Two of Los Angeles' most important offensive weapons had to exit the game due to injury, but head coach Sean McVay said on Monday that there's a chance both could be back on Sunday.
Wide receivers Brandin Cooks (concussion) and Cooper Kupp (concussion) will begin the week in the concussion protocol, but McVay noted both receivers felt better the day after the game.
"They felt good today. They didn't have any symptoms or things like that," McVay said. "We'll go through the standard operating procedure, and if everything checks out — with our guys and with the doctors that are part of that process — then we're hopeful to get those guys this week, get them back for this game this week."
Cooks' injury pretty clearly came on the first play of Los Angeles' two-minute drive, when on 1st-and-15 from the visitors' 12 quarterback Jared Goff completed a pass to Cooks, and the wideout received a helmet-to-helmet hit from Seattle safety Tedric Thompson.
McVay said he would address the helmet-to-helmet contact with the NFL's senior VP of officiating Al Riveron.
"[U]ltimately I don't think there was any malicious intent on it. But there are things that are always geared toward the safety of the players. And any of those head-to-head-contact collisions are things that we want to try to avoid," McVay said. "And that's something that they've made a big point of. But when we've talked to Al Riveron, he's done an excellent job being able to communicate clearly to us as far as what are the expectations, how do we see this when we go back and get a chance to really look at it — a little bit more slowed down version. And we use those things to try to coach moving forward so that our players have that clarity. And those will be things that we address moving forward."
Check out in-game photos from the Rams week 5 matchup against the Seattle Seahawks.
Kupp's injury was likely suffered on the same series, when he caught a pass over the middle but hit his head against the turf when he was tackled.
"To his credit, he was able to communicate to us that he wasn't feeling quite normal," McVay said of Kupp. "And then both of those guys, their symptoms — they didn't really have any symptoms a couple hours after the game. Brandin actually did a great job responding immediately. But you can never be too safe and too cautious with those kinds of things."
While cornerback Sam Shields suffered a shoulder injury, he was able to come back in. And other than that, McVay said the Rams came out clean in terms of injuries.
As for kicker Greg Zuerlein, McVay said the Rams' All-Pro will be day-to-day as the week begins.
"As far as if he's going to be able to go this week or not, probably will be able to have a little bit more clear answer for you probably on Wednesday or Thursday," McVay said. "But he is making progress, hasn't had any setbacks, and that's where we're at with Greg."
