Another day, another practice without Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford, who has been out all summer with back soreness. There was a glimmer of hope last week when head coach Sean McVay said at his presser after the team’s preseason win over the Dallas Cowboys that Stafford threw before the game and would be back for Monday practice. Unfortunately, that did not happen as the veteran QB’s back “didn’t respond the way that you wanted it to” per McVay.
On Wednesday, ESPN analyst Peter Schrager
touch on Stafford’s situation on The Pat Mcafee Show, alluding to the fact that the team is holding their quarterback out, not the other way around, and if it were up to Stafford he would be practicing at this point.
“There was an expectation that he was going to play Monday. Obviously, he doesn’t,” Schrager said. “The thing I’m hearing is this: They’re being ultra, ultra, ultra cautious and that Matthew, if it was up to him, would probably be out there. But they are not risking anything. He’s had some pain, they’re just going to let him sit until he feels he’s fully ready, until they feel he’s fully ready.”
Schrager has always had close ties with the Rams organization, and more so directly with McVay, even attended the coach’s wedding as a friend. Given his close relationship with the team, usually if Schrager has information on the LA, there’s a grain of truth to it.
McVay has said all along that Stafford wants to be on the field as badly as anyone, and it’s rumored that the veteran quarterback is getting frustrated by the fact that he isn’t practicing right now. Stafford is a competitor and known for his toughness, so it makes sense that the team is having to basically force him to sit out.
Whether his quarterback could practice or not, McVay knows the team need Stafford to have success not just for Week 1, but for the entire season if they hope to reach their championship goals. It’s understandable that McVay would not want to put the signal caller of his offense in any danger of re-injury until it really counts.
Stafford has missed the last three days of practice, and is not going to play in the joint practice with the New Orleans Saints on Thursday, so most-likely we will need to wait until next week to potentially see Stafford in pads again. That said, Stafford is as veteran as they come, and it’s probably not as crucial that we see him in practice given his experience, as long as he is on the field vs Houston on Sept. 7th ready to go.
