Scary incident involving LA Rams S Russ Yeast to end season

The LA Rams lost their season finale, but the true drama was contained on the football field. During the game, rookie safety Russ Yeast was injured making a tackle on a play and was sent to the bench, and the medical tent. During the game, the broadcast booth did a very poor job of calling out that injury or I simply missed it in some quick trip away from my television monitor.

Because the game was so dramatic, lasting into overtime before the game was ultimately decided, the status of Rams safety Russ Yeast slipped my attention, sad to say.  The injury was reported during the games as a chest injury, and it was not given any additional details until later in the game when the Rams downgrade Yeast from questionable to return to OUT for the game:

and that led me to do some follow-up on his status, which turned into discovering this update:

The rookie’s injury is dangerously closely timed to that suffered by Buffalo Bills defensive back Damar Hamlin, and the injuries are similar in nature. That made this entire scenario plenty scary, so much so that immediately after the game, Jalen Ramsey and other teammates from the secondary rushed to the hospital to be at Yeast’s side.

The future starter?

Yeast is a 5-foot-10 195-pound rookie defensive back who had played in 15 games for the LA Rams, nine of those games included some playing time on defense, and he ended the season with a starting role after an injury suffered by teammate Nick Scott. For the season, Yeast played 113 defensive snaps and recorded 20 tackles. In pass coverage, he was targetted six times and allowed five passes to find the intended receiver. He even returned one kickoff for 29 yards.

While Russ Yeast was taken to a local hospital, current reports suggest that he will recover fully. That is quite important, as the LA Rams will likely look to either Yeast or his teammate Quentin Lake, or both, to assume starting roles in the Rams’ defense in 2023.

For now, all seems to be well. But it emphasizes once again that the game of football is more than a game to the players on the football field. In the end, emerging from the game healthy is as much of a victory as anything.