NFC Notes: Rashan Gary, Packers, Rams, Cam Akers

Packers

Packers HC Matt LaFleur is concerned about the toe injury that was suffered by pass-rusher Rashan Gary.

“I don’t know the extent of it, we’ll see if he can go practice today,” LaFleur said Friday, via PackersWire.com. “Definitely a little concerned about that. The guy is pretty impactful when he’s out on the grass. He’s definitely a guy we want in there. When he’s not in there, you can definitely feel the effects of that.”

Cam Akers

Rams HC Sean McVay commented on RB Cam Akers sitting out for “personal reasons” when some believe that his time with a team may be coming to an end.

“We’re working through some different things right now,” McVay told reporters, via Pro Football Talk. “Like I said, just want to kind of want to be able to . . . hopefully you guys understand and respect that we want to just be able to keep things internal right now.”

“It’s one of those deals where, like I said, kind of want to be able to just keep things internally, but as it relates to just the football stuff, it is certainly not all on our running backs,” McVay added. “We’ve got to be better, starting with myself being able to execute the fundamentals of the techniques, being able to get a hat on a hat, being able to press the line of scrimmage. The run game truly does take all 11, but there’s a lot of layers to it and that’s kind of where we’re at with it.”

“What I’ve been very fortunate with, going into the sixth year, I think you realize how blessed and fortunate you’ve been where those things have been at a minimum,” McVay continued. “But that is what you sign up for. You’ve got to be able to deal with it the best way that you know how, leaning on the resources, asking the right questions, being willing to listen then learn and then you can lead and make decisions the right way. Never are they always easy, but I’m always going to try to do what I think is best. There’s a lot of instances where you’re saying, ‘I haven’t really been here, who can I lean on to help provide some perspective and some context?’ That’s what you try to do in any of these types of situations. But I do know that dealing with things clear, open, and honest, and in the best way that you think, based on those values foundationally that kind of guide our everyday approach and behavior have helped. Is it perfect? I will never claim to be that, but I always do try to learn from the mistakes and make sure that you use both the good and the bad to make sure that you’re doing what’s best for everybody that you’re responsible for as it relates to the decision making and some of those different things.”

McVay was unwilling to deny that the team would be in the market for another running back.

“I don’t know,” McVay said. “I wouldn’t say no ever. We’ll always explore options if we feel like there’s chances to upgrade, that’s probably not something that’s at the forefront. What I am excited about seeing is let’s see if we can go find a way to play some good football against what we know is going to be an incredibly tough opponent, see if we can get to 3-3, and then be able to take a step back and do a lot of things that give us a chance to really exhale, but also address who we’re getting back, what does that look like as it relates to trying to have the best plan for the remainder of the season that we’re guaranteed. Those are things that you want to just take it a step at a time, and that’s where my mindset is right now.”

McVay was alo asked about the “personal reasons” that have Akers currently available.

“I would say it’s more like we’re dealing with things internally,” McVay said. “I don’t know exactly . . . this is kind of unchartered territory and I think the biggest thing is, out of respect for the situation, we want to keep it internally. You guys will have more information later on, but as it relates to everything right now, that’s how we’re articulating it. He’s going to be OK.”

Rams

Rams CB Jalen Ramsey isn’t concerned about where the team currently sits in record, rankings, and is focused on getting things done on the field with plenty of season left ahead.

“I mean, if you have two bad weeks of your life at home out of 56 weeks, would you panic?” Ramsey, said via Pro Football Talk. “Would you? Yeah, we got a long season to go. We got 12 games to go. Hopefully it is, but this might not be the only time that we lose two games in a row. Hopefully it is, but it might not be. You know what I mean? We got a long season to play, so I don’t know. I kind of don’t get it like, the narrative of like, ‘Oh, we should be panicking or like, we’re just that bad or something right now.’ I don’t get it personally, because like everybody knows it’s a long season. So I don’t really get that. But I mean, we kind of just leave that to like the media, social media, whoever wants to run with that narrative, right? Like, yeah, I don’t know. We kind of don’t think about that. You saw undefeated teams last year that [were] losing the first round of the playoffs. So like, it doesn’t really matter what’s going on. Every week is a new week. We got to keep going. It’s any given Sunday in the NFL. It’s a long season ahead. We’ve got 12 games left.”