(East Los Angeles, CA) [From The Editor’s Desk]: Time to gather round again for Coach McVay’s healthy and weekly Monday press conference. This week’s dialogue is loaded with his remarks on the Team’s “Bye” week, the signing and the utilization of Carson Wentz into his line-up, the return of Matthew Stafford, update on Kyren Williams’ condition, the injury status of his starting offensive linemen, and his time-off spent with his new son.

Rams fans will be strongly hoping that the start of the second half of the season on Week #11, this coming Sunday, will reflect the Week #1 start of the season with another victory over the Seattle Seahawks, with their overall (6-3) record. The Seahawks will be led into SoFi Stadium by their veteran, and popular Head Coach, Pete Carroll.  But now it’s time to give a good read to Coach McVay’s remarks during his press availability. 

Los Angeles Rams Transcripts – Head Coach Sean McVay – 11/13/23 

[Head Coach Sean McVay]

(On signing QB Carson Wentz)…“Yeah, I think it’s really just a chance to upgrade the quarterback room. He’s a guy that’s played. Feel good about (QB) Matthew (Stafford) returning and obviously when he’s out there you feel great about the leadership and everything that he provides. But God forbid if something were to happen where he wasn’t available, felt like this would offer an opportunity for somebody that’s played a lot of high level football to get him in here, get him kind of familiar with some of the things that we’re doing. That’s what went into the decision.”

(On if QB Matthew Stafford is ready to play this week)…“Matthew should be ready to go. He was out there taking part in individual today. He’s making great progress. We’re operating with the anticipation and expectation that he is going to be good to go. He’ll be pushing through, but we expect him to be able to start and play and do his thing and lead the way this week.”

(On if Stafford is throwing)…“He is, yes, and he’s gripping a ball.”

(On what went into the decision to sign Wentz and specifically the timing)…“Yeah, I think just experiences. You learn through those experiences and he’s a guy that had played a lot of football. He has been somebody that we had discussed. There were a lot of things that led into it, but the situations and some of the things that we had went through ultimately led us to feel like, alright, let’s make that decision. Let’s hope that we have a situation and scenario where Matthew is healthy the rest of the way but if for whatever reason he wasn’t available, this was the direction that we wanted to go and have Carson be able to take that role over.”

(On how Wentz has approached the backup QB role)…“He’s been a pro in every sense of the word. Even when he came in for his physical last week, just kind of knew him just through kind of surface level interaction but was just so impressed with how he’s approached this last week. Even just going through where he got a bunch of reps today in practice and the way that he handled it, the huddle command, the execution. I think he was just excited to be able to get into a building and be around a guy like Matthew. They both have tremendous respect for one another. Thought (Quarterbacks Coach) Zac Robinson did a really good job of spending a lot of time over the bye of getting him familiar and acquainted with a lot of the general information. He’s been exposed to a lot of football but he was a pro in every sense and we’re glad to have him in the building.”

(On if LB Ernest Jones and OL Rob Havenstein will play this week)…“Yes, that’s the expectation. I’ll have a full injury update for you guys on Wednesday but those guys, the answer is yes.”

(On if Wentz was able to be in the building at all during the bye week and what his week looked like)…“Yeah, he came in and he got his physical done and we met with him for a little bit of time. Then he was able to go back and be with his family and we were able to do a lot of stuff over Zoom with him. Zac Robinson did a great job of kind of getting him familiarized with some of the verbiage, the vernacular, all the little things that you never take for granted. He did a great job of translating a lot of that today when we practiced.”

(On the learning lessons from onboarding Tampa Bay QB Baker Mayfield towards the end of last season and how he’s applying that to onboarding Wentz)…“I think it’s more about just teaching them the foundations. It was a little bit different with Baker because you’re accelerating and teaching a game plan and you really don’t have any sort of practice reps. The amount of practice reps that we had today were more than you typically have in a full speed setting during the week of a Thursday prep. I think what you realize is at the end of the day coaches are teachers and I thought Zac Robinson did a phenomenal job of teaching. Obviously, Carson did a great job of digesting the information and then it translating to what he was able to do on the grass today. It will continue to kind of just stack blocks. So really about teaching, kind of having a very specific and sequential teaching progression relative to the information he needs to know instead of throwing the whole gauntlet at somebody.”

(On what they’ve missed without RB Kyren Williams on the field)…“I think just everything that he brings, competitiveness, the production, feel as a runner, explosiveness, production in both the pass and the run, good feel and understanding for what we’re trying to get done in protection. He just was playing at a really high level. I’ve been pleased with the job that (RB) Royce (Freeman) and (RB) Darrell (Henderson) have done kind of filling in in his absence but you look at where he was playing amongst these other really good players in the league, and he had a stretch where he is playing some really good football. So his production and just the overall presence and his competitiveness I think is what you’ve missed. He’s a really good player and we’re looking forward to getting him back.”

(On if QB Carson Wentz was training with former NFL Coach Jon Gruden)…“You know what, I’m not sure about that. You’ll have to ask Carson. We didn’t get a chance to kind of cover that but I know he stayed active, takes great care of himself, and he did a nice job today. So I haven’t had a chance to ask him about that, actually.”

(On if Wentz is someone who will remain on the roster once the season is over)…“I think that’s to be determined. I think we were just excited about being able to get him in the building. We had a need. And like I had mentioned, we’re excited about getting (QB) Matthew (Stafford) back, but I think to have somebody that’s played as well as he’s played, has had as many experiences as he’s had to be out there and available is kind of rare. So we were excited about the opportunity to be able to get him into the building and that’s kind of where we’re at right now as it relates to that.”

(On how he spent his bye week and how he feels going into the week against the Seahawks)…“Feel good. It was great. I thought it came at a great time being able to have the baby a couple weeks ago and spend some time learning how to change diapers and all that kind of stuff. I went all in. I wasn’t just sitting on the sidelines watching so I was trying to help out and not get in my wife’s way. But no, our players had a great look in their eye today. (I) think it was really good for everybody, and it came at the right time and now we’re excited to be able to attack the second half of the season. A lot of good opportunities for us to play good clean ball, but I did really get a chance to enjoy doing a little bit of work here and there, but then spending some good quality time with my family. My parents were in town, which was great, and so it was a really good week and a lot of Mr. Dad which was kind of cool. I can get used to it.”

(On the message to the team coming out of the bye week)…“I think it’s a lot of the same, attack the opportunity with enthusiasm and excitement about what’s ahead. Not looking backwards, but how can we learn from the first nine weeks, both positive and things that we can improve upon and let’s focus on those things and let’s go attack it and let’s love this challenge that the NFL brings every single week and love the opportunity to welcome some guys back and love coaching and love playing as well as we possibly can. And let’s see what the heck happens.”

(On if he thinks NT Bobby Brown III will be available for the upcoming game)…“I do, yeah. He looked good. It was good to get him back and he was another guy that we’ve missed.”

(On how narrow some of the margins were in the first half of the season and any other patterns that kept popping up)…“You know what’s interesting? The answer is yes and that’s kind of an ongoing thing where you’re kind of keeping up with it week-to-week. And the thing that’s been unique about our nine-game narrative, and I think particularly when you look at it really through those first seven games because the Dallas game was kind of its own deal, and then even the Green Bay game with just some of the different things that we were working through. I thought defensively we played well enough, offensively we didn’t have enough production to give ourselves a real chance in that game. But the answer is yes. You realize it’s in those margins, but it wasn’t one all-encompassing thing. I think it’s more about seizing and maximizing those moments. When you look at it in previous situations, it’s like, alright, hey, where is that moment that you can really seize and take a chokehold of this game? And then how we can positively play off of one another in all three phases. And I think that’ll be a key thing is seizing those moments and I think really going for it. Going for it and then being able to play good quality ball where it’s like, hey, this is the NFL. There’s going to be some matchups that don’t always go down the way that we want, but if we’re doing the ball the right way, we’re communicating, we’re staying connected, we’re making people earn everything that they get, we’re making sure that we’re aware of the things that we can expect and anticipate defensively, then I’m alright with that. And I think our guys can draw a lot of confidence from, hey, this is what it’s looked like when it’s been right. Let’s keep taking steps forward. Let’s not let the emotion of some of the previous weeks affect our ability to optimistically and realistically move forward in a manner that’s reflective of keep improving and keep understanding what this group can be capable of and don’t let anybody else other than ourselves write that story.”

(On veteran players understanding how to maximize margins and getting the younger players up to that same level of understanding)…“Continuing to point it out and then really just being able to make the plays. Or if we didn’t, then how can we learn or how can we put our guys in those right positions? I don’t think there’s anything more powerful than ability for positive momentum to compound. And I think it is a fine line too because what ends up happening when you’re in these types of things is…I tell myself that as a coach, it’s like, well then you end up splitting hairs on little things because the margins are smaller and you’re saying, ‘Let’s go play free,’ but if you do that, it’s a fine line between making guys feel like, hey, I have no freedom to fail. That’s not what we want at all and so there’s a lot of things that you continue to just really try to ask yourself, you ask the players, you ask the coaches. But I think what it boils down to is, let’s see how consistently we can play good football with the urgency, but an ability to be able to enjoy going and competing and loving the challenges that are ahead. And if we do that snap in and snap out to the best of our ability, I think that can be a pretty good movie for us and I think we’ve seen instances where that’s looked good and now we got to be able to go do it. Part of the things that we’re doing throughout the course of the week in alignment to set that up to best illustrate itself in those windows of time that we’re allotted and that’s kind of where our focus is and it’s not exclusive to one thing. It’d almost be a little bit easier if you could identify one central thing, but it’s not. And I think that the big thing is, how can we all play 11 as one, whatever phase is out there? How are we providing that clarity? And then how consistently can we go get that thing done and then be able to make some plays when they’re there to be able to be made as well. I mean, you look at it, football, it’s a beautiful game that when it’s on rhythm and then on time it can be awesome and then there’s some of the coolest things that you sit there and you watch when you’re sitting around and a lot of this stuff is the beauty of what these players can create when things go a little off script, if you will.”

                                                                                                                –RAMS–