The Los Angeles Rams got perhaps their most signature win of the season on Monday night, going out on the road and defeating the first-place Arizona Cardinals to keep themselves in the division race.
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the win was that the Rams were severely short-handed after five key players in Jalen Ramsey, Darrell Henderson, Rob Havenstein, Dont’e Deayon and Tyler Higbee were placed in the league’s health and safety protocols due to positive coronavirus (COVID-19) tests.
The Rams got through the game and back to L.A. with a win, but the expectation was that there would be more positive tests following considering a lot of it happened just before the start of the game.
It appears that is the case as according to Adam Schefter of ESPN, the Rams were forced to shut down their practice facility on Tuesday morning:
Now due to COVID, the Rams have closed their training facility and have entered the NFL’s intensive protocols.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 14, 2021
Here is the complete list of players the Rams placed on the Reserve/COVID-19 list, including Odell Beckham Jr., who is coming off his best game with the Rams:
LA Rams transactions:
• Placed on Reserve/COVID-19 list WR Odell Beckham Jr., DB Terrell Burgess, TE Brycen Hopkins, DB Juju Hughes, T Alaric Jackson, NT Sebastian Joseph-Day, DE Jonah Williams
• Activated, from Reserve TE Tyler Higbee— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) December 14, 2021
LA Rams transactions:
• Placed DB Jordan Fuller, DB Tyler Hall on Reserve/COVID-19 list— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) December 14, 2021
This is obviously unfortunate news for the Rams as they have a quick turnaround before hosting the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday.
If all of these players are vaccinated, which is expected to be the case, then it’s possible some return in time for that game if they record multiple negative tests beforehand.
This week should be a difficult one for the Rams though as they may be forced to do everything virtually to avoid coming in contact with each other.
Hopefully the positive cases stop from here so the Rams avoid losing any more key players during this important stretch of the season.
