Rams Head Coach Sean Mcvay – Media Availability – October 12, 2020
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Rams Head Coach Sean McVay – Media Availability – October 12, 2020 (Opening Remarks) “First of all, I want to congratulate the Lakers, 17th championship, unbelievable. You look at the good things going on in this city with some of these other sports teams, we’ve seen the Dodgers making another run under Coach (Dave) Robert's leadership, we're cheering them on. But to see what these guys have done, I've really enjoyed following them throughout the season, but especially in the playoffs. The type of competitor, the leadership that (Lakers SF) LeBron (James) and ends up personifying. Being able to bring “AD” (Lakers PF Anthony Davis) in and then seeing some of the things, just the way they played it as a team on both ends of the court and then (Lakers Head) Coach (Frank) Vogel and (Lakers Vice President of Basketball Operations and General Manager) Rob Pelinka, really congratulations. Very happy for them.” (On how competitive the San Francisco 49ers are despite their slow start) “This is the reigning NFC champs, reigning division champs. I don't care what happened yesterday, this is a team that’ll be ready to go. I know these coaches, I know the character of their players too well. There's no doubt that we have to be at our best, and this is going to be a big time game, a great opportunity for us against a team that, I don't care what yesterday says, they'll have those guys ready to go and this is a great football team, no matter what some of the stats or the scores from yesterday looked like. So, we have to have a huge sense of urgency being ready this week.” (On any injury updates from last week’s game) “So, (S) Jordan Fuller and (OLB) ‘Obo’ (Ogbonnia Okoronkwo) are guys that really got banged up. Jordan on that last play, where he makes a great tackle in the flat. We're continuing to evaluate his shoulder, just seeing how he's feeling. So, we'll have further clarity for you guys over the next couple of days. The same thing with Obo – he strained his elbow, but we're continuing to run some tests and Wednesday we'll provide some more clarity on those two guys. Everybody else making good progress, your typical bumps and bruises. (ILB) Micah (Kiser) will still be on a limited fashion on Wednesday, but I think that was really good for him, especially the conditions, when you're talking about the groin. Like I told you guys, the groin was the main reason for holding him out. He still does have that pec, but we'll be hopeful that he'll be able to play this week. (ILB) Troy Reeder had some soreness just in his hip. (OL) Bobby Evans, we're still monitoring with his shoulder, I do expect him to be able to participate in practice and don't expect him to not be able to go this week unless he has any sort of setbacks. And then (CB) Jalen (Ramsey) had a little bit of a shoulder, but he's going to be good to go. So, the main guys will be Jordan Fuller and Obo, I know will be out for Wednesday. What that means for their status moving forward and for the game, I'll have some updates for you guys then.” (On what it meant to have RB Cam Akers and OLB Terrell Lewis back in the lineup and what he saw from Lewis) “I saw some good stuff. He had I want to say around 14 snaps, all of them kind of in our nickel pass-rush situations. We know he's capable of being able to play in our base. Yesterday's game, we weren't in a lot of those base packages just based on some of their personnel groupings and just the way that the game kind of unfolded, but I thought (OLB) Terrell (Lewis) did a good job. I've really been impressed watching him just work with (Outside Linebackers) Coach (Chris) Shula. Even just talking to some of our veteran players to be able to pick up on the little nuances of the game. Ge's got ability, he's got the makeup and I think yesterday was a start, a positive start in the right direction. Looking forward to seeing him just increase his load and continue to make impact as we move forward.” (On if S Jordan Fuller injured the same shoulder that he previously injured) "It's his right side. He had a little stinger. It's more of his neck, kind of, just having a stinger, but it is on the right side. It's the same side." (On OLB Samson Ebukam starting but only played five snaps) "Yeah, it was more a result of just the personnel groupings. He's playing a lot in our base personnel groupings. I thought (Outside Linebackers Coach) Chris (Shula) did a great job getting a rotation of – you’ve got (OLB Ogbonnia Okoronkwo) Obo, (OLB) Jachai Polite, you've got (OLB) Terrell Lewis. (OLB) Leonard Floyd played almost every single snap. I want to say he played 53 of the 54 defensive snaps, but I thought it was a good rotation of some of those guys. And then just some of the personnel groupings that we were activating on defense, led to Samson having a limited workload. Wasn't anything he didn't do, but to his credit, just his spirit on the sideline, his communication and just his engagement is why you love guys like him. Sometimes just those packages that you're a part of, you're not playing as much based on how we want to match up to the offensive personnel, the way that the game unfolded and that was what happened in that situation yesterday." (On how he feels about having all three running backs up and healthy) "I feel good. I think it really was the first time. I think I continue to go back to what a good job and a good feel (Running Backs Coach) Thomas Brown has. We wanted to just be able to see how (RB) Cam (Akers) was feeling. (RB) Darrell (Henderson Jr.) and (RB) Malcolm (Brown) got very similar snap counts and then Cam came in and did a lot of good work with the limited touches that he did have, but thought it was good to get him back. That's a weird deal when you're coming back and you've got a rib and just seeing the comfort level of how close you're carrying the ball, the ball security. He made a couple of good runs and I think it was really good for Cam. Like I mentioned yesterday, we'll continue to really start to dive into our game plan as far as what we want to do versus the 49ers this week. All three of those guys will be up. Exactly how that workload is distributed is kind of something that we get a feel for as the week unfolds and then really in a lot of instances, as the game is unfolding. But it is a good thing – champagne problems, like we like to say." (On rotating the interior defensive linemen to keep players fresh and to be opportunistic against offensive linemen that may not be able to key in on certain techniques) "I think it's just like you said. Guys get a feel for the flow of the game and when you're throwing a bunch of different guys that are lining over guards, over tackles, they don't ever really get a feel for the different types of rushers that you're going against. It's very similar to where you can kind of be able to play three different backs that all give you a little bit different element, and it's a change of pace in a different way that you have to defend them. So, I think when you really look at it with (DL Michael) Brock (Brockers), (DL) Sebastian (Joseph-Day), (DL Morgan) Foxy (Fox) and (DL Greg) Gaines, they all got good snaps. (DL) Aaron (Donald) ended up hogging a lot of the snaps yesterday and getting all his production. I think Aaron was the most, by far in a way, had the most amount of snaps with 42 snaps, but then those other guys, they had a good distribution. Like I said, I think when you're able to be as efficient - I think they were 2-for-13 on third downs - when you look at that, that enables you to be able to really get a good mix of guys. We were never really out on the field for long at all, other than their one scoring drive, where they scored a touchdown. So, we were able to keep guys fresh. Having 54 snaps on defense overall yesterday and the rotation that we were able to have, our defensive guys feel fresh and that's a big deal. I want to continue to monitor it. I think you can expect to see veteran days for Aaron, for Brockers, but we'll make sure that we're taking care of our guys and I keep going back to our coaches. Whether it's Coach (Defensive Coordinator Brandon) Staley, (Defensive Line) Coach (Eric) Henderson, Shula, they've done such a good job with those guys and we're getting better and I think that's a reflection of the players and then also their collaboration with our coaches." (On whether an opposing offense’s effort to double team DL Aaron Donald provides opportunity for other defenders) "Yeah, I think so.