Category: Latest Rams news

Gerald Everett nearing return after being full participant in practice

Gerald Everett is making progress, returning as a full participant Wednesday.

The Rams have been without Gerald Everett for nearly a month now after he injured his knee in Week 12 against the Ravens. Tyler Higbee has had at least seven catches and 100 yards in each game Everett has missed, so the Rams haven’t been lacking production at tight end.

It appears Everett is poised to return relatively soon, though. He was a full participant in practice on Wednesday, which is the first time he’s been listed as such since before suffering the injury.

That doesn’t mean he’s on track to play Saturday against the 49ers, but it is a good sign for the progress he’s made. Sean McVay said the Rams are still “kind of feeling it out,” indicating Everett still needs to get healthier before he returns.

“We will see how today goes, and then, I will be able to have a better idea once we actually get a physical practice in and see what that looks like,” he said. “Part of that too, is as we complete the game plan and kind of figure out exactly what that looks like and what his involvement would be, if he is feeling good enough.”

As for the rest of the injury report, Troy Hill and Greg Zuerlein were non-participants in practice Wednesday. Their availability for Saturday’s game remains up in the air after both were injured against the Cowboys in Week 15.

Jared Goff was a full participant and appears to be fine. He has a contusion that left his thumb “a little stiff,” but there doesn’t seem to be much concern about his health.

Since 220-yard game, Cooper Kupp’s impact has been minimal

Cooper Kupp has 239 yards in his last six games since his 220-yard performance in Week 9.

Just before the Rams had their bye in Week 9, Cooper Kupp put together the best performance of his career – and one of the best games in franchise history. Apparently, that week off broke any sort of momentum Kupp was gaining because since then, he’s been mediocre, at best.

In that Week 8 game against the Bengals, Kupp caught seven passes for 220 yards and one touchdown. It was his first career 200-yard game and the fifth 100-yard game of 2019. In the six games since then, he’s caught 25 of 33 targets for only 239 yards and three touchdowns.

Kupp is averaging only 7.2 yards per target in his last six games, whereas in that game against Cincinnati in London, he averaged 22 yards per target – an admittedly impossible rate to maintain.

The Rams are only 3-3 in those six games since Kupp’s huge performance and he’s only been targeted more than six times in a game once. In the first half of the season (eight games), he had seven-plus targets in a game seven times and had four games with at least 10 targets.

In other words, he was Jared Goff’s favorite target, and it wasn’t particularly close. The question now is, what happened?

It’s not necessarily the result of Kupp suddenly becoming an ineffective receiver. He’s caught all 16 of his targets in the last three weeks and has a catch rate of 86.2% – the highest of any player in the NFL with at least 20 catches in that span.

He isn’t dropping passes, he simply isn’t getting many opportunities in the passing game. Sean McVay has opted for more usage of 12 personnel, which takes a receiver off the field in favor of a tight end. Some of the time, that’s been Kupp – especially in Weeks 13 and 14. He played just 72% of the snaps in Week 13 against the Cardinals and a minuscule 28% against Seattle.

Robert Woods has supplanted Kupp as the top option for Goff in the second half of the season, being targeted 56 times in five games. He’s hardly come off the field for the Rams, catching 37 passes for 479 yards and one touchdown since the bye.

Tyler Higbee is also getting more playing time with Gerald Everett out and is taking a big chunk of the targets away from Kupp. In the last four weeks, Higbee has 31 catches on 39 targets for 354 yards. In that same stretch, Kupp has 22 catches (26 targets) for 186 yards.

Kupp is an important player on offense, which makes his usage since the Week 9 bye hard to understand. We all saw what happened when he was lost to a torn ACL last season, as Goff’s efficiency dropped off a cliff.

The Rams must get Kupp going against the 49ers, who boast an elite pass defense that’s “up there in league history,” according to McVay. In the slot, Kupp can be a reliable weapon for Goff when given opportunities. Those opportunities have just been hard to come by lately.

What Sean McVay is telling the Rams with playoff hopes slipping away

The Rams aren’t going to go down without a fight in the last two weeks of the season.

It’s been three years since the Los Angeles Rams were in a position where they didn’t have a firm hold on a playoff spot entering the final two weeks of the season. They won the NFC West the last two seasons, earning a first-round bye in 2018, but this year, they’re on the outside looking in.

In order for Los Angeles to make the playoffs, it will need to win its last two games with the Vikings losing their last two. It’s not impossible, but it’s also highly unlikely and the Rams probably know it.

As slim of a chance as the Rams have to make the playoffs, the team isn’t giving up just yet. Sean McVay won’t let his players throw in the towel, telling them to “attack the day.”

“I think we’ve got a lot of guys that love football – I love football, our coaches do. Really, you cherish these opportunities to go compete,” he said. “You’re only guaranteed 16 of them, we’ve got two left for sure. No matter how this thing shakes out, I think what we’ve talked about is you’re not going to have any regrets as long as you go for it. You go compete to the best of your ability and I trust that’s what we’re going to do. At least, you’re saying, maybe you give yourself a chance, but even if we (didn’t) even have a chance of continuing to play afterwards, we’ve got an opportunity to go get our ninth win. Like I said the other day, there’s a lot of prideful guys. When you love what you do and you love the people you’re doing it with, you want to make sure you do right by them.”

McVay is a great motivator, so fans can fully expect the Rams to come out and play hard against the 49ers. Yes, they’re playing for a playoff spot, but also for their own pride.

Three Rams make PFF’s Pro Bowl team, including one former backup

Troy Hill and Tyler Higbee were selected to PFF’s Pro Bowl roster in the NFC.

The Rams only had two players selected to the Pro Bowl when the rosters were announced on Tuesday night, both coming on defense. Aaron Donald was an obvious choice, but more surprisingly, Jalen Ramsey was also voted in despite a relatively average season.

Cory Littleton was the Rams’ biggest snub, and Cooper Kupp also had a case to be a Pro Bowler, but Pro Football Focus didn’t have either of them on their Pro Bowl rosters.

PFF released its own set of NFC and AFC Pro Bowlers based on its grading system, and three Rams players were selected. Donald, of course, was one of them, but the other two were under-the-radar picks.

Troy Hill and Tyler Higbee made it at cornerback and tight end, respectively, thanks to their solid overall grades. Hill has been the Rams’ best cornerback and one of the top corners in football since taking over as a starter in Week 7, earning an overall grade of 76.4.

Higbee has three straight 100-yard games, becoming the first tight end in franchise history to achieve that feat. His overall grade of 83.0 ranks among the best tight ends in the league this season, largely thanks to his emergence in recent weeks.

Donald leads all interior defenders with a grade of 93.1 and has 11 sacks on the year. He’s a no-brainer for not only the Pro Bowl, but also as a first-team All-Pro.

Rams at 49ers: 4 key things to know for Week 16 matchup

The Rams and 49ers will square off for the second time this season on Saturday night.

Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports

The Rams and 49ers will meet for the 141st time in their history on Saturday night, a series San Francisco leads 70-67-3. The 49ers have rolled to an 11-3 record this season, while Los Angeles is only 8-6 and clinging to its last hope of making the playoffs.

The Rams need a win in order to stay alive in the NFC, but San Francisco is a tough opponent – one that beat the Rams 20-7 in Week 6 already.

Here are six things to know about this upcoming matchup in Week 16.

McVay never loses to same team twice in a season

Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports

In his first three seasons, Sean McVay has had remarkable success against the NFC West. Though his Rams are just 2-2 in the division this season, they were 6-0 in 2018 and 4-2 in 2017. One thing McVay has never done is lose to the same opponent twice in a season, which is something he’ll try to avoid on Saturday night.

The 49ers beat the Rams 20-7 in their first meeting and will try to make it two in a row against Los Angeles this weekend. Considering how good the 49ers have been, this could very well be the first time McVay loses to the same team twice in the same year.

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Sean McVay on 49ers pass defense: ‘They’re up there in league history’

Sean McVay had some high praise for the 49ers defense.

The last time the Rams faced the 49ers, they put together one of their worst offensive performances under Sean McVay. In the 20-7 defeat, Jared Goff had 78 yards passing on 24 attempts, Los Angeles finished with only 10 first downs and 157 yards, and the offensive line allowed four sacks.

Nothing went well for the Rams in Week 6, running into one of the best defenses in the league. The 49ers defense hasn’t been as dominant as it was in that game, allowing 75 points in the last two weeks, but it’s still one of the top units in football.

Sean McVay would even consider putting San Francisco’s pass defense among the best ever, based on the numbers it has put up.

“They did a great job. They’re a great defense, they’re one of the top defenses in the league and they’ve got one of the better pass defenses,” McVay said Tuesday. “Arguably, you just look at the numbers, they’re up there in league history. They’ve done a great job.”

Needing to win their last two games of the season, the Rams would probably prefer not to face the 49ers in Week 16, but McVay hopes the offense can put together a better performance than it did in October.

That won’t be easy, especially with Richard Sherman and K’Waun Williams expected to return from injury.

“Hopefully, we’ll have a better showing, but we certainly know what a great challenge it will be, because of what a great job Robert Saleh does leading the way, and then all the great players that they have executing the scheme,” McVay added.

One thing that helps the Rams is the fact that Todd Gurley will be available, which he was not in their first meeting with the 49ers. That game was handled by Malcolm Brown and Darrell Henderson, the latter of whom fumbled it on the first play of the second half to put the Rams in a deeper hole.

“I think just playing like what we expect him to,” McVay said of what he expects from Gurley this week. “Whenever his number is called, doing a good job of just being efficient, seeing things the right way, leveling things off, being able to create some stuff on his own if that’s what the look dictates, and being sound in protection. Just playing his position the right way snap in and snap out.”

The Rams are 6.5-point underdogs this weekend, which is the largest spread against them since McVay took over as the head coach. A loss will end any chance of Los Angeles making the postseason, so this is a huge game for the defending NFC champions.

Jared Goff’s injured thumb is ‘a little stiff’ but should be OK for Saturday

Jared Goff has a thumb contusion but is expected to be fine for Saturday’s game.

Jared Goff had an underwhelming performance against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday afternoon, and while no one’s making excuses for it, he did injure his thumb in the first half. He hit his hand on Andrew Whitworth’s helmet on the play where he threw an interception, but he never missed a play.

His injury is described as a contusion, but he wasn’t on Tuesday’s injury report and is expected to be fine for the Rams’ upcoming game against the 49ers. He spoke to reporters after the walk-thru and said he’s feeling fine.

“It’s good. It’s good – it’s a little contusion, it’s a little stiff, but I’ll be good in a day or two,” he said.

Goff was wearing a sleeve on his thumb, which Sean McVay called “goofy,” but he doesn’t plan to wear anything during Saturday’s game.

“No. I don’t expect to, no. We throw tomorrow and I should be just fine,” Goff added.

With the Rams needing to win their last two games and the Vikings needing to lose out, Los Angeles needs all the help it can get – including Goff being healthy. The 49ers held Goff to just 78 yards passing last time these teams met, and he’ll need a healthy thumb on Saturday to improve on that ugly number.

Having one less day to let his thumb heal doesn’t exactly work in Goff’s favor, but regardless, it doesn’t seem like there’s any worry about his health.

Todd Gurley named 2020 Pro Bowl alternate

Todd Gurley is having a down year, but he was named an alternate for the Pro Bowl.

Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey were the only Rams players to be selected to the Pro Bowl this season, but Todd Gurley has a chance to get to Orlando. Despite not being named as one of the top running backs, he is an alternate.

In the event that one of the Dalvin Cook, Ezekiel Elliott or Christian McCaffrey either withdraw from the Pro Bowl or their team makes the Super Bowl (for Cook and Elliott only), Gurley would be eligible to make the NFC squad.

He’s made the Pro Bowl two years in a row and three times in his career, so an absence in 2020 would end his current streak. He only has 741 yards rushing on 188 carries (3.9 YPC), with just 29 catches for 186 yards receiving. He does have 12 total touchdowns, which is a respectable number, but he’s hardly having a good season.

Gurley is 18th in rushing and 33rd in yards per carry among qualified backs, but his 10 rushing touchdowns are tied for sixth. Aaron Jones, who has more yards (830) and rushing touchdowns (14) on the same number of carries as Gurley, is also an alternate at running back.

Rams injury report: Greg Zuerlein and Troy Hill DNP, Gerald Everett limited

The Rams released their first injury report of the week on Tuesday and three players were listed.

Following their 44-21 loss to the Dallas Cowboys, the Los Angeles Rams have a short turnaround this week before their next game. They’ll take on the San Francisco 49ers on Saturday night, giving them one fewer day to prepare for their upcoming opponent.

As a result, they were back in action already on Tuesday, though not in typical practice capacity. The Rams held a walk-thru instead of a full practice, releasing an injury report afterwards. It provided more clarity on Greg Zuerlein, Troy Hill and Gerald Everett, all of whom were listed.

Zuerlein and Hill missed practice with thigh and thumb injuries, respectively, while Everett returned in a limited capacity after missing the last few weeks of practice.

Sean McVay said Monday that the injuries to Zuerlein and Hill aren’t overly concerning and both have a chance to play Saturday. Hill underwent surgery to repair his broken thumb but may play in a cast this weekend.

One notable omission from the injury report was Jared Goff, who hurt his thumb early in Sunday’s game. McVay said he’s feeling good and was wearing a sleeve on his thumb during the walk-thru, but the injury isn’t a problem as of now.

Cory Littleton snubbed from 2020 Pro Bowl despite stellar season

Cory Littleton has been one of the best linebackers in the NFL, but he didn’t make the Pro Bowl.

The NFL announced the Pro Bowl rosters for the AFC and NFC squads on Tuesday night, and only two Rams made the cut. Cory Littleton was not one of them, surprisingly.

Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey were the two Rams who were selected, but it should’ve been a trio of defenders heading to Orlando for the all-star game. If anything, Littleton should’ve gotten the nod before Ramsey, who’s only having an average season at cornerback.

Littleton, on the other hand, has become one of the best linebackers in the NFL and is deserving of more recognition than he receives, and that could have started with him being named to the Pro Bowl.

He ranks eighth in the NFL with 124 tackles and is tied for ninth among all linebackers with eight passes defensed. Only three other players have at least 100 tackles, two sacks, five tackles for loss and two interceptions.

The reason for him not being selected to the Pro Bowl was more about the guys he’s going up against than his individual performance. In the NFC, two linebackers always reign supreme: Bobby Wagner and Luke Kuechly. They were both named to the Pro Bowl this season, ranking second and fourth in the NFL in tackles, respectively. Wagner has only broken up six passes with one forced fumble and one interception, while Kuechly has two interceptions, 11 passes defensed and only three tackles for loss.

Littleton has more forced fumbles and fumble recoveries than both linebackers, more sacks (2.5) than both of them combined, and more tackles for loss than Kuechly (tied with Wagner). Littleton has also hit the quarterback four times, which is one more than Wagner and two more than Kuechly.

Littleton isn’t a big name, but when looking at the numbers and his overall performance this season, he’s certainly among the top linebackers in football. He’s only getting better, too, improving immensely as a run defender since last season.

Here’s where he ranked among linebackers a few weeks ago, according to Pro Football Focus.

Littleton is in the final year of his contract and is sure to break the bank next year, whether it’s with the Rams or another team. Being named to the Pro Bowl would’ve boosted his stock and increased his negotiating leverage as a free agent, but it also would’ve put his name on the map among casual fans outside of Los Angeles.

He’ll get there eventually – possibly this year when injury replacements are announced – but regardless, Littleton has shown he’s a premier linebacker in just his second season as a starter.