The Rams’ season-opening loss to the Detroit Lions on Sunday night could reverberate through the next month as injuries continued to pile up on the offensive side of the ball.
Wide receiver Puka Nacua suffered a PCL sprain in the 26-20 overtime defeat, head coach Sean McVay said on Monday, and is likely to be placed on injured reserve, which would keep him out for four games. Likewise, offensive lineman Steve Avila suffered an MCL sprain and is also likely to go on injured reserve with a designation to return.
There are other factors to consider beyond recovery timelines, such as the limit of eight players the Rams are allowed to bring back off injured reserve. But it appears likely both Nacua and Avila, the offensive centerpieces of the Rams’ 2023 draft class, will need to miss at least four games with their knee sprains.
“That is the most likely route,” McVay said. “Now, when you only have eight throughout the year and you’re talking about already being on maybe six of these in Week 1, that’d be maybe why you wouldn’t do it if you wanted to hold a spot. But that’s the most likely direction that we would go.”
Nacua aggravated the knee injury that he suffered during a joint practice with the Chargers in early August, though McVay said it was a “more significant” injury than the receiver had previously been dealing with.
So just when the Rams felt like they had Nacua and veteran Cooper Kupp fully healthy and on the field together for the first time, the rug gets pulled out again.
“I feel for Puka because when he finds out the news and how much it means to him to be out there for his teammates and to go compete,” McVay said, “and how much work he’s even put in to get himself back to the position that he was last night.”
As Nacua tried to play through his injury, Avila made it through the first half before trainers informed McVay that the iron man offensive lineman, who played every snap as a rookie and didn’t miss a play as a senior at TCU, was staring at a multi-week absence.
But that didn’t stop Avila from trying to go out on the field for the first play of the third quarter.
“We had to yank him out,” McVay said. “It’s a credit to how much he wants to be out there. So I think that’s a positive problem, but it definitely got [vice president of sports medicine] Reggie Scott worked up. But it shows you how tough Steve is.”
If Avila were the only new addition to the Rams’ offensive line injury report, it would be enough. But there was more bad news on that front.
Backup tackle Joe Noteboom suffered a high ankle sprain and will likely miss multiple weeks. The Rams hope he won’t have to go on injured reserve, but that’s a decision that will be made as the week progresses.
Starting left guard Kevin Dotson was in a walking boot in the Rams’ postgame locker room on Sunday with a lateral ankle sprain. McVay classified him as day-to-day and is hopeful that Dotson will play Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals.
A replacement at left tackle until starter Alaric Jackson’s two-game suspension is complete is still up in the air. The Rams are still evaluating whether right tackle Rob Havenstein can return from his ankle injury, in which case Warren McClendon Jr. would flip over to the left side. The team is likely to bring in some external reinforcements for the line, too, McVay said.
While Avila is out, rookie Beaux Limmer will take over at center while Jonah Jackson settles back into left guard.
“I thought [Beaux] did a great job. He’s answered the bell every time he’s gotten opportunities,” McVay said. “I was really pleased with him in that atmosphere, that environment to handle it the way that he did. I wouldn’t say I was surprised though based on what I’ve seen from him.”
It might seem like a cavalcade of injuries on the offensive side of the ball, eerily similar to the onslaught the team endured in 2022. But McVay said he does not intend to allow the Rams to sink into the same dark place that enveloped the team two year ago.
“We’re not going to sulk. We’re not going to say, ‘Why me?’ We’re going to get the next guy ready to go, we’re going to get some new bodies in here and then we’ll be grateful when we do get those guys that are injured back,” McVay said. “The league continues to move, and it’s a thankless deal with some of these injuries. And it is unfortunate and I feel for the players that are getting injured. … But there’s not going to be any excuses for us not to move forward the right way. Because we’ve gone down that road before and we’re not doing that again.”