Rams' Jared Goff Has Surgery on Thumb Injury; Hopes to Be Back for Playoffs

Los Angeles Rams quarterback Jared Goff has a lot of faith in either his team or the Green Bay Packers.

Goff suffered a broken and dislocated thumb during Sunday's loss to the Seattle Seahawks, and the team announced Monday he had surgery to repair the injury.

According to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, the procedure was done "with the hope that he's back for the playoffs."

The 9-6 Rams have yet to clinch a playoff spot, and they need to defeat or tie the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday or hope for the Chicago Bears to suffer a loss or tie at the hands of the Packers. 

Goff has appeared in every game for the Rams dating back to the start of the 2018 season. Through 15 games this year, he has tallied 3,952 yards and 20 touchdowns, with a career-high 67.0 completion percentage. 

Backup John Wolford will get the start Sunday. Per ESPN's Adam Schefter, the team signed Blake Bortles off of the Denver Broncos' practice squad to replace Wolford as the backup.

Wolford has never appeared in an NFL game, but he did play in the AAF with the Arizona Hotshots, where he collected 1,617 yards and 14 touchdowns with seven interceptions. 

He signed with the New York Jets in 2018, after he went undrafted out of Wake Forest, but he was released at the end of the preseason. While at Wake Forest, where he was a four-year starter, he set school records in passing yards (3,192), passing touchdowns (29) and total touchdowns (39) as a senior, rounding out the record book with 78 career total touchdowns. 

"I think he and Jared are formulating a great rapport with their comfort level of being able to bounce things off one another," head coach Sean McVay said in August (h/t Lorenzo Reyes of USA Today). "But I've been very pleased with John. You want Jared to stay healthy, but if John had to play, we'd feel very good about John."

With the postseason on the line, there's hardly a bigger stage on which Wolford could make his regular-season debut. But if he succeeds, the Rams may get their prize.