Rams season undercut by injuries

(News4usonline) – The season injury list for the Los Angeles Rams is long. Very long. The team has lost numerous players for the season due to injuries. Because of all the injuries the Rams have endured this season, head coach Sean McVay and his coaching staff have had to do the plug in thing when it comes to the lineup. 

Wide receiver Allen Robinson II is the latest player to have their season cut short because of an injury. It is yet another harsh reality of life in the National Football League (NFL). Last season as the Rams chased their Super Bowl dreams, the injury bug was kept to a minimum and Los Angeles managed to work their way to the top of the NFL food chain. 

Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Allen Robinson II (1) at the team’s training camp this summer. File photo/News4usonline

The 2022 regular season has been much different. Besides the number of players leaving the ballclub through attrition, injuries have completely decimated the team. Let’s start with the offensive line. 

The key to the team’s success last season, the Rams offensive line have been wiped out due to the different maladies that have ended the season for key contributors. Just this season alone, the Rams have seen Alaric Jackson, Joe Noteboom, Logan Bruss, and Tremayne Anchrum Jr. kiss their season good-bye because of sustained injuries. 

The offensive line is not the only area to have been hit hard. Quarterback Matthew Stafford has been in and out the lineup recently due to being placed in concussion protocol. His backup, John Wolford, has been sidelined because of his own injuries he’s dealing with. 

So, the Rams had to roll with Bryce Perkins as their starting quarterback on the road against Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. The second-year player played gutsy but had some uneven play in the Rams’ 26-10 defeat to the Chiefs.

January, 9, 2022. Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp (10) coming out of the tunnel at SoFi Stadium. Kupp says he enjoys the team's Mamba "periods." Photo credit: Mark Hammond/News4usonline
January, 9, 2022. Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp (10) coming out of the tunnel at SoFi Stadium. Kupp says he enjoys the team’s Mamba “periods.” Photo credit: Mark Hammond/News4usonline

 Perkins completed 13 of 23 passes for 100 yards and a touchdown. He also suffered two fourth quarter interceptions that nullified a couple of drives for the Rams. That really was not the story. The story was and is who is out on the field playing for the Rams? 

After playing the last four seasons with the Chicago Bears, Robinson was brought in to be that wideout to fill the void left by Odell Beckham Jr. as he rehabbed the knee injury he sustained in Super Bowl LVI. 

Before he went down with a foot injury, it had not been the kind of season that neither Robinson nor the Rams expected. Playing in 10 games, the nine-year veteran wideout hauled in a grand total of 33 passes for 339 yards and three touchdowns for the Rams this season. In 2020, Robinson produced 102 catches for 1,250 yards and six scores. 

Robinson is not the only receiver the Rams have seen knocked out for a while. Cooper Kupp, the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year last season, is on injured reserve. Losing Kupp for any length of time has been a big blow to the Rams offense. 

Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay on the sidelines watching his team play the Carolina Panthers at SoFi Stadium on Nov. 16, 2022. Photo courtesy of News4usonline
Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay on the sidelines watching his team play the Carolina Panthers at SoFi Stadium on Nov. 16, 2022. Photo courtesy of News4usonline

On the other side of the coin, the Rams defense has been hit up with a variety of injuries. Defensive tackle A’Shawn Robinson has been lost for the season due to a torn meniscus.The up and down trajectory that comes from the high of winning the Super Bowl earlier this year to now having to endure a season filled with injuries and defections and the fact the Rams may not even make the postseason, has been challenging for McVay and the Rams.  

 Before his team boarded a flight to Kansas City to face the Chiefs, McVay addressed a question on whether the team have had queries into applying mental medical practices to avoid any type of burnout.  

“A hundred percent,” McVay said. “You think about that stuff all the time. I think what’s important is taking an inventory of the whole trajectory of as soon as that season ends all the way through when this season ends and looking at all the things that we can try to do to avoid some of the pitfalls or some of the things that are in our control to be better equipped to handle whether it be injuries, or how we practice, or how we activate and utilize the off-season program, the training camp, to being able to be more multiple in some different things. So that is something that you think about all the time.

“Now with that being said, you want to focus on being present with these guys and making sure that we’re doing everything in our power to compete to the best of our ability, not lose sight of some of our processes and our standards. I think in some instances you can let a lot of the different things that have gone on get in the way of that.”

Featured image is of Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Allen Robinson II (1) during practice at the team’s training camp August 8, 2022. News4usonline/File photo


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