Rams mideweek injury updates

For most teams, the bye week is meant to help teams rest, make adjustments and give players time to get healthy. That doesn’t seem to be the case for the St. Louis Rams. After losing three key players in their Week 5 loss to the Green Bay Packers, the Rams exited the bye week with more players on the DNP list than before it.

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In addition to the loss of OG Rodger Saffold for the season, St. Louis suffered losses of defensive end Chris Long and wide receiver Kenny Britt in the game against Green Bay as well. Long was diagnosed with a knee injury after making knee-to-knee contact with a member of the Packers offensive line. His timetable for return is still unclear. Wider receiver Kenny Britt injured his hand a few plays later, but thankfully, has been left off this weeks injury report leading folks to believe he is practicing in full.

New additions to the injury report include running back Tre mason (ankle), wide receiver Tavon Austin (thigh), defensive end Robert Quinn (knee), cornerback Janoris Jenkins (concussion). Players on hold over from the previous week include; linebacker Alec Ogletree (ankle), tight end Lance Kendricks (hand) and the aforementioned Long.

Sep 20, 2015; Landover, MD, USA; St. Louis Rams defensive end Chris Long (91) participates in warm ups prior to the Rams

All were listed as non-participants in practice Wednesday except Jenkins. Jenkins was listed as a limited participant. That’s good news for the Rams top corner as it would appear he is progressing well through his concussion protocol if he is already a limited participant in practice.

Head coach Jeff Fisher said Mason had injured his ankle in the game against Green Bay. This would certainly explain his lack of touches, but Fisher has been on record saying he would like to get the teams leading rusher from a year ago more involved in the offense. Mason has been anything but the power back he was in 2014, having posted an anemic 49 rushing yards on 20 attempts in 2015.

St. Louis will have their normal day off on Thursday, but will release an approximation on the progress of these injured players as if they had practiced. Don’t expect much in the way of progress for most, but all will be watched closely as the week progresses.

Sunday brings the suddenly high scoring offense of the Cleveland Browns to town for a 1pm ET start. The Browns have scored at least 27 points in three of their last four games, including breaking 30 against the Baltimore Ravens. However, they hold the leagues worst rushing defense and have allowed a healthy 26.3 points against through seven weeks.

Expect a healthy dose of running back Todd Gurley as the Rams will look to control the ball and take advantage of the porous Cleveland run defense. However, St. Louis will need to get some of their key defensive players healthy in a hurry of they hope to put a stop to the suddenly potent Browns offense.