Rams' Stafford stops passing after hitting thumb on helmet

IRVINE, Calif. (AP) - Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford stopped passing after hitting the thumb of his throwing hand on the helmet of a defensive player near the end of Monday's practice. Coach Sean McVay is hopeful it is nothing serious.

Stafford was looked at by trainers but did not resume throwing in practice. He was able to grip a towel and his helmet, which is why McVay was hopeful.

'œI think he'll be OK. We'll just see what happens. That's part of the game,'ť McVay said.

The thumb is the same one that Stafford had surgery on during the offseason after he played most of the second half of last season with a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in the thumb.

McVay said even though those are the types of things that can inevitably occur during practice or a game, he might look at tweaking some things during practice. The Rams are supposed to practice in pads on Tuesday at UC Irvine.

'œI've seen some teams around the league that have those shells on their helmets where you can at least soften the blow when you come down on the top of it,'ť McVay said. "What you say is hopefully you don't have to learn the hard way, and you start implementing things like that to try to just minimize the risk for injury.'ť

Stafford, the top overall pick in the 2009 draft, spent 12 seasons in Detroit but requested a trade during the offseason after another coaching change. The Rams traded Jared Goff, two first-round draft picks and a third-round selection to Detroit for Stafford when the new league year began March 18.

___

More AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL