Rams RT Rob Havenstein practicing again after a 2-month injury absence for the longtime starter

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Rob Havenstein and Tyler Higbee are the only two players who have been on Sean McVay's roster throughout the coach's nine seasons with the Los Angeles Rams.

While Higbee remains an important part of the Rams' offense heading into the third NFC championship game of this McVay era on Sunday, Havenstein took the first step Thursday toward potentially finishing his injury-plagued season on the field as well.

Havenstein rejoined his teammates in practice for the first time since he went down in mid-November, creating the possibility for the longtime starter to return from injured reserve this season. After spending most of the past two months watching from the sideline during practice, Havenstein was back on the field at their training complex in Woodland Hills.

“It was a long road,” Havenstein said. “I had some challenging times, but that’s what this game is. ... I’m focused on what I can do each day back. Haven’t played football in a while in a real capacity, so I’m doing what I can do each day to kind of build, and we’ll see where the chips fall.”

Havenstein is the longest-tenured member of the Rams' current roster and he has been a stalwart starter at right tackle when healthy since his rookie season in St. Louis in 2015. He has started 148 games over 11 seasons for the Rams along with 13 playoff starts, including two Super Bowls.

But injuries have limited Havenstein to 18 games over the past two seasons. He has played in just seven games this season, last appearing in the Rams' 21-19 victory over Seattle at SoFi Stadium in Week 11 before being sidelined by an ankle injury and knee bursitis.

Warren McClendon Jr. has generally played well since replacing Havenstein in the starting lineup this season, although he had a few glaring mistakes in the Rams’ 20-17 overtime victory at Chicago last Sunday in the divisional round. But Havenstein makes it clear he never gave up on playing again this season.

“Whatever it is, you want to do it for your family,” Havenstein said. “I’ve got my 7-year-old (who's) going to ask me why I’m not out there right now, so it’s understanding that, and trying to be the man and the father that I want to be. You’ve got to be about it instead of just talking about it. Staying engaged, staying ready to go, doing what I can, conditioning, extra lifts, extra rehabs, just trying to get back to feeling as good as I can.”

The Rams (14-5) visit the Seahawks (16-3) on Sunday for the NFC title game, hoping to earn a third conference championship for Havenstein and Higbee. McVay led the Rams to the Super Bowl in the 2018 season and the 2021 season — but Higbee only played in one of those games after getting hurt in the NFC title game against San Francisco four years ago.

“Rob and Tyler, these are rare humans,” McVay said Thursday. "They're great football players, but they're great leaders, and they have such respect from the locker room. ... You look at the wisdom that Rob has in the meeting room to pour into Warren and really our offensive line as a whole. These are two all-time guys. These are legacy Rams. Obviously they're special to me."

Higbee and Havenstein frequently hold court in their corner of the Rams' locker room, teasing and roasting their younger teammates. Havenstein also takes his role seriously as a leader and mentor, even when he's not healthy enough to play.

“When I was a young guy, I had a lot of guys impart a lot of wisdom on me, so it would be selfish me not to kind of give back what I was taught,” Havenstein said. “If I can help out in a 1% way, then I’ve been doing my job, and that’s what the ‘C’ on my chest still means.”

LB Byron Young missed his second straight day of practice to rest the knee injury that has bothered him periodically throughout the season, but McVay expects the Rams' sacks leader to play Sunday.

Anybody expecting the Rams to talk trash about the Seahawks will be waiting for a long time.

When talkative linebacker Jared Verse took the podium and fielded a question about the Rams' hunger for a payback victory in this rematch, he glanced pointedly at a Rams' public relations staffer and said: “I was told not to give bulletin board material.”

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Los Angeles Rams tight end Tyler Higbee (89) runs a drill during practice at the team's training facility Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026, in Los Angeles, ahead of the NFL football NFC Championship game against the Seattle Seahawks. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

FILE - Los Angeles Rams offensive tackle Rob Havenstein (79) in action during the first half of an NFL divisional playoff football game against the Philadelphia Eagles, Jan. 19, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Terrance Williams, File)

CSX said Thursday that its profit slipped 2% in the fourth quarter as the railroad dealt with weak demand and severance costs from layoffs that new CEO Steve Angel carried out last fall.

The Jacksonville, Florida-based railroad said it earned $720 million, or 39 cents per share, in the quarter. That's down from $733 million, or 38 cents per share.

But the results were weighed down by about $50 million in one-time costs that drug down profits by 2 cents per share. Without that, the numbers would have been inline with the 41 cents per share that the analysts surveyed by FactSet Research had predicted.

“This has been a challenging year for CSX and for our industry overall, with subdued demand and limited growth opportunities,” CEO Steve Angel said. CSX said its revenue slipped 1% to $3.51 billion in the quarter.

The competitive landscape in the railroad business could change drastically in the next few years if Union Pacific's proposed $85 billion acquisition of Norfolk Southern is approved. But Angel said he isn't too worried about that yet because the Surface Transportation Board's formal review of the deal hasn't even started.

Most observers believe CSX and BNSF will be at a competitive disadvantage if that merger is approved. That new transcontinental railroad would control nearly half of all freight and could shave more than a day off delivery times because it won’t have to hand off shipments between railroads in the middle of the country. At this point, CSX and BNSF are focused on improving their delivery times through cooperative agreements instead of a merger.

Heading into 2026, CSX is working on improving productivity while limiting costs. But Angel said he expects only modest economic growth this year amid all the uncertainty. He predicted that CSX will see revenue grow only by low single digits, and the railroad pulled its targets for 2027 that it had established a couple of years ago.

“The focus is just making sure that we can be as competitive as we can. But at the end of the day, we can create value by running CSX better every day,” Angel said.

Last fall CSX wrapped up the two major construction projects that disrupted its network and limited the railroad’s flexibility. CSX completed a major tunnel renovation in Baltimore and repairs from Hurricane Helene. That helped raise its trains' average speed to 19.6 mph in the fourth quarter while delivering 87% of its shipments on time.

The tunnel project will allow CSX to begin hauling metal shipping containers filled with assorted goods stacked two high across its network this year. But competitor Norfolk Southern announced a similar double-stacked service in the east earlier this week.

CSX is one of the largest railroads in North America, operating in the eastern United States.

FILE - A CSX train engine sits idle on tracks in Philadelphia, Sept. 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)