Rams' Myles Garrett to have knee surgery and go on IR

The 15-hour flight did not help Garrett's knee.

Losing Garrett takes a bite out of the Rams' pass rush.

Losing Garrett off the edge hurts the entire Rams defense.

Offenses will not have to chip and help as much to Garrett's side for at least four games.

The Rams' Australia trip has proven more costly than simply losing a game.

The injury is a significant blow given what the Rams traded to acquire Garrett.

Garrett's Rams debut on Thursday night was quiet and almost invisible.

That cautious approach will almost certainly hurt the Rams in the immediate future.

After a loss to the 49ers, Garrett and the Rams are taking no chances with the injury.

The injury is a huge one to deal with before most of the NFL has played a game.

The Rams have a vested interest in not ruining the rest of Garrett's career to push him this year.

The injury is a massive blow to a Rams team many had penciled in for Super Bowl 61.

Lower-body injuries are tricky.

The Rams will not let Garrett play in a month unless he is in tip-top shape.

Garrett's durability makes the IR move more jarring for the Rams.

The Rams have an embarrassment of riches along the defensive line.

Young will be asked to carry a bigger workload as the temporary No. 1 edge.

Donald will now serve as something of a replacement until Garrett returns.

If Donald is close to his 2024 self, he will require loads of attention from offensive lines.

That kind of attention has typically freed up others to get after the quarterback.

The Rams suffered another major loss Sunday after an embarrassing season-opening defeat in Australia.

Placing Garrett on IR threatens to turn a ferocious Rams defense into something much more tame.

Strahan is not hitting the panic button, with Donald waiting to return.

The question is what version of Garrett the Rams will get when he returns.

The Rams are accumulating reasons to worry after an offseason of collecting reasons to believe.

The biggest concern goes beyond how many games Garrett misses.

An in-season knee surgery does not guarantee that everything troubling the knee disappears once the stitches do.

The season already looks more challenging than the summer sales pitch suggested.

People can hope the procedure addresses what has been bothering Garrett and that rehab goes smoothly.

Nobody outside Garrett's medical team should assign certainty to his recovery or when he will regain full explosiveness.

Recovery depends on the underlying damage and the procedure performed.

Hope does not strap on shoulder pads.

Hope does not chase down quarterbacks or slam the door on a fourth-quarter comeback.

That is a substantial commitment of money, youth and future flexibility.

The contract makes this more than an ordinary September injury.

The Rams invested heavily in getting the old Garrett back.

The Rams surrendered a young, established pass rusher to acquire an extraordinary one.

The player who might have absorbed Garrett's absence is now in Cleveland.

Garrett's age belongs in the conversation because the investment extends into his 30s and his first Rams season is already interrupted by knee surgery.

Every game Garrett misses is more than a temporary inconvenience.

Being 30 hardly makes Garrett washed up.

It is time the Rams might not have to spare.

Garrett's recent production supplied plenty of justification for the Rams' conviction.

Demanding more and physically delivering it could be two different things.

McVay still has to show the opening-night humiliation was a correction rather than a preview.

One loss and a September surgery do not close the Rams' championship window.

At the time those words sounded like an elite player demanding more of himself.

The defense must affect quarterbacks without the player acquired to make that easier.

Aaron Donald's anticipated return offers encouragement.

The problems exposed by the 49ers remain.

Expecting Donald to immediately compensate for Garrett is another assumption.

Stafford and the offense still have to find their footing.

Now the question is how long the Rams can withstand a missing central piece, and whether it will fit the same way when it returns.

Three of the four games Garrett will miss are against elite competition.

Garrett's knee has handed the Rams uncertainty they cannot simply outplay.

The Rams still have enough talent to recover.

The loss and surgery do change the conversation.

A few days ago the question was how imposing the Rams might become once all their pieces came together.

The 49ers handed the Rams a loss they can answer on the field.