After Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford injured his thumb in Week 8, there was serious uncertainty as to whether or not he’d be able to play against the Green Bay Packers in Week 9. He ultimately was unable to go, and Sean McVay turned to backup quarterback Brett Rypien, who struggled mightily in what wound up being a quiet 20-3 loss at the hands of Jordan Love.
Stafford has long been known as the type of player who will play through a myriad of painful injuries. Usually, if Stafford sits out, it’s because something is seriously wrong and he physically would not be able to play. Heading into Sunday, Stafford was a game-time decision that was based around whether or not he could grip a football when he woke up prior to the game.
McVay revealed that Stafford playing was always unlikely, but that you can never say for sure until the last minute with a player as tough as him.
“It wasn’t anywhere to where we thought he’d be able to go for us,” McVay said. “There was a chance – we had kind of just left the door open, we know how tough he is. Whenever we get him back, we’ll certainly be excited about that. Hopefully it’s when we come back and play Seattle but I can’t give you any updates as it relates to exactly where he’s at.”
There remains little clarity as to exactly when Stafford will be ready to make a return to the field, but McVay is hopeful that the bye week will be all his quarterback needs to be healthy.
“I hope so. That’s the hope. I know this: This guy is as tough as it gets. He going to play through stuff that not a lot of people will do and we’ve seen that illustrated already this year when you look at the hip injury he sustained against Indianapolis. Kept battling through that.
“He ended up banging his thumb pretty early in that Dallas game at the end of the first half and ended up taking him out of it after the two-point conversion where he dove in. I’m hopeful. I don’t know enough about exactly where we’re at with recovery, ability to grip the ball. I’m optimistic. I’ll leave that door open.”
If Stafford is unable to go in Week 11 out of the bye, McVay was asked if he would stick with Rypien and he again expressed his optimism that it won’t come to that.
“The good thing is that the inclination and the direction that we’re headed, I don’t think that’s going to be a part of the conversation. Feel really good about Matthew and how much he’s attacked doing everything in his power to be back and to lead the way for this team. We’re going to look at a lot of different things over this break here. I’m optimistic that I don’t even think that’s something that we have to worry about, but we will figure out whether it be, not exclusive to the quarterback position but at some other spots, where are possibilities to be able to add competition. That could be one of them, but we haven’t made those decisions quite yet.”
If anyone could return to action only two weeks after injuring the thumb in his throwing hand, it’s Stafford. And for a divisional matchup with arguably the remainder of the Rams season on the line, it would almost be surprising if he didn’t at least attempt to get onto the field.
McVay calls conservative game for Rypien
The Rams did not attempt to move the ball down the field in chunks against the Packers with the elements and a backup quarterback working against them. Rypien went 13-for-28 for 130 yards and one interception in the losing effort, moving the Rams to 3-6 ahead of their bye week.
