00:00The moment that all of Los Angeles has been waiting for.
00:04Sean McVay telling the media on a Monday following a Rams victory on Sunday against the Chargers
00:10that Miles Garrett's practice window will now be opened up.
00:15We can expect to see Garrett back on the practice turf in Woodland Hills this week for Los Angeles,
00:20entering week number nine of this NFL season.
00:24Finally, Cody Decker, some positive injury news around Miles Garrett.
00:28Week nine, as we were all told and expecting.
00:32But again, this does not mean he's going to be playing in week nine.
00:36It means it opens up a 21-day window that he can eventually play,
00:40or else he has to be put on the IR for the rest of the season.
00:43That's fun.
00:44Listen, I think he's going to be probably back with his team.
00:47If I were to venture a guess, week 10.
00:49That's what I'm guessing.
00:50I would love to see him back for week nine.
00:53Truly would.
00:53I hope we do get him back this week because I've been waiting to see a healthy Miles Garrett
00:57in this defense based on how everything was sold to me in this offseason.
01:02And now that this team is back to four and four
01:03and kind of getting themselves back off the schneid and back into the hunt,
01:08they're going to need him.
01:09Now, this next matchup for the Rams is against the Commanders,
01:11which is also a reason why I expect him not to be in the lineup for week nine
01:16unless he wants to ramp up against a fairly beleaguered Commanders team right now.
01:21Yeah, and that will be the story for the Rams entering this week.
01:25Road trips to Washington and Landover, Maryland,
01:28followed by a road trip out to the desert to take on the Cardinals.
01:31Then it's the bye before that blackout Wednesday game against the Packers.
01:35Powerhouse Cardinals.
01:36They've already beaten the Rams once.
01:38We need Miles in that game.
01:40I have apologized to Arizona.
01:42Gardner Minshew is the starter.
01:44They came back from down 14 in the fourth quarter against the Cowboys.
01:47This is a much better Arizona team as proven here in Los Angeles
01:52with two wins inside so far this year over the Chargers and the Rams.
01:57Fish, Miles Garrett back at practice.
01:59And again, it's just a good sign.
02:02We saw him on the bike during the game against the Chargers on Sunday,
02:06laughing his tush off as Aaron Donald could not recover that fumble.
02:10But this was finally the good bit of injury news.
02:13We have kind of been waiting on Miles Garrett, of course,
02:16who has not played since that season opener in Australia against the 49ers.
02:20Yeah, like you said, just a positive sign.
02:23You know, not anything to, you know, get overly hyped up about at this point.
02:33You know, even as he gets closer to returning whenever that is,
02:37like it's, you still have to get out there and play the sport.
02:41I mean, he didn't practice much during training camp, didn't play much in the preseason.
02:46Yep.
02:47You know, played one game, limited.
02:49And so as you go into week 9, 10, 11, at whatever point, you know,
02:53he returns to the field, you know, you're going to have to kind of wrap him up
02:58almost similar to Aaron Donald's return, like limiting the snaps
03:01and limiting, you know, his time on the field, I would guess.
03:06And so, but it's positive that he is returning to practice.
03:13You know, over the last couple of weeks, we kind of were wondering why we hadn't
03:17heard anything, you know, about not necessarily an exact timeline, which, you know,
03:24I think that's why the teams handle some of these things the way they do is
03:28because they know that any crumb they drop, like, of course, those on the other side
03:34of the aisle will just run to ground with it and then start peppering them with questions
03:40about, well, when is he back and when is he back?
03:42So for them to feel good enough to say this, that he is returning, would suggest that he's
03:49in a pretty good spot, in a really good spot, I would say.
03:51But they just don't want to get into the conversation around when he's going to play
03:56exactly.
03:57So happy for him, happy for the team.
04:00You know, this helps them to continue the positive trend that they've been on the last
04:04couple of weeks.
04:05Yeah.
04:06Because that puts air in the building when you start seeing that one of your guys that
04:10you know can have impact is close to returning.
04:13It's inspiring and motivating for the guys that have been holding it down since he's been out.
04:17And man, it couldn't come at a better time.
04:19Like right now, especially in the NFC West.
04:21You know, we just talked about that one division, the NFC North, which is by far, in my opinion,
04:25the very best division in the entire NFL.
04:27Look at that division.
04:28Five and three is last place, followed by five and two with the Lions, six and two with
04:33the Bears, six and one with the Minnesota Vikings.
04:35That's juggernaut city in the NFC West, where in the North, where in the West, listen, there's
04:41blood in the water right now.
04:43And maybe the Rams are getting healthy at the perfect time because right now they're sitting
04:47at four and four firmly in third place in this division.
04:49Now you got a tie there with the Seattle Seahawks, despite they have the tiebreaker because they
04:53won that first game, but they are going to get another crack at them later on in the
04:57season.
04:57And then you got the San Francisco 49ers who are beaten to absolute hell with injury.
05:01No Mike Evans.
05:02Now, granted right now they're on a bye week, so they might be able to get themselves a little
05:06heavy, healthier to get into this next week.
05:08But right now the Rams getting healthy when they are and how they are might lead into
05:13a massive run.
05:15Not unlike what we were expecting last week when we were told this by Mark Schlereth, who
05:18we'll have on later on in the show.
05:20Looking forward to hearing what he thinks about the Rams progress going forward.
05:23And this, uh, this new, um, prognosis for Miles Garrett.
05:28You mentioned the trade deadline next Tuesday, a week from today in the NFL, when all was
05:33happening last week with the Colts and their fire sale and your two divisional competitors
05:37and the Seahawks and the Niners making those additions, Sean McVay was pretty steadfast in
05:42saying, we feel the addition of Miles Garrett is like a blockbuster deal at the deadline.
05:47It was a blockbuster deal back on the first day of June.
05:51And I think some of it has been a little bit lost in the hype and the momentum naturally
05:56when you have an injury, but also in the performance for Miles Garrett in that week
06:00one opener in Melbourne against the Niners, the 135th career game for Miles Garrett in
06:06the national football league.
06:07Just the fourth time he recorded zero tackles in zero quarterback hits.
06:12He had 27 pass rush attempts.
06:14He had zero quarterback pressures.
06:16The first game for Miles Garrett without a single QB pressure.
06:19Since his second year in the NFL way back in 2018 fish, this is the reigning defensive player
06:27of the year who has won two of those trophies in the last three NFL seasons.
06:31The guy that set the all time sack record a season ago with 23.
06:36And it's not just the overly prolific nature of who Miles Garrett is.
06:40He has been damn near consistent the last five seasons as a Brown, at least 16 games, each
06:46of the last five years, at least 14 sacks, each of the previous five NFL seasons.
06:52The Rams might miss out on that consistency in the early going of this year.
06:56But that ceiling of Miles Garrett back on your defensive line completely changes the trajectory
07:01of this Rams defense and overall this Rams team.
07:04I would agree.
07:05I mean, not too pivoted, but it's connected.
07:11The downside when Luka Doncic went out in April, right, impacted the Lakers in the short
07:17term, didn't allow them to really, you know, have the type of postseason they maybe could
07:21have had.
07:22We don't know.
07:24But the circumstances set up what we're seeing now.
07:28Luka Doncic coming off of an offseason where he couldn't do as much, maybe didn't get worn
07:35down as much because he had to adjust his training due to the injury, but he might be as fresh
07:41and as healthy as we've ever seen him to start a season for that reason.
07:45And that's part of why we're seeing the performances that we're seeing.
07:51Circling this back to Miles Garrett, in the short term, not good for him, not good for the
07:56team.
07:59However, if you want to look at this as a half glass full, he is going to be as healthy
08:05and as fresh as he's ever been going into week nine, 10, 11, 12 of a football season.
08:13And if the Rams can really kind of string together a few, you know, a few more wins and position
08:18themselves to just get in, you know, now you're talking about an Aaron Donald that has kind
08:24of ramped his way up throughout the season and been relatively healthy.
08:28When you think about that in itself, it's remarkable.
08:31And then Miles Garrett going into the back end of the regular season, when you look at
08:36the Rams schedule, it's going to be as tough as it can get, you know, with Chiefs, Niners,
08:42Seahawks, Seahawks.
08:44And Miles Garrett is healthy and as fresh going into those games as he would have been had
08:50he been playing since week one.
08:52And so to your point, I think there's a potential for it to feel like in a couple of weeks,
09:00man,
09:00the Rams just got a new player at the deadline that wasn't there before.
09:05That is correct.
09:06And if he can have the type of impact, not even that he's had previously, because it's
09:10a different team, different situation.
09:12He's playing against different quarterbacks, different coordinators.
09:15A lot of things are different.
09:16But just his presence will electrify their defense, which then also puts confidence and
09:22air in the offense as well.
09:24For sure.
09:24Like when the offense is sprinting back onto the field after a tackle for a loss or a
09:29sack or a fumble created or a three and out, and they get to go right back on the field
09:34as an offense while they're still in rhythm.
09:36They just scored the last possession.
09:37Those are all things that impact the game.
09:40Creates momentum.
09:41Yeah.
09:41Completely.
09:41No question about it.
09:42And listen, I keep thinking about that first game against the 49ers, thinking like that
09:46when they played them, they're going to face them again.
09:48And you're going to have hopefully a healthy Miles Garrett.
09:51You're going to have Aaron Donald out there and hopefully a more healthy offense as well.
09:54You're not going to have Devontae Adams at that point, but everyone else for the most
09:58part will be healthy.
09:59And it just reminds me of that scene in like Cinderella Man when he's beating up on a guy
10:02that's beaten him before.
10:03And he's like, what happened?
10:04You beat this guy last time.
10:05And he just immediately, it's not the same guy.
10:07It's not the same team either for this Rams team going into this next time they do face the
10:1149ers, provided they continue to get healthier and healthier and healthier.
10:14And who's to say, if this team goes on the run, that we kind of are now expecting them
10:18to go on the run.
10:19Right.
10:19They could get Devontae Adams back right in time to go in a nice January run as well.
10:25And it's still the projection, of course, for the Rams and what they could be with a
10:29healthy Miles Garrett.
10:30And when Devontae is added back in the fold, what they still need to do these upcoming two
10:35Sundays before they hit the bye is stack up some wins to stay above 500.
10:39Quickly, yes.
10:40Yeah, I was just going to say, I think the biggest thing for us, too, is just not to
10:44get too far ahead of themselves and ourselves.
10:47Like, I think what has worked for them is like they've had to kind of narrow their focus
10:52and go into like, for sure, we got to get it done right now and everything counts.
10:57And we can't be as risky and as loose and we can't look too far forward.
11:01And I think they have to keep that mentality, especially going into this weekend and next
11:06weekend, for sure.
11:07Before they then get back to a part of the season where the competition gets a little
11:11stiffer.
11:11And again, we could spend all offseason, all summer, projecting what the Super Bowl favorites
11:16the Rams were going to be.
11:17We are eight weeks into the NFL.
11:18There is the tangible results of what your record says about your team.
11:22Also, Terrence Ferguson might be activated off the IR with his practice window opening up
11:28this week as well.
11:29All right.
