnson III (shoulder), star receiver Cooper Kupp did not go on injured reserve. Head coach Sean McVay said Kupp’s left-ankle injury is not season-ending and will not require surgery. He will be in a cast for the next week and then begin his rehab.
McVay added that the Rams have not decided whether they will place Kupp on injured reserve later in the year. There are multiple reasons for this:
• Kupp’s recovery timeline is fluid. McVay said Monday that Kupp will miss “extended time” and that he would be an injured reserve candidate, but Wednesday he added that Kupp could even return before the four-game minimum plus the Week 6 bye. (Injured reserve requires players to miss a minimum of four games; in Kupp’s case this would be five weeks and a Week 8 return because of the timing of that bye week.)
“I don’t want to put any expectations on — I know he’s going to want to be back as soon as he can, but I don’t want to put any expectations or unnecessary things on him,” McVay said. “He’s going to do everything in his power to get back, whenever that is.”
• The Rams are quickly nearing the maximum amount of players on injured reserve who can be designated for return. An NFL team can bring back a maximum of eight players from injured reserve, plus two additional players in the postseason. Starters Steve Avila, Jackson, Johnson, Darious Williams and Puka Nacua are currently on injured reserve. Backups/depth players Joe Noteboom, Tre Tomlinson, Larrell Murchison, KT Leveston, Conor McDermott and Derion Kendrick are also on injured reserve (Kendrick’s is officially season-ending since it happened before the 53-man roster cutdown).
In the Rams’ perfect world, six of those players (the starters, plus Noteboom) would return. Some may not. Still, keeping open as many “return” spots as possible is important this early in the season.
“It’s a matter of, OK, we don’t necessarily need that spot (open on the 53-man roster),” McVay said Wednesday. “Because of the amount of injuries that we have, if there is a chance — neither one of those other two that we put on (Jackson and Johnson) would have ever been able to be back before that four games plus that bye week not necessarily counting. For us, that was kind of what went into not necessarily putting him on there yet.
“As of right now, we won’t do that. But it’s not like that decision has been finalized, but as of right now we’re not going to go that direction.”
• Could the Rams also wait to see how the season goes after an unprecedented (under McVay) 0-2 start? Perhaps, though nobody will say it out loud. If the Rams can’t recover their record through all of these injuries, there is little sense in rushing back any core player from injury or even continuing to play key starters such as quarterback Matthew Stafford — especially with backup Jimmy Garoppolo now available following his two-game suspension.
Meanwhile, starting left tackle Alaric Jackson is also back from his suspension. McVay again declined to divulge any details about Jackson’s violation of the NFL’s personal-conduct policy. Jackson, who spoke to reporters in the locker room for the first time since the NFL’s ruling in August, also declined to discuss specifics.
While Jackson was out, Noteboom gave up three pressures against the Detroit Lions in Week 1 before succumbing to an ankle injury during the game. Warren McClendon filled in at left tackle in Week 2 and gave up four pressures and three sacks, according to TruMedia.
“It was definitely tough, it definitely sucked for us overall,” Jackson said of his suspension requiring the team to fill his spot. “I felt bad about it.” He added that he was “selfish” in that regard but reiterated that he was putting the incident that led to the suspension behind him and that “the league did what they had to do, and I understand it.” He did say that he found out he was being investigated by the league “a while back” and that McVay and the team were “on his side” through the process.
The Rams have allowed 29 total pressures in two games, fifth-worst in the NFL, and seven sacks (third-most). The Rams were also unable to create movement in the run game against Arizona, which must change if they have any hope of protecting Stafford not just with better blocking, but also with an effective ground game. Running back Kyren Williams and the Rams’ offensive line combined for just a 33.3 percent rushing success rate, which ranked No. 23 among any ball carrier with 10 or more carries in Week 2, and a combined minus-0.46 total rushing EPA despite Williams’ touchdown.
Pass protection and run blocking composite ratings
The Colts’ offensive line might be good pic.twitter.com/tIxpvw8gi2
— Computer Cowboy (@benbbaldwin) September 18, 2024
This week, backup guard Logan Bruss — a third-round pick in 2022 who made the 53-man roster for the first time this summer after an impressive training camp and preseason — could fill in for the injured Jonah Jackson at left guard, despite not having much experience there. Havenstein is back for his second start off an ankle injury, and right guard Kevin Dotson is playing through an ankle/foot injury. Rookie sixth-round pick Beaux Limmer will make his second start at center after Stafford exclusively worked with Avila there all spring and summer before a few snaps with Limmer and then a change to Jackson late in the summer.
“The biggest thing, No. 1, is getting snaps — getting used to that,” Stafford said. “The worst thing you can do is be sitting in there thinking about where the snap is going to be, how it goes, all of that kind of stuff. I think that’s the biggest thing, and then just communication, right? Just leaning on — hopefully he feels like he can lean on me to get us pointed in the right direction. … try to take things off his plate.
“He has played with some veteran guards on each side the last couple of weeks, so that helps. But I think he’s doing a really good job, and as far as my work with him (it is) just trying to get us in and out of the right plays and make sure he’s tied into why we are doing certain things and where we’re going to go with the protections.”
(Photo: Christian Petersen / Getty Images)
