Matthew Stafford’s thumb injury wasn’t considered long-term when he suffered it last week against the Cowboys, but it was serious enough to prevent him from playing on Sunday in Green Bay. And while the Rams left the door open for him to take the field, they knew all along that it was unlikely he’d be able to suit up.
Sean McVay didn’t have much of an update on Stafford’s thumb after the Rams’ 20-3 loss to the Packers, but he did say the quarterback is “making good progress.”
“It wasn’t anywhere to where we thought he’d be able to go for us,” McVay said. “There was a chance – we had kind of just left the door open, we know how tough he is. Whenever we get him back, we’ll certainly be excited about that. Hopefully it’s when we come back and play Seattle but I can’t give you any updates as it relates to exactly where he’s at.”
McVay elaborated a little bit on Stafford’s status later on in the press conference when asked again about the Rams’ injuries. He hopes Stafford can return in Week 11 after the Rams come back from their bye, but he can’t put an exact timetable on the quarterback’s return.
He also doesn’t know where Stafford is at when it comes to gripping a football.
He remains optimistic about No. 9 coming back after the bye, though.
“I hope so. That’s the hope. I know this: This guy is as tough as it gets,” McVay said. “He going to play through stuff that not a lot of people will do and we’ve seen that illustrated already this year when you look at the hip injury he sustained against Indianapolis. Kept battling through that. He ended up banging his thumb pretty early in that Dallas game at the end of the first half and ended up taking him out of it after the two-point conversion where he dove in. I’m hopeful. I don’t know enough about exactly where we’re at with recovery, ability to grip the ball. I’m optimistic. I’ll leave that door open.”
The Rams badly need Stafford to return because what we saw from Brett Rypien on Sunday was not good enough to keep the team’s playoff hopes alive.
