NFC West Notes: Cardinals, 49ers, Rams

Cardinals

Cardinals HC Kliff Kingsbury explained the decision to bench David Johnson in favor of Kenyan Drake on Sunday by saying he felt Drake provided “a little pop to the run game, the pass game.”

“We just felt like with Drake, needed to get something going and kept him rolling,” Kingsbury said, via ESPN.com. “The last couple weeks, practice, games [he] has brought a little pop to the run game, the pass game, and we felt like he was the guy to try and close the game out with.”

“We’ll put the best guys out there each week that we feel like give us the best chance to win, and that can change week in and week out,” Kingsbury added.

• Per Darren Urban of the official team website, Cardinals HC Kliff Kingsbury said CB Patrick Peterson would be day-to-day with a calf injury. 
• Kingsbury added the team has discussed putting third-round rookie DL Zach Allen on injured reserve with his neck injury but the hope is he returns and can get more reps to develop later this season. 

49ers

• NBC Sports’ Matt Maiocco notes that 49ers GM John Lynch only travels to scout college games in the Bay Area because HC Kyle Shanahan likes having him around to deal with things during the season, indicating an offseason report about potential friction between the two was overblown. 

Rams

Rams RB Todd Gurley had 12 carries entering the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game against the Steelers. He exited the fourth quarter with 12 carries after his backup Malcolm Brown had the only three rush attempts for Los Angeles that quarter. Rams HC Sean McVay said Gurley fell victim to the rotation, not any load management concerns. 

“That was just kind of the rotation,” McVay said via the Athletic’s Vincent Bonsignore. “Sometimes I’m on both sides of the headsets. There’s just a lot of trust for our coaches that have some of the [confidence] to be really able to say, ‘Alright, who’s in?’ Then I will be able to click back on, and then we know what we are going with.”