Los Angeles Rams vs. San Francisco 49ers: Initial injury report begins week again with RB Todd Gurley out

A week ago as the Los Angeles Rams prepared to take on the Arizona Cardinals in Week 16, Rams Head Coach Sean McVay addressed his star RB Todd Gurley not practicing on Wednesday with a short but optimistic take:

He’s doing good. I think he’s making good progress. It’s early in the week, but I think he’s feeling good. He came in, was feeling better today so that’s good news.

...

That’s the expectation, that he’s going to play.

Spoiler alert: He did not play.

So now as we begin our preparations for the final week of the regular season with the playoffs looming against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 17, we’re find things in similar circumstances as Gurley was yet again a non-participant in practice to start the week:

On Gurley’s knee this week, McVay said this yesterday:

I would imagine that we’ll know before Sunday this week just because now it’ll have been a couple weeks. I think we’ll have a better indicator on how he’s feeling and how he responds, specifically just because he didn’t take that pounding last week, just getting that rest. Don’t know for sure, but I don’t anticipate it coming down to really the last hour and a half like it did last week.

And on any potential setbacks with regard to the knee:

There really haven’t been. He’s making good progress. I think it was more along the lines of we had to make that decision just based on that pregame workout. Todd wanted to do everything in his power to get out there and compete with his teammates. Sometimes you’ve got to be able to make those decisions because you know conscientious he is, how much he wants to be out there. Just based on the entirety of everything that we put into making that decision, medical staff, Todd’s opinion, what we feel like is best for the football team – that kind of went into it. He’s going to do a great job with his rehab and we’ll hopefully have him this week.

So um...TBD.

As for S Lamarcus Joyner, McVay confirmed he’s still day-to-day with the ankle. No update on EDGE Matt Longacre though who has essentially been bumped from the active roster since the trade for EDGE Dante Fowler Jr.

And while reserve RB Justin Davis looks close to a return, newly signed RB C.J. Anderson’s monster performance against the Cardinals has likely cemented him as the primary backup with RB Malcolm Brown out for the rest of the year.

As for the Niners, they had a much lengthier report:

With the Niners already in 2019 preparation mode, the only real motivation for these guys is putting out some good tape for any potential free agency swings.

That being said, the real headline for the injury reports this week was always going to be Just Todd Gurley.

So be it. Stay tuned.