How many Pro Bowl players can an already bad NFL team lose to injury before they simply give up?
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported Monday that the Los Angeles Rams are evaluating defensive tackle Aaron Donald for a high ankle sprain. There is no word on how the three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award winner suffered the injury. He played 79% of the defensive snaps in the 26-10 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs Sunday, recording three tackles and a quarterback hit.
The hits just keep on coming for the defending Super Bowl champions, who are now 3-8. Super Bowl MVP wide receiver Cooper Kupp suffered a high ankle sprain earlier in November. Quarterback Matthew Stafford missed the Chiefs game with a strained neck, following in the wake of two recent stints in the concussion protocol. He may miss the rest of the season.
Donald has not missed a game due to injury in his nine-season career, an incredible feat playing the physical position he does at such a high level.
So that’s three former Pro Bowl players sidelined by injury for a team that struggled, even with them on the field. This is certainly a bleak season in the City of Angels.
“You know we are trying to compete, get the results that we want,” head coach Sean McVay told reporters (via Gilbert Manzano of The Orange County Register). “But man, it’s certainly been something that I don’t think anybody could have ever predicted. When it rains, it pours.”
Some fans sympathized with the Rams’ plight, but there were some haters, too.
About Arthur Weinstein
Arthur spends his free time traveling around the U.S. to sporting events, state and national parks, and in search of great restaurants off the beaten path.