The Los Angeles Rams have been without their star wide receiver Cooper Kupp since the start of the new season; Rams have injury problems elsewhere, so Kupp's return would provide a big boost; watch the 2023 NFL season on Sky Sports NFL
Thursday 28 September 2023 06:47, UK
Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay is "hopeful" Cooper Kupp can return from injury in time for their Week Five game against the Philadelphia Eagles in October.
Kupp injured his hamstring in the build up to the new season, so has missed the opening three games and is set to miss the Rams' upcoming Week Four game with the Indiana Colts.
McVay hopes to see Kepp return to practice and start the 21-day window to put him on the active roster.
"He's progressing, he's doing a good job. But I don't want to pigeonhole myself. He's ramping up his workload. But when you're talking about returning to performance and returning to play, those are different things," said McVay.
"And we want him to be able to return to performance at the level he's capable of. Hopefully next week will represent that."
Things didn't go well for the Los Angeles Rams after left tackle Alaric Jackson also hurt his hamstring in a 19-16 loss at the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday night.
As they prepare to play at Indianapolis on Sunday, the Rams are preparing contingency plans if Jackson cannot play.
The Rams (1-2) held a walkthrough Wednesday instead of practicing because of the quick turnaround, but coach McVay estimated that Jackson would not have been able to participate.
"I think we're going to find that out, so we're taking that a day at a time," commented McVay on Jackson's injury. "He's feeling good and I know that's what he's hoping for, and that's certainly what we're hoping for too."
Zachary Thomas, a second-year player from San Diego State, replaced Jackson. It was a struggle as the Rams gave up five sacks in the second half, with Thomas apparently at fault on at least two of those plays.
"He came in and competed the best that he could, but there were certainly some challenges as I think we all saw," McVay said of Thomas' performance.
A sixth-round pick by the Chicago Bears in 2022, Thomas had played one offensive snap in the NFL prior to Monday. He admitted that going up against Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson, who had two sacks, was eye-opening.
"He was probably the first true speed rush I've ever had to go against in a game. Watching him on film, and shouldn't say I've grown up watching him, but over the past few years just seeing what he's done, it's kind of unreal to just get on the field and just get in my stance and look up at him. It's insane," said Thomas.
On having a full week to prepare for his next game, Thomas added: "Just being able to like actually get in the walkthroughs and all the practice reps and stuff.
"The past couple of weeks, I've been doing like practice squad stuff, which is great for training like physical stuff. But as far as running plays and stuff, it will have a lot more impact just getting to be in the huddle."
The other option if Jackson is unavailable would be moving right guard Joe Noteboom. McVay said Monday he decided against moving Noteboom outside because it would have meant changing two positions during the game.
Asked to expand on that decision-making process Wednesday, McVay acknowledged with hindsight it would have made sense to turn to the more experienced Noteboom against Hendrickson and Cincinnati.
"I'm not going to pretend to be perfect, but I will learn from those things and we'll make better decisions if we feel like those are applicable," McVay said.
