Sean McVay says this season’s injury list is worse than 2022, and Matthew Stafford says missing teammates is “not a fun feeling.” The Los Angeles Rams, coming off a second straight win, host a short week of preparation for the Washington Commanders with Myles Garrett and Terrance Ferguson working back into practice and cornerback Jaylen Watson already done for the year after shoulder surgery.
The Rams visit the Commanders on Sunday, November 8, at 1:00 p.m. ET, which is 8:00 p.m. in Cairo. McVay spent seven seasons in Washington from 2010 to 2016, including three as offensive coordinator, and he still calls those years “a bunch of great experiences.” On Wednesday he and Stafford explained how the Rams are trying to stay steady while the lineup keeps changing.
McVay: more than 2022
McVay has been the Rams’ head coach for 10 years, and he pointed back to the 2022 season that was already heavy on injuries, especially on 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,” he said.
His approach has stayed the same: one day at a time. On Garrett, who was expected to return to practice in a limited role on Wednesday, McVay said the Rams 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.” Ferguson was also due back in a limited capacity. On the Commanders side of his history, McVay said there is little roster overlap now — he named punter Tress Way as someone still there from his years in Washington — but “so many great people there that mean a lot.”
Stafford: “not a fun feeling”
Stafford has lived the injury cycle himself. He missed seven games in 2022 with a spinal cord bruise and another under the concussion protocol, and he said he knows what it is like to be away from teammates. “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 fun feeling,” Stafford said. “We work so hard to be out there.”
He would not draw a clean parallel to 2022 for the whole roster. “I don’t sit there and compare and think back to those kind of things,” he said. “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.”
Watson out; Garrett and Ferguson inching back
Watson’s season-ending shoulder injury leaves a hole in the secondary. Stafford called him “a guy that brought it every single day, [a] guy that’ll be missed for sure.” On Garrett’s return path, Stafford said he is “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.”
Ferguson’s rehab also drew praise. Stafford said the tight end 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.” For a Rams team that has already reshuffled identities on both sides of the ball, the next test is whether those returns stick against Washington.
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