The Riverside Press-Enterprise
Stafford uncertain to start for the Rams at Green Bay
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford was not a participant in Wednesday’s practice after suffering a UCL strain in his right thumb. But the team is not ruling him out for Sunday’s game at the Green Bay Packers.
Instead, the Rams will allow the 15-year veteran every opportunity to try to return to action, even if he is unable to practice at all this week.
“You give him up until right before the game. You use all the time necessary for a player like him,” coach Sean Mcvay said earlier in the week.
The matter at hand for Stafford is the swelling in the thumb on his throwing hand. On Monday, Mcvay said the injury impacted his ability to hold a football. The cold weather expected in Green Bay only compounds the issue.
So while the Rams aren’t considering the injured reserve for Stafford, there remain obstacles, some outside of his control, to his ability to play against the Packers.
Stafford is seventh in the NFL with 2,070 yards passing this season. His 59.7% completion rate is the lowest among the league’s top 22 quarterbacks in yards, and he has thrown eight touchdown passes with seven interceptions.
The Rams signed Dresser Winn, an undrafted rookie from Tennessee-martin, to the practice squad. He had been in training camp with the team and his familiarity with the system made him a fit this week.
Winn would serve as the backup to Brett Rypien if Stafford is unable to play on Sunday. After spending much of practice through the last eight weeks with the scout team, Rypien is taking on first-team reps this week as Stafford serves as an extension of the coaching staff.
“(Rypien) does a really good job and whether he was preparing to start or whether he was preparing to be the backup, I think his consistent approach is something that’s a good thing for him,” Mcvay said. “I don’t really see much change. I see a guy that came in, handled the walk-through excellent just like he’s kind of done from the jump.”
— Adam Grosbard TEXANS QB STROUD HOPES LESSONS LEARNED >> C.J. Stroud didn’t let last week’s tough loss to the previously winless Panthers get to him. Quite the opposite. The rookie quarterback took lessons from that defeat that he’ll use Sunday when he leads the Houston Texans against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“As the year goes on, I feel like it gets a little harder,” said Stroud, who played at Rancho Cucamonga High. “But if it was easy, everybody would do it. And that’s just something I keep in mind. The trials and tribulations, the hard losses — whatever you want to name — it prepares you for things that come in the long run.”
Stroud looks to bounce back after throwing for a season-low 140 yards against Carolina after entering the game averaging more than 276 yards per game. Houston (3-4) scored just 13 points in the loss, its fewest points since a 25-9 loss to Baltimore in the opener.
“This is an accountability-based business,” Stroud said. “And I think everybody is looking in the mirror like, ‘How can we fix these issues and do things the right way?’ And we’re excited to get that done.”
The Texans will try to do that against a Buccaneers (3-4) team that has lost three in a row, capped by last week’s 24-18 loss at Buffalo. They’re likely to get nose tackle Vita Vea back after the defensive leader sat out last week with a groin injury.