The Los Angeles Rams were defeated by the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday Night Football and unfortunately lost some key players to injury during the game.
Starting inside linebacker Omar Speights sustained a high ankle sprain and only played in 44% of the team’s defensive snaps. He still managed to record five tackles despite playing less than half of the game.
Rams head coach Sean McVay said Speights is considered doubtful for Sunday’s matchup against the Baltimore Ravens and that Troy Reeder or Shaun Dolac would enter the starting lineup if he can’t go, via Stu Jackson of TheRams.com:
Rams head coach Sean McVay on Monday said inside linebacker Omar Speights will be likely be “doubtful” for Sunday’s game against the Ravens after sustaining a high ankle sprain in last week’s game against the 49ers.
McVay said they are still working through who would replace Speights if he ends up being unavailable for Week 6, but also haven’t explored that extensively yet.
“Got a lot of confidence in Troy (Reeder), you got a lot of confidence in some of the different guys, obviously (Shaun) Dolac,” McVay said. “We only have four guys on the roster, but Troy is a guy that’s shown that he’s more than capable of (that), as is Shaun Dolac, and we got guys on the practice squad, but haven’t gotten too far deep into that quite yet.”
The Rams also lost backup tight end Colby Parkinson in their game against the 49ers to a head injury. He is currently in concussion protocol but has made good progress and could play against the Ravens:
“Colby Parkinson will be in concussion protocol (for) when he hit his head on the corner route in the red zone,” McVay said. “(He’s) making good progress, do expect him to be available. He’s doing good, but he is in the protocol.”
Meanwhile, starting tight end Tyler Higbee and right tackle Rob Havenstein continue to make good progress as well and could return to the Rams starting lineup against the Ravens:
As for tight end Tyler Higbee (hip) and offensive lineman Rob Havenstein (ankle), McVay said both of them are “making good progress,” but updates on their statuses will come Wednesday.
Higbee has been dealing with a hip injury and did not play against the 49ers. If he and Parkinson are able to play on Sunday, the Rams would have all of their tight ends back.
Havenstein also missed the game against the 49ers with an ankle injury, which saw Warren McClendon start in his place.
Sean McVay: Rams have to fix kicking game
The Rams were hurt by multiple mistakes in their loss to the 49ers, including Joshua Karty having his extra point attempt in the fourth quarter blocked.
It brought back bad memories from Week 3, when Karty had two kicks blocked in the Rams’ 33-26 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, including a potential game-winning field goal.
The Rams’ kicking game has been shaky all season and head coach Sean McVay knows that the team needs to improve in this area if they want to accomplish their goals.
“Oh man, I wish it was just one thing,” McVay said the day after the Rams’ loss to the 49ers. “When you watch the protection, we have to fix it. It’s not one thing in particular.
“There are different locations, spots and people that have not executed the way that we’re capable of. We’ve got to consistently use better techniques. I thought we had a hold on it. I thought we did a good job against Indianapolis. I thought we had a good handle on it and clearly I was not right in that.
“We have to fix it. We have to go back to work, we have to get the right techniques, and we have to get the right people on there because that has been a killer for us and it’s cost us two games.”
