The Los Angeles Rams had another offensive lineman leave with an injury on Monday night versus the San Francisco 49ers when Coleman Shelton was ruled out with an ankle ailment. When asked if the offensive line injuries are limiting what the offense can do, Sean McVay simply said the coaching staff and the players need to be better moving forward.
“I’m not going to make any excuses, we gotta play better. The things that we didn’t do to execute, you don’t take any credit from the 49ers, but a lot of it was just things that the guys we’re counting on didn’t do what they were supposed to do,” McVay iterated. “And so clearly, that makes me think that I’ve got to do a better job and we have to do a better job as an offensive staff providing clarity to our players for as many MA’s (missed assignments) as what occurred tonight.”
To begin the season, the Rams have endured injuries to Shelton, Brian Allen, David Edwards, and Tremayne Anchrum Jr. just in the interior. Joe Noteboom and Rob Havenstein have also been banged up early in the season, though, neither of them has been forced to miss a game yet.
Amid all of the injuries on the offensive line, Matthew Stafford was sacked seven times in the 24-9 loss to the 49ers in Week 4. San Francisco didn’t need to send blitzes to generate pressure, however, with the number of missed assignments from the offensive line, the 49ers continued to find ways to get free rushers on Stafford.
The offense of the Rams has yet to put together a positive performance for the entirety of a game this season and the injuries along the offensive line are undoubtedly a reason for some of their struggles. That being said, the 49ers were dealing with offensive line injuries of their own on Monday night and it didn’t seem to affect them nearly as much.
McVay understands that despite all of the injuries in the trenches, the team should be able to trust some of their backups to step up when needed. The hobbled offensive line of the Rams will certainly be tested again in Week 5 versus the Dallas Cowboys, so we’ll have to see what adjustments are made.
