While a lot went wrong for the Los Angeles Rams during their Week 1 loss to the Buffalo Bills, nothing was worse than the offensive line. A day after that loss, that offensive line got dealt some bad news.
On Friday afternoon, Rams coach Sean McVay announced (per Jourdan Rodrigue, The Athletic) that starting center Brian will “have a cleanout procedure on his knee and is out 2-4 weeks.”
Rams center Brian Allen has to have a cleanout procedure on his knee and is out 2-4 weeks. Coleman Shelton will move to center, and Tremayne Anchrum will move to guard.
— Jourdan Rodrigue (@JourdanRodrigue) September 9, 2022
This is tough for the Rams. The offensive line had a poor outing on Thursday night, as Matthew Stafford was sacked seven times and under constant pressure. Now, things will theoretically get tougher for them.
The NFL world didn’t have a lot of optimism around the Rams in the aftermath of the news.
Oh boy https://t.co/LgyvEE4CZR
— Steve Wyche (@wyche89) September 9, 2022
From Coleman Shelton being a bit of a surprise at starting RG, now Shelton a bit of a surprise at C and Tremayne Anchrum a bit of a surprise at RG.
Potentially no noticeable difference at C with the change. But keep in mind that Grady Jarrett is on deck. https://t.co/Il0vpwBVNA
— TurfShowTimes (@TurfShowTimes) September 9, 2022
Arik Armstead is about to have a field day on Week 4 against a backup center https://t.co/Y2bPxPqcRI
— Akash Anavarathan (@akashanav) September 9, 2022
https://t.co/ivSXZRNvXi pic.twitter.com/zZsvj4bT1v
— Alexis Kraft (@TheAlexisKraft) September 9, 2022
And you thought Matthew Stafford looked lousy last night..the Rams offensive line is a huge liability https://t.co/ZOPbyWO5eg
— Brian Webber (@bwwebber) September 9, 2022
The Rams’ next two games are at home against the Atlanta Falcons and then on the road against the Arizona Cardinals. If Allen misses the full four weeks, he’ll also be out of action for Los Angeles’ Week 4 road game against the San Francisco 49ers and Week 5’s home game against the Dallas Cowboys.
So, with some obvious exceptions, the next few weeks of competition could be worse. But given how much the offensive line struggled on Thursday, the last thing the Rams needed was something that will make things worse.
[Jourdan Rodrique on Twitter]
