LOS ANGELES -- In the week leading up to the Los Angeles Rams' Week 2 game against the Arizona Cardinals, head coach Sean McVay was asked about the injuries piling up, and if it reminded him of the 2022 season.
"I don't remember that year," McVay joked. "What happened?"
That season -- just one after they won Super Bowl LVI -- the Rams finished 5-12. And while McVay refused to make excuses that season, there was no doubt their struggles were in large part because of the injuries they had, targeted heavily on the offensive line and at cornerback.
The Rams had eight offensive linemen miss games for them that season due to injury and started 12 different offensive line combinations through their first 13 games.
Since early in training camp, the 2024 Rams have dealt with injuries to those two positions -- and more. Guard Jonah Jackson (shoulder), tackles Rob Havenstein (ankle) and Alaric Jackson (ankle) all missed time during training camp. Although Jonah Jackson was back for Week 1, Havenstein did not play and Jackson was suspended for the first two games of the season for violating the NFL's personal conduct policy.
By the end of the game, the Rams were without left tackle Joe Noteboom (starting in place of Alaric Jackson) and left guard Steve Avila. Noteboom left the game with a high ankle sprain and Avila an MCL sprain. Right guard Kevin Dotson was also on the injury report in the week leading up the loss to the Cardinals with a lateral ankle sprain, although he played in Arizona.
And in Week 2, Jonah Jackson played every offensive snap for the Rams, but reaggravated his shoulder injury and will miss "an extended period of time." On Wednesday, he joined Noteboom and Avila on injured reserve.
Quarterback Matthew Stafford experienced the rotating offensive line in 2022, but said there's not much he can take from that experience because "every situation is different."
"Every team is a little bit different, so I'm just trying to embrace this one," Stafford said. "Obviously, challenges along the way, but [I] continue to persevere, push myself, push our team and see where we can go."
"Whoever they put in there, I trust those guys to go in there and do their best to their ability [and] to do their job at a high rate. This week [is] no different for me. [I] try to do everything I possibly can to get those guys prepared. I know their coaches and their teammates will do the same."
The Rams also lost cornerback Derion Kendrick for the season after he tore his ACL during the team's first training camp practice and have been without starting cornerback Darious Williams since he strained his hamstring during the second practice.
The biggest blow this season -- unlike in 2022 -- is in back-to-back weeks, the Rams have lost their two top wide receivers to injury. Puka Nacua sprained his MCL in Week 1, aggravating a training camp injury, and Cooper Kupp sprained his ankle in Week 2, requiring him to miss "an extended period of time." The Rams haven't put Kupp on injured reserve -- for now, McVay said on Wednesday -- but will not rush him back.
The injuries are piling up so quickly, that McVay noted the team is quickly running out of their eight allotted injured reserve/designated to return spots, "and we're only into Week 3."
The difference between the 2022 and 2024 seasons, safety Quentin Lake said, is that in 2022, Stafford got hurt.
"So that's really drastic," the team captain said. "When the leader of the team, the focal point, when he goes down, then it's tough. But like I said, as long as we got him, we got guys that can step up and make plays, both offense and defense."
In 2022, Stafford was sacked 29 times in nine games and was in the concussion protocol twice. Stafford ended the season on injured reserve with a spinal cord contusion.
When asked about whether he was concerned about Stafford being sacked five times in the Rams' loss to the Cardinals, McVay said he tries "not to reflect on some negative things from the past." The Rams left Stafford in the game despite the blowout because McVay said he didn't want to put backup quarterback Stetson Bennett "in a situation where he has never taken some [regular season] snaps." Instead, McVay decided the Rams were not going to throw the football at the end of the game.
The Rams' blowout loss to the Cardinals on Sunday dropped them to 0-2, a record the team has never had under McVay. Although it is unfamiliar territory, McVay said, he believes the team has "the right growth mindset" that the situation requires.
"We have a lot of mentally tough people in that room," McVay said. "These are those moments where we get tested. I know that I look back on those moments of growth for me. They never occurred in good times. They only occurred in moments like this. This is one of those moments where you have that pit in your gut and you have a choice, do you want to attack it or do you want to fold? I am betting on the guys that they are going to be the type of guys that will raise their heads high. They are going to go back to work."
The Rams know, of course, that they are not the only team hit hard by injuries. Their Week 3 opponent, the San Francisco 49ers, will be without star players Christian McCaffrey and Deebo Samuel Sr. on Sunday. And while defensive tackle Kobie Turner acknowledged the injuries, he said leaning on that excuse is "the easy way out."
"Everybody knows we have a lot of guys injured," Turner said. "The fact of the matter is defensively, we have a lot of our guys still here, and so there's no excuse for what we put out on Sunday.
"...So figuring out a way to win, however that looks, and really for us and for my room, that means us stepping up. We're fairly healthy right now in my room, so we have to do a much better job, lead the team, have that energy and step up and be there for the team when a lot of other position groups have a lot of injuries."
And while the Rams couldn't figure out how to overcome those injuries and win in 2022 without their quarterback, the team is leaning on the fact that it's only Week 3 and there's plenty of time to ensure the season doesn't go in that direction.