The Los Angeles Rams lost their season opener to the Detroit Lions — the same team that knocked them out of the 2024 postseason — on Sunday night in a 26-20 overtime battle. Head coach Sean McVay kept the Rams alive despite having four injuries on their offensive line and losing Puka Nacua midway through the game.
Notably absent from the losing effort for the Rams was Blake Corum, the team’s third-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Corum was expected to be a major part of the team’s offensive game plan, serving as a likely backup for starting running back Kyren Williams. However, he played zero snaps at running back, with the backup snaps going to Ronnie Rivers.
McVay explained why the game script went that way for Corum, with the offensive line injuries playing a major role.
“I think each game is going to be its own entity,” McVay said. “It was a very unique circumstance because when we got so many of our [offensive] linemen banged up, it limited some of the different… basically, we didn’t operate off anything that our game plan was. We had to truly just change in the middle of that game plan.
“When there are some things that are unforeseen, you’re going to go with guys that you trust and that you know. I think the way that some of the drives unfolded where there were long breaks in between… I think that’s why you saw our running back and tight end rotation reflected as such. Colby Parkinson played 69 snaps. I believe Kyren played 71 when you look at it. I want to get Ronnie a little bit more involved. I want to be able to get Blake involved as well. Davis [Allen] and Hunter [Long] got a few snaps, but based on how the game unfolded, it was very unique for a lot of different reasons, none of which probably suit what you guys are really looking for but that was not how we anticipated the rotation to go.”
McVay has always treated running backs in particular in this fashion. He has shown a tendency to cycle through backups from week to week, even having random weeks of giving someone besides the starter a lion’s share of the carries.
Corum, as the rookie, made the most sense to cut out of a simplified Week 1 game plan. However, with all the injuries and uncertainty on the Rams offense, McVay needed players he already knew and could work around.
Sean McVay: Puka Nacua and Steve Avila likely to IR
The Rams were missing several starters in Week 1 and unfortunately saw additional players go down to injury during the matchup.
Pro Bowl wide receiver Puka Nacua suffered a knee injury in the second quarter and initially returned for one play before exiting again and missing the rest of the game.
It appears Nacua re-aggravated the injury that forced him to miss training camp, and now Sean McVay says he will go on injured reserve and miss at least four games.
The Rams also lost starting guard Steve Avila to a knee injury and it is possible that he also winds up on IR.
