:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/24330557/20130825_jla_ax5_473.0.jpg)
The San Francisco 49ers suffered a tough injury loss Sunday in their 23-13 win over the St. Louis Rams. Left tackle Joe Staley suffered a knee injury on the team's opening drive, and was quickly ruled out of the game. Following the game, Matt Barrows was the first to report that Staley had suffered a sprained MCL. He will undergo an MRI on Monday to determine the severity of the injury, and thus how much time he will miss.
In case you missed it on Saturday, socalisteph put together a breakdown of MCL injuries, and what it means for left guard Mike Iupati. He suffered a sprained MCL in the 49ers loss to the Saints, and has missed two games with the injury. There is no word yet on how much more time he will miss, but a sprain of this sort could cost him upwards of another game or two.
The good bit of news about Staley was that he was seen walking without assistance. When he tried putting extra weight on the leg on the sideline he was in pain, but it's certainly better than requiring assistance to get around. We'll likely hear more about the injury later today once the MRI results are in. Jim Harbaugh is meeting with the media at noon PT, and I'm sure he'll say something like the results still aren't in. However, at some point information will leak out on the severity of Staley's knee injury.
During Staley's absence, the 49ers moved Alex Boone to left tackle, and inserted Joe Looney at right guard. Had Mike Iupati been playing, we likely would have seen Adam Snyder at left tackle. For now, with Iupati out an undetermined amount of time, I imagine this is the lineup we'll probably see. The team gave Daniel Kilgore a snap with the offensive line after Looney was called for holding late in the second quarter, but otherwise, Looney was given all the snaps at right guard. We'll see what a full week with the first unit can do for the cohesiveness of the line.
