JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — After spending nearly a week in Florida, the Rams are headed to England. The club checked out of its resort following Thursday's practice and headed to the airport to fly to Heathrow Airport, where they'll arrive at about 8 a.m. local time.
Here are a few notes from the last stateside practice of the week.
INJURY REPORT
Los Angeles once again has a few players on the injury report, though there were also improvements.
Linebacker Mark Barron (thumb) did not practice on Thursday. Safety Cody Davis (thigh) also did not practice.
Once again, defensive backs Lamarcus Joyner (hamstring) and Troy Hill (shoulder) were full participants.
Outside linebacker Connor Barwin, center John Sullivan, and left tackle Andrew Whitworth also returned to practice after receiving their usual rest on Wednesday.
On the other side, Arizona cornerback Patrick Peterson left last Sunday's game against the Buccaneers with a quad injury and did not return. But after being limited in practice on Wednesday and Thursday, the cornerback has said he still expects to play against the Rams.
GURLEY MEETS HIS FAN
On Sunday evening at about 6:30, a video of seven-year-old Griff Sumner appeared on Twitter. A Georgia native and a huge fan of running back Todd Gurley, Griff started shedding tears of joy upon learning he'd be watching his favorite player in person.
That video went viral pretty quickly — especially once Gurley saw it himself postgame and retweeted it at about 8:30 p.m. with the caption, "Tears of joy I love it. #GoRams"
On Thursday, more of Griff's dreams came true. The organization invited the seven-year-old and his family to practice, where Griff was able to meet Gurley before the session began.
"It just makes everything a lot better whether the wins or losses, when you see stuff like that it means a lot," Gurley said. "You don't really see it until you get a video like that you're like 'Aw snap, kids really do look up to you.' It's a cool thing."
Griff was also able to meet many of the Rams' coaches and players — including head coach Sean McVay.
"We got the chance to talk to them and what you realize is what a blessing it is to be able to do this for a living and the impact that you can have on these guys," Rams head coach Sean McVay said. "I know Todd got a chance to speak with him and that's when you kind of look back, you're able to step away, sometimes you're so involved in it, you can't appreciate what a special, unique opportunity we have to be able to coach in this league. People enjoy that and look up to guys like Todd and I thought it was great for him to be able to have those guys here today. "
It was surely a moment and memory that will last a lifetime. And if nothing else, it shows what social media can be at its best.
TIME TO FLY
After a pair of practices in Florida, the Rams are taking off for their international game. After they land in London, they'll check in at their hotel and go through a light workout to help stay awake. Then they'll hold a practice at about four o'clock in the afternoon — which works out to 11 a.m. Eastern, 8 a.m. Pacific.
McVay said he was pleased with the way the week worked out.
"I thought it was a great setup," McVay said. "The guys did a great job of handling the situation and we were able to get ahead on our game plan install and we'll keep the same Friday practice routine tomorrow.
"But just because of the travel and some of the different things and then having had the experience last year leaving on a Thursday going to London, we felt like from an above-the-neck standpoint that was going to be the best way to go about getting our game plan in," McVay continued. "Guys handled it really well and then tomorrow will be used as clean-up day and then everything then will be geared towards peaking on Sunday."
