Week Two Injury Report: Rams At Colts

Week Two Injury Report: Rams At Colts

Week two of the NFL season is here. The Los Angeles Rams are headed to Lucas Oil Stadium to face off against the Indianapolis Colts. The Rams are coming off against an impressive win over the Chicago Bears. Meanwhile, the Colts are trying to avoid starting their season 0-2 after a tough loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Let’s take a look at the injury report for each team and how that may affect the game.

Los Angeles Rams

The Rams have Reggie Scott and his staff to thank for a very clean injury report this week. Thankfully, Sean McVay’s squad is not missing anyone new since last week. The Rams continue to be relatively healthy again as we have seen for years. Cam Akers is of course still on injured reserve due to his torn achilles. Ogbonnia Okoronkwo and Tremayne Anchrum are both still on the short-term injured reserve list. Okoronkwo with an unspecified shoulder injury and Anchrum with an unspecified knee injury. Chris Garrett remains on the COVID/Reserve list at this time.

Ben Skowronek was a full participant on Friday, however, but he is likely not going to see the field this week coming off a fractured forearm. Sebastian Joseph-Day had a knee injury and was limited on Thursday but returned to full participation on Friday. A’Shawn Robinson also had a knee injury but returned to full participation on Thursday after being limited on Wednesday. The Rams are pretty much at full strength going into this game according to their injury report.

Indianapolis Colts

Unfortunately, the Colts are not so lucky. Multiple starters and depth players have missed nearly the entire week of practice. The Colts will be at a large disadvantage even if some of these players are able to give it a go on Sunday as they’ve missed reps and likely still aren’t at full strength. The Colts are almost an injury away from bringing a fan from the stands to add depth. Let’s look at their injury report.

Short-Term Injured Reserve

The Colts have a host of players on short-term injured reserve: Quartney Davis, Sam Ehlinger, Skai Moore, J.J. Nelson, Nick Nelson, Dezmon Patmon, Sam Tevi, Rob Windsor, and most notably T.Y. Hilton. Most of these players were likely back-end roster players anyways but Hilton will be sorely missed. He has been a consistent deep threat and reliable target for years. Carson Wentz needs all the help he can get to keep the Colts’ offense afloat and missing Hilton will surely add hardship to their game plan.

[pickup_prop id=”12072″]

Rookie Dayo Odeyingbo is also on injured reserve. He would’ve added some assistance to a Colts defensive line that is going against a very solid group of offensive linemen. Missing key depth pieces is never a good thing for an NFL team trying to ensure a win to get on track.

Xavier Rhodes

Xavier Rhodes is out with a calf injury. He did not participate at all this week due to the injury. Rhodes is supposed to start alongside Rock Ya-Sin. Missing a starting cornerback is bad luck considering how easily Matthew Stafford and the Rams played pitch and catch around the Bears last week.

Braden Smith

Braden Smith is the Colts starting right tackle. Now Wentz will have less time to throw the ball with a talented Rams front seven barreling down on him. Wentz tends to hold the ball too long as is and now the Colts will trot out Matt Pryor. Smith is a huge loss for a Colts offense that already would have been outmatched.

Darius Leonard

Darius Leonard is one of the best linebackers in the NFL right now. If the Rams want to establish the run, this is their chance. Leonard did not participate Wednesday or Thursday due to an illness and ankle injury. He was still limited Friday. He likely will play barring a setback but he won’t be at full strength and the Rams should capitalize on that weakness.

Eric Fisher

Eric Fisher has been rehabbing from an achilles injury and did not play in week one. He was limited all week but did reach full participation Friday. Regardless, coming off an achilles injury is difficult. With the Colts’ offensive line already struggling with health, the Rams will be pinning their ears back. Justin Hollins could look to capitalize on his ascension this week after a dominant performance last week.

Quenton Nelson

The Colts’ bad luck on the offensive line just doesn’t stop, does it? Quenton Nelson is the best guard in football. He will play Sunday-that is already confirmed by Nelson himself. However, He was limited Friday after not participating the rest of the week prior due to a foot and back issue. Aaron Donald isn’t someone you want to go head to head with while injured. Nelson won’t get much help either as his linemates will either be battling injuries themselves or be backups. Wentz could have a really long day especially if Nelson can’t play the entire game.

Kwity Paye

Rookie Kwity Paye has been battling a hamstring injury. He is questionable for Sunday after being limited Wednesday and then not participating Thursday. He was back to limited as of Friday but hamstrings can be tricky. If he cannot play Sunday it will be one more reason the Rams offense should have a dominant performance. Paye is a talented rookie and would be a tough loss against a solid Rams offensive line.

Receivers

Parris Campbell and Michael Pittman Jr. are both questionable for Sunday as well. You have to almost feel sorry for Wentz. Even if these guys play they won’t be at full strength. Both players were limited on Friday with abdomen and ankle injuries respectively. The Colts may be relying on Zach Pascal and Mike Strachan.

Safeties

The Colts starting safeties are also questionable. Is anyone on the Colts healthy? Khari Willis has battled an illness but finally was a full participant Friday. Meanwhile, Julian Blackmon has been out with a back injury. Again, even if they play, not being at full strength will be a tough test against the Rams. We could honestly see the Rams receiving corp going up against a Colts secondary that is missing 3/5ths of their starting secondary.