Injuries force Rams to play their cards right in Arizona
Guard Anchrum is out for season; secondary may also be depleted.
The Rams open play in the NFC West on Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals — and they will do so with another different offensive line combination and possibly an injury-depleted secondary.
Guard Tremayne Anchrum suffered a seasonending ankle injury, and cornerbacks Troy Hill and Cobie Durant suffered groin and hamstring injuries, respectively, in the Rams’ 31-27 victory over the Atlanta Falcons, coach Sean McVay
said Monday.
McVay said he would be surprised if Hill is ready to play against the Cardinals and that Durant would be “week to week.”
Anchrum, a third-year pro, had his first career start end after two plays. McVay said Anchrum was injured on the first play, but he played one more snap before he was carted off the field.
He had surgery Monday.
Alaric Jackson replaced Anchrum and helped the Rams rebound from their season-opening loss to the Buffalo Bills. Jackson, a second-year pro, had practiced primarily as a swing tackle to back up Joe Noteboom and Rob Havenstein.
But he helped a line that gave up seven sacks against the Bills reduce that number to one against the Falcons.
“It was really impressive, on short notice for a guy that didn’t take a single rep at guard this past week to come in and play the whole game and play at such a high clip,” McVay said.
Hill was injured during the second quarter on a long pass play. Durant, a fourthround draft pick, replaced
him and, one series later, intercepted a pass and returned it 51 yards to set up a touchdown.
McVay said Durant later told him that the hamstring injury occurred before the interception.
“Which lets you know this guy can freakin’ roll with a strained hamstring,” McVay said. “He said he felt it throughout the game, kind of gutted through.”
If Hill or Durant is unable to play against the Cardinals, rookie Derion Kendrick and second-year pro Robert Rochell would step in.
The Rams survived a wild ending to defeat the Falcons. Now they play a Cardinals team that beat the Las Vegas Raiders in even more dramatic fashion.
After once trailing 20-0, quarterback Kyler Murray ran for a touchdown on the final play of regulation, and then completed a two-point conversion pass to tie the score, 23-23.
During overtime, cornerback Byron Murphy recovered a fumble by Raiders receiver Hunter Renfrow and returned it 59 yards for a game-winning touchdown.
“That’s just an example of any given Sunday,” Rams safety Nick Scott said Monday during a videoconference. “A testament to those guys staying in the game and pulling that off.
“That’s the tough part of this league — teams aren’t out of it till there’s zero seconds on the clock.”
McVay said he saw the end of the Cardinals’ game in the locker room after the Rams’ victory but had not communicated with Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury.
“That was [a] wild finish,” McVay said. “Talk about making the plays when you had to make them in those critical moments, and they came away and found a way to do it.
“I think it’s safe to say both of us needed a good drink.”
McVay noted the importance of winning a division to ensure a playoff spot and host a playoff game.
Last season the Rams finished first in the NFC West and beat the Cardinals in a wild-card game at home. The Rams beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the road in a divisional-round game, then returned home to beat the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC championship at SoFi Stadium, where they hosted Super Bowl LVI and beat the Cincinnati Bengals for the championship.