WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. — Coming off their second straight win, the Rams will face off against the Commanders in Week 9 as they navigate a revolving door of injuries. The lineup has been altered and looked different nearly every week this season, and the matchup with Washington will be no different.
Rams head coach Sean McVay and quarterback Matthew Stafford preview the upcoming game against the Commanders and the impact of injuries.
"(I've) been the coach for 10 years, and I know (2022) is a season that we had a lot of injuries, particularly at the offensive line. But this has been more than any year, including '22, with the amount of different guys out at different spots that are key and critical to your identities, really in all three (phases) on offense, on defense, and on teams." - McVay
Despite navigating the injuries throughout the roster, McVay has maintained a "one-day-at-a-time" mindset when it comes to both individual players returning, and also the collective mindset of the team week in and week out as they face these injuries.
For outside linebacker Myles Garrett, who will return to practice on Wednesday in a limited capacity, according to McVay, his situation specifically emulates that mindset. McVay said the Rams and Garrett will "just take it a day at a time. Hopefully he has a great day today, and then we'll see what tomorrow looks like."
Facing off against a Washington team that McVay was a part of from 2010 to 2016, including as the offensive coordinator for three seasons from 2014 to 2016, he looks back at those seven seasons as "seven years of a bunch of great experiences." Although there isn't much overlap nowadays — McVay only noting Commanders punter Tress Way who has been with the team from 2014 to now — he said his time there had " so many great experiences, so many great people there that mean a lot."
"I know what it's like to have injuries in the NFL and not be with your teammates and being able to make an impact on the games, and it's not a not a fun feeling. We work so hard to be out there." - Stafford
Stafford missed seven games in the 2022 season with a spinal cord bruise and one game under concussion protocol. But he wasn't as quick to draw a comparison from this season to the Rams' 2022 season of injuries, saying "I don't sit there and compare and think back to those kind of things. ... (It) doesn't matter what you start the season with, what you end the season with, a lot of times it's a whole lot different. I feel like it's been that way a bunch of the years that I've been here, and that's just the way it goes."
With cornerback Jaylen Watson out for the season with a shoulder injury, Stafford recognizes the Rams will be without a "guy that brought it every single day, guy that'll be missed for sure." When asked about Garrett returning, Stafford said he's "just happy that he's feeling good enough to be out there, and feels like he can start to think about contributing to us on Sundays, which is the ultimate goal." For tight end Terrance Ferguson, who will also return to practice on Wednesday in a limited capacity according to McVay, Stafford said Ferguson has "done a hell of a job rehabbing and getting himself in the place to have the opportunity to come back and try to see what it feels like and to get back out there on the grass."
