Matthew Stafford’s back injury is a herniated disc that the Rams have treated with an epidural, but all that does is mask the problem and trick Stafford’s brain into thinking there is no problem. The injury could linger for the entire season and any hit, perhaps even any throw, could be the one that triggers an absence for Stafford this season.
That’s according to Dr. Jesse Morse on Wednesday, following up on L.A.‘s own report released regarding the injury and explaining exactly what happens inside the body when someone has a herniated disc, what causes pain, and why a cortisone shot is a Band-Aid, not a solution. Appearing on The Coach JB Show, Morse says that Stafford’s herniated disc “is a big deal” and that nobody can say at this point if the quarterback plays all 17 games without showing any issues from the injury or if Jimmy Garoppolo ends up starting most of the season because of it.
“There’s so many moving parts to football (in the body, especially as it pertains to using your lower half and back to throw passes) and everything happens in 2, 3, 5 seconds…This is a very challenging thing. And the problem is that the entire team pretty much depends on him, directly or indirectly, right? Jimmy G is good, but is he on the same level? No. And that’s the tricky part. Anybody who says he’s definitely going to be effective and play the whole season, or anybody who says he’s going to miss the whole season, we don’t know. We don’t know. We can’t say that. The problem is that this is a big deal. This has massive potential to affect the whole team. Regardless of how much money you pay him, the money doesn’t matter if the back doesn’t cooperate. It’s bad for the league, bad for the Rams, bad for Rams fans.”
Stafford has missed games on two previous occasions because of a back injury, including half of the 2019 season. If there’s anybody who uses his entire body the most to throw passes, it is “no-look Stafford” and all the amazing arm angles that he’s practically invented over the past 20 years. He may not miss any games and it’s clear that if the Rams are doing one thing, it’s making sure that he’s ready for Week 1 by not having him do any serious work in the next four weeks to avoid anything that might aggravate his injury.
However, if the Rams are so afraid of Stafford aggravating his injury in practice, what are the chances that something could happen in a live game?
To say that Stafford is “tough” is just meaningless. Being tough and having a high pain tolerance has no impact on whether or not he will be able to play in football games should his back injury get worse.
Or as Dr. Morse put it, Stafford could be okay and the extended rest period might be enough to ensure a 2025 season with no adverse effects from the disc problem. Nobody knows yet. Which means that the news could be good, but at the same time nobody can say that they know that it’s good.
Not even Stafford or McVay.
