Los Angeles Rams HC Sean McVay has confirmed that multiple starters will sit against the Houston Texans this weekend including RB Todd Gurley, LT Andrew Whitworth, C John Sullivan and TE Gerald Everett:
Yeah, for-sure guys are (T Andrew) Whitworth, (C John) Sullivan and (RB Todd) Gurley (II). No Gurley.
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We’ve done a little bit different approach in terms of working him out just with some things going on just in his lower half. Just getting him up to speed in the way that we’ve kind of felt like to get him at his best for September 10. Just the workload that we gave him, we haven’t really set him up like you would in a normal game week. So, the focus was on – just because some other things going on, we felt like that was the best plan, get him ready for that Oakland game feeling as good as possible.
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[Everett] is a guy that maybe for New Orleans. I think probably most realistic is for that Oakland game. So, it’s always tricky with a shoulder injury. You want to be smart about it and kind of how you balance getting a guy back in there, but then not risking a setback. The ultimate goal is Oakland, but it would be ideal if you could get him a little bit of work against New Orleans as well.
McVay was non-committal when it came to QB Jared Goff whose participation may depend on the availability of RT Rob Havenstein:
We’ll find out. There’s a lot of things going into it. So, like we talked about these guys up front, that has an affect on what we end up doing. So, to say that we’ve decided that yet wouldn’t be true.
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I think you’ve got to weigh a lot of different things. We’re playing a lot of football out here. The way that we would operate if he does play is not going to be anything close to the way that we’ll operate in a normal game anyways. So, there’s a lot of things that – like I’ve told you – self-admittedly, this isn’t like an easy answer because there’s a lot of layers to it. I think those guys would want to play. But, we’re not game planning, we’re not doing things that are consistent with our normal approach. So, that’s where the struggle occurs – especially given the fact that you’re resting some linemen and then our other tackle is potentially not going to be healthy. So, (T) Rob’s (Havenstein) availability will definitely have an impact on what we do.
It’s a tough decision. On one hand, teams historically play their starters in the preseason more than not at all to shake off the offseason rust and get some kind of rhythm and not wait until Week 1 of the regular season to get some game action. On the other, uh, injuries. They suck.
But with all starters except for RG Jamon Brown and EDGE Samson Ebukam having sat out the first two preseason games and likely to sit the last, this game would be the only chance to get them some action before the Rams head north to take on the Oakland Raiders in Week 1.
What do you think, Rams fans? Is this prudent cautiousness or overzealous concern?