EARTH CITY, Mo. -- St. Louis Rams defensive end Robert Quinn first started getting days off during the team's Week 6 bye.
At the time, it was unclear what ailed Quinn. In the weeks since, there hasn't been much more in the way of clarity. Until this week, Quinn had been listed on the injury report with a knee issue. This week, Quinn appears on the injury report with a different body part, his hip, listed as the problem.
In that time, Quinn has missed only one game -- two weeks ago against Minnesota -- but he hasn't been at full strength in the team's other four games.
"Each day it’s feeling better and better," Quinn said. "Hopefully it continues that way and I can get back out there being my old self again and contributing. It’s really a one-day-at-a-time thing, there’s really no timetable on when it’s supposed to be 100 percent. So one day at a time."
While Quinn declined to say what, exactly, is bothering him, he did acknowledge that there wasn't any one moment that led to injury.
"I think it was more buildup," Quinn said. "You kind of ignore things over time and they catch up to you so I guess you should learn to take care of your body every now and again but like I said it’s nothing that will slow me down too much. Hopefully I can take it one day at a time and get back to 100 percent soon."
Quinn returned to the active gameday roster last week against Chicago but Eugene Sims started in his place and Quinn played just 14 snaps. This week, Rams coach Jeff Fisher said he hoped to get Quinn back up to speed and start building his reps back up again.
Although the overall defensive numbers aren't significantly different without Quinn at full strength, there is a noticeable change in the team's pass production. Before the bye, the Rams had 19 sacks in five games and were getting to quarterbacks on 9.2 percent of dropbacks, which ranked third and fifth in the NFL. In the four games after the bye, the Rams have 10 sacks and are getting to quarterbacks on 6.7 percent of dropbacks, which is tied for 10th and 13th in that time.
"When you have a Pro Bowl player who is not in there all the time like he usually is, you’re going to notice it," linebacker James Laurinaitis said. "He’s an impact player. You just hope that his health continues to improve and we can get him back to what he feels like he can do."
Quinn is focused on rehab and rest and estimates that he should be closer to top speed in a week or two though he also might not have a good gauge on that because he never has had injury problems in his NFL career until now.
"First one in five years," Quinn said. "So knock on wood hopefully I can go another five without one. But it’s just football, you get injuries, whatever, whatever, you deal with them, you try to get yourself as healthy as possible throughout the season and then sell out come Sunday."