Any time a quarterback is getting days off from practice because of pain in his throwing arm, alarms are going to sound. There was at least some concern about Matthew Stafford’s elbow earlier in training camp when Sean McVay revealed he was feeling some pain, causing him to lighten the quarterback’s workload.
But over the last two weeks, things have gotten progressively better for Stafford – ever since McVay said it was an “abnormal” injury for a quarterback and something pitchers deal with. Stafford has ramped up his throwing and participated fully in back-to-back practices, including the team’s scrimmage on Tuesday.
Stafford addressed the media before practice on Wednesday to provide an update on his elbow, and things are certainly trending in the right direction.
“I’m just going out there, doing my work, trusting the process that we have. I know that I’m able to go out there and function at a high level right now,” Stafford said. “Whatever it feels like, hopefully it continues to keep getting better as it has, but I know that functionally, I feel like I can do everything I need to do. So, just trying to continue on that road.”
It’s encouraging to hear Stafford say his elbow has continued to get better as the season approaches, and his practice schedule seems to reflect that. During the scrimmage on Tuesday, Stafford took part in 70-plus plays with the first-team offense, which is about as many plays as the Rams run in a game.
He came out of it feeling good, and McVay doesn’t really see any reason to be concerned.
“I didn’t see any reason to be concerned,” McVay said. “I think ideally, you’d like him to be totally pain-free, but he’s better equipped to be able to answer those questions. But I know this, based on evaluating him throwing the football, he looked like the Matthew that I know, and that’s the most important thing. And that was kind of the goal all along. There was never a time where it was like, I’m not able to practice. It was just, let’s be smart with a guy that’s accumulated as much experience and is so sharp and does such a great job taking care of himself.”
McVay said Stafford threw over 75 balls on Tuesday and came away from the practice feeling good.
“All different types of throws and looked really good, and he felt good today, which I think is a really positive step in the right direction,” McVay added.
The season opener against the Bills is exactly three weeks away, which gives Stafford plenty of time to prepare and increase his workload. The team will still be smart so as not to strain his elbow more, but it sounds like he’s ready for Week 1.