The plan lasted exactly one game
The Rams thought they could manage it. Myles Garrett would play through the injury, take a reduced snap count and still be worth something off the edge. Sixty minutes against San Francisco buried that idea.
Sean McVay confirmed on Monday that Garrett is going on injured reserve, a call the club made straight after the opener following a conversation with the outside linebacker. Garrett’s availability had already been cutting into his practice work before kickoff.
“We thought it was something that we’d be able to manage that wasn’t necessarily the case,” McVay said. “It was right after the game in terms of listening to how he felt, how he was able to impact the game, and even what you guys saw with how limited we had to be with him.”
Try it for $0.99.
No injury named, no date circled
McVay declined to specify the injury and refused to commit to a return. He floated four weeks and immediately took the edge off it. “I think it’d be unfair to him without having the totality of all the information to put any sort of timeline on it,” he said. “We know that he’ll be available in four weeks potentially and we’ll take that a day at a time.”
Aaron Donald, who did not travel for the opener, is still building back toward playing, and McVay has not decided whether he will be available Monday night. He shot down any suggestion the two situations are connected. “They don’t have anything to do with one another,” McVay said, framing Donald’s return around what the veteran can handle in 11-on-11 work rather than around who else is unavailable.
Josaiah Stewart picks up much of what Garrett leaves behind. McVay pointed to Stewart’s work against both run and pass and to a rotation that handled the bulk of training camp.
The passing game is the real problem
The rest of the injury list reads better. Safety Kam Curl returned to the opener after ankle soreness and is doing well. Nate Landman is managing shoulder and thumb issues but should be ready. Tight end Davis Allen got back on the field. Omar Speights took a hip pointer and has swelling, though McVay said he is further along than expected.
What bothered the coach most was the offense. “The lack of efficiency and effectiveness in the pass game prevented us from getting any continuity,” McVay said. “The big area of focus improvement will be in regard to the pass game and some of the different things that we can do collectively. And like I told you, it always starts with me.” He liked the running game, the push at the line of scrimmage, Blake Corum’s carries and Quentin Lake’s interception. None of that softened the verdict. “We can’t lose twice to that,” he said.
Discover the rest of our NFL news on MathODDS!
in your pocket.
Real-time notifications & alerts
Leave a Reply