Two years ago, the Los Angeles Rams rested their starters in Week 17 against the 49ers. After locking up the NFC West and no worse than a No. 4 seed in the playoffs, Sean McVay opted to play it safe and give his top players the week off.
On Sunday against the Cardinals, the Rams won’t make wholesale changes to their starting lineup like they did in 2017, but they could opt to rest some of their best players. Jalen Ramsey has a knee injury, Troy Hill is recovering from a broken thumb, Bobby Evans injured his hip against the 49ers, Gerald Everett just returned from a knee injury and Todd Gurley’s knee problems are well-documented.
No player in the NFL right now is feeling like he did in Week 1, with players battling the bumps and bruises that come with a 16-game season. As a result, the Rams are going to be cautious in the season finale and not put players in harm’s way over a meaningless game.
“I think you want to be smart about it – you don’t want to force guys to play that aren’t in the position to be able to do that,” McVay said Sunday. “I do think we have a lot of good competitors. You’re always pushing through some bumps and bruises at this point, but if it is something where they are going to have it fixed or you’re putting them at further risk for injury, we would definitely take that into consideration and we wouldn’t want to expose guys for that.”
It’s a safe bet that Ramsey, Hill, Rob Havenstein and Evans won’t play against the 49ers. The Rams could also give either Blake Bortles or John Wolford some playing time in an attempt to protect Jared Goff from unnecessary hits. The same goes for Gurley, who may play less to limit the wear and tear on his knee.
But at the same time, McVay finds it important to finish the season with a winning record – which the Rams can achieve by beating Arizona.
“Yeah, I think it’s important. I think it demonstrates, too, the character that I do believe we have in this locker room,” he said. “For guys to continue to compete, we’re going to battle and we’re going to compete to the best of our ability to try to finish out with a winning record. That is something that I said to the team today and I think it’s important for us. We know the challenge because Arizona is a tough football team.”
We’ll see exactly how McVay chooses to approach the final game of the season, but don’t be the least bit surprised if Goff, Gurley, Ramsey, Evans and others are either limited in their playing time or don’t see the field at all on Sunday at home.
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