It’s gotten ugly Jared Goff and the Ramming insult over the past few weeks, with back to back losses to the Jets and Seahawks in which Goff played poorly. To make matters worse, the Los Angeles quarterback dislocated and broke his thumb in the loss to Seattle. Looks like a wide range of results are moving forward, with everything from Goff playing this Sunday to the rest of the season on the table. Goff will need surgery on the thumb at some point, but he hopes to push it back beyond the season, reports NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport (Twitter video link).
Rapsheet says Goff is “adamant” to push to play in week 17 and has at least one “shot” to be below center. If the Bears lose to the Packers on Sunday, the Ramming are in the playoffs anyway, but if Chicago beats Green Bay, the Rams will have to beat the Cardinals to get in. It sounds like Goff will try to push through and adjust for the playoffs, even if he can’t be out on Sunday. Goff today met with specialist Dr. Steven Shin, the same doctor who treated it Drew Breesthumb injury last year, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. Obviously Brees missed a handful of games with that injury last year, although hopefully for the Rams this isn’t that serious. If Goff misses the game against Arizona, it marks the first NFL action of the regular season for former Wake Forest and AAF star John Wolford.
Here are more health concerns from around the league entering the last week of the season:
- Goff isn’t the only crazy quarterback in this pivotal game. Kyler Murray has already dealt with an ongoing shoulder injury this season and also hurt his leg at the end of Arizona’s week 16 loss to San Francisco. Speaking to the media head coach Monday Kliff Kingsbury was vague, only considering it a “ lower leg ” injury and said they wouldn’t put Murray there if he can’t be effective. If the cards win on Sunday, they are in. If not, they are out. In a game of this size, you have to figure out that Murray is going to play if it’s possible at all, but right now Kingsbury says it’s in the air. This will be a situation to watch closely, but either way, it sounds like Murray will be less than 100 percent against Aaron Donald and co.
- One last message from the NFC West. The 49ers got an upset from the Cardinals, but their injury-ridden season continued. They dropped at least two more starters, as a rookie receiver Brandon Aiyuk and links address Trent Williams both will not play in week 17 due to injuries sustained against Arizona, Kyle Shanahan said Monday. Shanahan also said he would be shocked if Jimmy Garoppolo plays this weekend, so CJ Beathard should look at it again. Aiyuk has shown a lot of promise, and 49ers fans should rave about his potential for 2021. We may have seen Garoppolo play his latest snap as a 49er.
- Joe MixonThe 2020 campaign is officially in the books. The receding Bengals are not playing this weekend, head coach Zac Taylor Monday confirmed. Mixon hasn’t played since all the time back in week 6 due to a foot injury, but the team insisted he was only week to week all the time. Mixon signed a $ 48 million four-year extension in September, so he’s in Cincy for the long haul.
- Chiefs fans can breathe a little easier. Receiver Sammy Watkins went down yesterday with a calf injury, but Rapoport tweets it is not supposed to be important. Given Watkins’ injury history, that is a great relief. Rapoport writes that Watkins will rest in Week 17, but there is a “good chance” that he will be back for Kansas City’s first playoff game.
- Another player whose season, and possibly his career, is over: Patriots receiver Julian Edelman. Rapoport tweets that Edelman will not be activated for tonight’s Monday Night Football showdown with the Bills, and that it is “unlikely” that he will play next week. Edelman is under contract for next season, but he’s turning 35 in May, so it’s perfectly reasonable to wonder if he’ll eventually retire. The legendary Patriot, who has spent 12 years of his career in New England, was limited to just six games this year due to a knee injury.