The Los Angeles Rams are going to take it down to the wire with Matthew Stafford on Sunday when they visit the Green Bay Packers. Sean McVay told reporters on Friday that Stafford won’t practice Friday and will be listed as questionable for the game due to his thumb injury.
He said the Rams will take it all the way up until game time on Sunday to make a determination of whether Stafford will play against the Packers.
“Same as earlier in the week,” McVay said when asked if he expects Stafford to play. “We kind of knew he was not going to participate all week and we’ll take it all the way up until game time.”
As for how the swelling in his thumb, McVay has seen progress, which is encouraging.
“I think it’s progressing well. It’s doing good. Making good progress every day.”
McVay wouldn’t say whether Stafford can grip a football yet, but he made it clear that obviously if his quarterback can’t do that, he’s not going to play.
“Like you guys have all asked, if you can’t grip a football, what are we talking about, right?” he said. “Especially when it’s on the throwing hand of a guy that that’s his special trait. That’s a natural thing that you need to be able to do, but we’ll take it a day at a time. This is kind of what we had expected. You’ve got to be able to have a plan for both he or Brett (Rypien) and then we’ll move forward and be excited about the opp on Sunday.”
Stafford suffered a sprained UCL in his right thumb last week against the Cowboys and has yet to get in any practice reps leading up to this game. If he can’t play, it’ll be Brett Rypien under center for Los Angeles.