Los Angeles Rams HC Sean McVay provides status updates for key starters heading into Week 12

From an injury perspective, the Los Angeles Rams were dealing out bad news early and often this time last week. Coming off of a tough loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, Head Coach Sean McVay announced on Monday that RT Rob Havenstein, WR Brandin Cooks, and DB Darious Williams would all be out for this past Sunday’s matchup against the Chicago Bears. This forced the Rams to do some personnel shuffling, which actually worked out extremely well.

And then, just before kickoff, WR Robert Woods is said to be dealing with some personal matters and becomes a surprise inactive. Going into that game down two of your top three wideouts is certainly less than ideal.

But the Rams made it work, and moved to 6-4 on the year. They’ll now prep for an even tougher matchup as they host the Baltimore Ravens (8-2) on Monday Night Football in Week 12.

As for the status of several of the Rams’ key contributers, here are a few names that may pop up on this week’s initial injury report, and some thoughts from Sean McVay regarding their status for this week:

WR Brandin Cooks (concussion)

When asked if he expected Cooks to return:

We do. He’s been in great spirits, he’s been in good shape. The anticipation is that he will be able to play this week.

OT Rob Havenstein (meniscus)

I would say he’s probably going to be doubtful for this week. He is making good progress. To have a finite answer on exactly when he’ll play a week from today is difficult. I think the anticipation – just originally with that injury – was that it’s probably going to be a couple weeks. That’s why he’ll most likely be doubtful, but you don’t want to rule him out quite yet.

DT Michael Brockers (elbow)

He just irritated his elbow. Not exactly sure what it was. As soon as I went out there – I think, probably, one of those deals where it kind of just scares you initially more than anything. Once you kind of settle in you realize, ‘All right, you’re okay,’ and he came back and he did a great job to finish it out.

WR Robert Woods (not injury related)

There’s no update. He’s still handling that personal matter and we’ll probably have a little bit more of an update on that later on in the week.

This is definitely one to monitor, but it doesn’t sound like Woods will be practicing this week. We still don’t know the details regarding the personal matter, but it does sound as though it was something that snuck up on them nearing game time. During his press conference, McVay, while speaking about the tight end utilization, said “Obviously, there is going to be some adjustments when one of your starting receivers that’s a main contributor for you ends up not going right before kickoff.”

McVay, however, did not appear overly concerned about Woods’ wellbeing.

No, we feel good. He’s in a good place. We feel good about where the situation is at and his wellbeing, and that’s very, very important to us.

DB Darious Williams (ankle)

No update. Williams was one of the early “OUT” designations last week, so he’s been focusing on recovery since. McVay did not specifically reference his status, so we’ll have to (potentially) wait for Wednesday’s injury report for that update.

All in all, McVay sounded pleased with the progress of the team from a health standpoint.

Came out pretty good. Your typical bumps and bruises, but the tight ends that were banged up going into it, they came out in good shape. For the most part, ‘Brock’ (DL Michael Brockers) had his little elbow deal, but he ended up coming back into the game. It was as healthy as we’ve come out of a game with all the guys that did play.