Los Angeles Rams at New York Giants: Thursday injury report offers two concerns

The Los Angeles Rams are headed to the Big Apple to take on the New York Giants in Week 9. As one of the healthiest teams in the NFL, they’ve got scant concerns on the injury report after practice on Thursday albeit with one major new name on the sheet:

With the emergence of rookie S John Johnson III and the return of DB Lamarcus Joyner, the Rams don’t have a ton to worry about at safety. So even with the release of S Maurice Alexander back in early October, the Rams are still well-equipped to deal with the injury to S Cody Davis. That being said, Davis played well alongside Alexander before Johnson had adjusted to the NFL level of performance while Joyner missed three games last month.

The other name to worry about is LG Rodger Saffold who joined the report for something non-injury related. Perhaps more concerning is that Head Coach Sean McVay didn’t mention Saffold during his media availability. Perhaps it’s something personal or a minor issue that won’t matter if Saffold returns as a full participant tomorrow. Let’s hope as much. Otherwise, the current backup LG listed on the team’s official depth chart? Yeah, that’s a position the Rams have left unfilled. And since Saffold is the only member of the offense who has played every snap in 2017? Fair to say we have no idea who would step in if he’s unable to go.

Here’s the Giants’ side of the report:

That report is 13 players deep. For a team that already has 15 players on IR. Woof.

Here’s what Ed Valentine had to say over at Big Blue View, the SBN site for fans of the Giants:

The bad news

There is plenty of this.

For starters, it looks like Justin Pugh (back) is unlikely to play Sunday. He hasn’t practiced all week. That means Bobby Hart will probably be back in the lineup at right tackle. Unless the Giants decide to take a look at rookie Chad Wheeler.

Also, is anyone else worried about center Weston Richburg at this point? Richburg (concussion) has not practiced or played since leaving the Week 4 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That is now almost a full five weeks ago.

The Giants could be extremely short-handed on defense. Cornerback Janoris Jenkins is, of course, suspended and won’t play. Olivier Vernon appears likely to miss a fourth straight game and fellow defensive end Kerry Wynn (knee) hasn’t practiced this week. That explains why the Giants added both Devin Taylor and Jordan Williams to the 53-man roster. Middle linebacker B.J. Goodson (ankle) also hasn’t practiced this week.

In addition, cornerback Donte Deayon was added to the injury list Thursday with an ankle issue. If he can’t play, Eli Apple, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Ross Cockrell would be the only remaining healthy cornerbacks. You would have to think that would almost certainly force the Giants to make yet another roster move.

Yeah, they’re struggling in this aspect in a bad way, in a bad way we haven’t had to deal with for years.

The final injury report with game status comes out tomorrow.