Matthew Stafford's Absence Starting to Weigh on the Rams

We have entered uncharted waters. Training camp came and went. The Rams' first joint practice concluded, and from the fields of Oxnard, California, Sean McVay made this statement regarding the health of quarterback Matthew Stafford.

“Good," stated McVay. "Yeah, he's making good progress. He feels good. We've been able to increase some things behind the scenes and so he's in good spirits. He, [Vice President of Sports Medicine and Performance] Reggie [Scott] and I sat down and we have a good plan, which I'm not going to get specific with you guys about. We do have a good plan in place that we feel good about and he's progressing in the right direction.

The plan was then detailed. Stafford would throw the ball around on Saturday. He did that over 60 times. Then, come Monday, Stafford was supposed to compete in individual drills. He never made it to the field. His back issues flared up, and now the Rams are doing everything they can to get him right.

However, Stafford's continued absence has been weighing on the Rams.

Sean McVay expressed frustration regarding Stafford's situation on Monday.

"That was part of the plan, but the plan was for him to be able to go today and that didn't come to fruition," stated McVay. "I think ultimately what we want to be able to do is take it a day at a time. I think that's healthy for everybody. Sometimes when you set expectations, they're not met. What's the first response? There's frustration, and that's okay to feel that way, but how can we move forward accordingly and most importantly, support a guy that when he gets out here we are going to be really excited about it. Like I've told you guys from day one, I'll defer to the experts. I'll defer to Matthew. Nobody's tougher than this guy and so we are going to be smart with it. I know he wanted to be out here more than anybody else but talking to Reggie, we felt like this was the right approach just based on some of the feedback we got from him.”

On Tuesday, Rams AHC Aubrey Pleasant spoke about the clear hole Stafford has left in their roster.

“No question," stated Pleasant. "It's impossible for me to say that when elite players aren't on the football field, you don't notice that they're missing. But I think what [General Manager] Les [Snead] and our staff are doing a really good job of with this team is building foundational pieces, having a good baseline so we have those people that can help us implement until those players come back. That's one thing I'm really proud of looking at the roster that we have. It’s different than when I first came back three years ago. We're not bad from top-down. We do focus on some spots where we have some really good depth and that’s where we're leaning. We’re leaning on our process right now and that's going to help us.”

Stafford is the key piece to a Rams Super Bowl run. The team needs him on the field. This situation is starting to get to the franchise and while they have handled it well, the team also doesn't have to play a regular-season game on Sunday.

How will this all play out? Stay tuned.

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