NFC Notes: 49ers, Cardinals, Rams

49ers

49ers DL Javon Kinlaw said that he wasn’t surprised about his setback with his recovery from a torn ACL but is confident that he’ll return to form. 

“I knew coming into the year I’d have ups and downs,” Kinlaw said, via Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle. “I’m not discouraged. It’ll be a long year.”

Kinlaw reiterated that he’s not concerned about his knee and pointed out that his knee has been “making a lot of fluid.”

“It just kind of happened out of nowhere,” Kinlaw said. “But we know what it takes to keep it healthy and maintain it and manage it the right way. I’m not concerned about it at all. … I’m not in any pain or anything. It’s just something I’m dealing with. My knee is making a lot of fluid.”

Cardinals

Cardinals DC Vance Joseph is proud of what his defense has accomplished so far and doesn’t seem too worried about the team’s low sack numbers.

“That’s not important,” Joseph said, via AZCardinals.com. “Obviously over the years, sacks have led to defenses having success, but it’s about winning the game. Our win rate as far as (pass) rushing has been high. In the history of our system, people don’t hold the ball. The ball’s out fast, so sack numbers don’t concern me. One number concerns me and that’s winning the football game, and that comes down to playing good, solid football — win third downs, win in (the) red zone, and not giving up big plays. And if sacks fall in there, I’ll take them, but outside of that, that doesn’t bother me at all.”

• Cardinals HC Kliff Kingsbury hopes that WR Rondale Moore will be able to recover quickly from his knee injury: “He’s another one. We’ll get him out there and see how he feels. He did some stuff today so that was positive.” (Josh Weinfuss)
• Cardinals GM Steve Keim said the Cardinals hope to keep TE Maxx Williams around after releasing him and called him a practice squad candidate, despite his unhealthy status. (Darren Urban)

Rams

Rams HC Sean McVay explained why WR Tutu Atwell was a healthy scratch for Monday’s game, describing that Atwell could reappear on the special teams unit for Week 5. 

“Really just for the overall (special) teams and just kind of the overall approach. Could be very different this week,” McVay said, via RamsWire. “We’ve had more moving parts than we’ve ever had since I’ve been here and going to the early parts of the season. That’s why it was really just exclusive to yesterday, not anything that (WR) TuTu didn’t do, and we’ll see what that means for his status this week.”