Sean McVay Shares Insight on Handling Multiple Rams Injuries

McVay on Wednesday

McVay detailed the situation on Wednesday.

“We put a couple guys on ‘IR’ [Injured Reserve]," stated McVay. "[Tight End Tyler] Higbee got his ankle rolled up on bad and so it's going to be a little bit of time. We do expect him to be able to make a return. Higbee, [Offensive Lineman] Rob [Havenstein] and [Safety] Quentin Lake are all guys that are going on IR. They’re big losses for us. Quentin Lake had elbow surgery yesterday. He ended up dislocating his elbow. Everything went really well. There still is some optimism that he could return this year. Same thing with Higbee. Rob Havenstein, he's as tough as it gets. He's been battling and pushing through his ankle and knee. He had been kind of sore and there had been some things going on."

"Being able to talk to him, I think the best case and the best approach is going to be able to give him some time and see if we can end up turning the corner and allowing him to be able to feel like he's capable of. We will have hope and optimism that all of those guys will return at some point. The soonest that they'd be able to return with Rob and Higbee would be with three games remaining in the season. We’ll monitor what ‘Q’ Lake’s status will be. As far as today's concerned, [Wide Receiver] Xavier Smith got the concussion the other day. He's doing better, but he's not quite where we want him to be yet so he'll be a DNP. Everybody else should be good.”

McVay then spoke about how he deals with the absence of Havenstein, Higbee and Lake when they are all leaders on the team.

“Number one, those guys are going to be here," continued McVay. "They're going to continue to uplift and elevate those guys. There are a lot of guys that we have confidence in. You don't replace players like that. You don't expect others to be able to do that. You expect the guys that are getting opportunities to step up to be the best versions of themselves. This is something that you deal with and it's unfortunate. It's one of my least favorite parts of this business."

"You watch the amount of work, time and effort that goes into preparing and how precious these opportunities are to be able to get these games and to be able to go compete with teammates that they love and care about. They'll still be here. They'll still be able to affect and influence things in a positive way. Even though I know all three of those guys would be chomping at the bit to be out there. They're everything that's right about this place and they'll contribute in their own ways."

"You’re not going to run away. Those are tough losses. You look around this league and we've had to deal with things like this before. There is a lot of confidence from the guys that have been asked to do different things that’ll be elevated to be able to go deliver and play to the best of their ability. Not try to be ‘Q’, not try to be Rob and not try to be ‘Higs’, but be the best versions of themselves. That's what we'll do.”