St. Louis Rams Injury Report Update: Cortland Finnegan Doubtful, Cecil Shorts Questionable, Others Ailing

Following the embarrassment on Thursday Night Football, the St. Louis Rams drew their “long” week in the schedule. After two extremely disappointing losses to the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers, the Rams are desperate for a win… any win… over any team… in nearly any fashion. The schedule creators answered that prayer, with St. Louis set to face-off against, arguably, the worst team in the NFL this season; the Jacksonville Jaguars.

On the injury front, the St. Louis Rams are fairing pretty decent at the quarter mark of the season. Aside from T.J. McDonald getting thrown on the IR-DTR list after fracturing his right leg, the Rams have only ruled out Rodger Saffold from the game on Sunday. However, there are a handful of notable starters and rotational players with “doubtful” or questionable” statuses. Cortland Finnegan (thigh… and ego) and William Hayes (knee) are listed as doubtful, with both leaving last Thursday’s game against the 49ers with injury. Less Finnegan in the lineup might be a welcome sight for some in Rams Nation, but the loss of Hayes in the defensive line rotation would be a massive blow. However, even the loss of Finnegan could turn sour quickly, with Trumaine Johnson (illness) listed as “questionable” and dimeback, Brandon McGee (thigh),  listed as “probable.”

The situation for the Jacksonville Jaguars is a bit more dire, with a three starters ruled “out” already, and several more potentially missing time. Included on that “out” list are: TE Marcedes Lewis, CB Dwayne Gratz, and S Dwight Lowery. More importantly, Cecil Shorts, the team’s leading receiver by a wide margin, did not practice on Friday, and will be listed as “questionable” for Sunday. Jaguars’ head coach, Gus Bradley, suggested that he believes Shorts will play, but that does not attests to how much or how effective that time on the field will be… Luckily, the Jaguars will have Justin Blackmon returning to the lineup. However, he will likely be shadowed by Janoris Jenkins for a majority of the game, which most would consider a “break” after watching Jenkins man-up against Anquan Boldin, Dez Bryant, Julio Jones, and Larry Fitzgerald to start off the season.