(East Los Angeles, CA) [From The Editor’s Desk]: We continue to bring you the transcripts coming from the Rams Training Camp 2023, at UC Irvine. As expected, Head Coach Sean McVay, now in his 7th season in leading the team, is always responding to the many questions that reporters from all media outlets pose to him as they begin to capture the full picture of how the team is beginning to take shape for the upcoming NFL season. These FULL transcripts are one of the best ways to stay current with all that is happening with the team from Coach McVay’s perspective. !Vámanos Rams!

Transcripts – Head Coach Sean McVay & QB Matthew Stafford 8/1/23

[Head Coach Sean McVay]

(On what’s happening with WR Cooper Kupp)…“I’m not sure. I haven’t talked to those guys yet, so I don’t know.”

(On if he saw what happened to Kupp)…“Yeah, I mean I saw, he looked like he came up a little bit in a red zone route and then I just knew they told me he was out for practice. I have no more information than that.”

(On when a star player like Kupp leaves the field)…“You got to be able to move on. I mean, I hope he’s okay, but I mean, we got to be able to go practice. Guys have to be able to step up and obviously we’re much better when he’s here and you hope he’s going to be okay, but if he’s not, I mean, we’ll see what happens, but the practice had to go on and that’s what happened today.”

(On what he sees in OLB Byron Young)…“I think he’s doing a good job. Those guys are really young on the edge. Like I’ve mentioned before, (Outside Linebackers Coach) Joe Coniglio’s done a really good job with those guys. There’s a lot of stuff going on, there’s a lot of moving parts. You can see the physicality, the athleticism, the turn and run ability, but he’s got a long way to go. Just with this team, we’ve got a real long way to go. Today was not very good overall. I thought we were very sloppy, not sharp on both sides of the football and so if we want to continue to try to do the things that we’re doing and take steps in the right direction, we have to be better than we were today.”

(On OLB Ochaun Mathis, WR Ben Skowronek, and DL Aaron Donald)…“It was a rest day for (DL Aaron) ‘AD’ (Donald). Ochaun tweaked his knee. He’s probably going to be out for a few weeks and then with Ben Skowronek, he’s got some back soreness so he was held out today because his back was sore.”

(On how QB Matthew Stafford has been looking)…“I think he’s been really good. I think he’s seeing the field really well if you give him enough time. I think he’s making the right decisions. I thought he was pretty sharp in terms of where the ball went with accuracy and different things like that and then, like I said, I think the film is always better to be able to go back and look at, but there were some times when we weren’t handling our things up front or we weren’t where we’re supposed to be on the second or third level with some of our skill guys and so you need all 11. It’s the best team sport that there is and it takes everybody so it’s just not about one guy doing his job, it’s about all 11 and I didn’t think that was reflected good enough for us as a whole.”

(On his thoughts on OL Steve Avila)…“I thought he’s done good. I thought he got tired today. I thought we were tired overall, but I do like what Steve has. I’m a big believer in Steve Avila. I think he’s got a lot of ability. I like his mindset and mentality, but like all of these rookies, this is a different deal and we’ve got to really condition and callous ourselves physically and mentally to be able to sustain throughout the course of a regular season and we got to be able to push through on these types of days. The easy thing is to not try to do that, but we can’t afford to do that. But I’m encouraged with Steve and I know he’s going to continue to learn from all of his reps, whether they be good or bad.”

(On what he looks for after two frustrating practice days in a row)…“I didn’t think yesterday was frustrating. I thought yesterday was reflective of what normally that first day in pads was. We kind of knew what the mindset and mentality was as it relates to, you know, it was like an all-scripted practice which is painfully brutal. When you get into these real game settings, and again, like it’s one of those deals that there could be a lot of good stuff for one side, but if it’s a gimme that you’re giving up, those are things I want us to be better as a team. And so, I guess it’s the healthy frustrations of wanting to see just good ball because somebody has to be able to win the down and if everybody’s earning it, that’s what I want to see, but if it’s because we’re making a mistake in terms of our coverage responsibilities or our rush integrity or because we’re not doing what we’re supposed to do on the offensive side of the ball, those are the things that I get frustrated and I felt like that was too consistent of a theme whether it be offensive or defense in different phases and we had a bunch of different situations, but that’s what we want. I want guys to be stressed. I don’t want it to be perfect. I want us to be able to learn from these mistakes and I want to see us be able to mentally strain through some of these longer days, if you will.”

(On the workflow of overcoming longer days and fixing the obstacles that come with it)…“I mean unfortunately it’s brutal that we only have 11 hours. So unfortunately, as a result of the CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement), I can’t fix it until tomorrow because we started at eight o’clock. So I got about 10 more minutes of work that we can do with these guys since we can only do 11 hours.”

(On if he anticipates days where the performance of the team isn’t where it needs to be)…“No, here’s what I told them, ‘I’m not going to apologize for having high standards for what they’re capable of.’ But there’s a tolerance, there’s an understanding. There’s going to be a lot of mistakes, it’s the repetitive ones. It’s when we get a little bit tired and you’re not really thinking and it’s stuff that we’ve done over and over again. We’re still adding some stuff, but we still try to be aware as coaches, like okay we can hold off on some of the latter parts of our install and let’s just focus on the fundamentals, the techniques, and the little details. And I want us to be able to stress each other on both sides of the football, but it’s the good execution that I want to see. And again, that wasn’t consistent enough. I have total understanding of some of the patience and the tolerance that’ll be necessary, but I also have seen enough good things from a lot of these guys that I know that we can be better than that and that’s what I expect when we’re back out here practicing in a couple days.”

[Quarterback Matthew Stafford]

(On if he saw what happened to WR Cooper Kupp)…“No, I didn’t so I got nothing for you. I’m sorry.”

(On his reaction when he saw Kupp go into the training room)…“I just wanted to know what’s going on. That’s the biggest thing and I’ll figure that out at some point but I trust our guys and whatever’s going on, I know that he will do everything he can to work through whatever’s going on and be back out here whenever that’s the right time.”

(On opportunities for WR Puka Nacua and others with Kupp leaving practice)…“Yeah, he did a nice job, made some nice plays. Drew a pass interference on a long ball down there which I thought was a nice play by him, a little bit underthrown by me. So, nice play by him jumping back into the defender on that one, getting that call for us. (Wide Receiver) Tutu (Atwell) made a nice catch in traffic over the middle of the field. Puka made some nice plays. (Tight End Tyler Higbee) ‘Higs’ did his thing as usual. Some things to always clean up. It’s kind of hard to give you my full assessment right now, but (I’ll) take a look at the tape and learn from it, come out here tomorrow and try to be better.”

(On how he feels the Wide Receiver group can improve)…“Just continue to get better. I don’t think there’s one area that we sit there and go, ‘Oh, we’ve got this locked down, let’s go work on these,’ or anything like that. I think we’re just all trying to be as good and complete a player as we can possibly be, that group included. We’ve got some guys who’ve been here who are more comfortable in the system and are working through physical things that they’re trying to get better at or whatever it is and then we have guys that are newer to the system that are trying to catch up to what we’re doing as quickly as possible. That’s a big ask as well. So everybody’s kind of in different stages and we’re all just trying to help each other out and move forward.”

(On what he expects as a quarterback from his wide receivers so he can fully trust them during the game)…“Yeah, I think that’s part of it. Guys have certain skill sets that separate them from other players. Certain guys are really good versus man, other guys have great feel in zones. Some guys are big guys, some guys are small guys, so they come in all shapes and sizes. For us, we’re just looking for guys that know where they’re supposed to be, that are going to play with great energy, great detail, then trust their skills when the ball is in the air, go out there and make big plays. We’ve got a bunch of guys that are doing that right now and looking forward to giving them more opportunities and letting those guys kind of go do their thing.”

(On what he looks for in the next practice following a day of frustrations)…“Just growth. There’s opportunities. We’ve got a lot of young guys, new guys, and guys who have been here for a little bit and we got to continue to grow as a team. That’s what this time of year is about. We’re not going to come out here and have a perfect practice every single time. We’re not going to come out here and be smooth sailing. It’s about having stress. It’s about having tough times, working through some things because that’s how you get better as a team. 2021 we win the Super Bowl, it wasn’t smooth sailing the whole time, right? It’s never just perfect all the time. We got to find ways to get better, push each other in a positive manner and get the best out of everybody on our team. That’s what you look for, whether you had a good day today or a day that was not up to your standard or frustrating or whatever it was, whatever it is, you got to come out the next day and continue to prove yourself and continue to get better.”

(On what he noticed from the quarterbacks during yesterday’s practice)…“I thought they did a good job. I think it was kind of equal opportunities for those guys. I thought the guys made plays, made good decisions with the football. We ran the ball a heavy amount yesterday, which was good to see those guys up front be able to set their pads, first day in pads, come out there and run the football. (QB) Brett’s (Rypien) new to the system and (QB) Stetson (Bennett) is a young guy and new to the system, so there’s always things just operationally that we can be better at. I thought for the most part those guys went out there competed, played hard, and did their thing.”

(On how he feels about having a rest day)…“It is definitely different. This was one of those things that was kind of planned a while out. I mean, they’ll tell you. I was wanting to be out there really bad yesterday, but I know it was the right thing to do. As of right now, I don’t think I have any or many more of those plans. I should be out here and the way the schedule kind of shakes out for the remainder of it. I’m not making too big a deal out of it to be honest with you. I always want to be out there but was trying to do my best to coach them up and get the guys in good spots.”

(On how he mentors rookie (QB) Stetson Bennett)…“He is a veteran dude in age and experience from the college level. He has been through a lot and we talk. I’m doing my best to try to get our team ready to play and make sure that I’m ready to go play at a high level as well. I’m always a sounding board for him. If he ever has questions, I’m always trying to help him out, trying to do what I can. Obviously we play a little bit of a different style, but I’ve been around a bunch of guys that have played like that and just trying to help him out mentally just get as comfortable as you can in this offense and then go play.”

(On whether or not he is more vocal in the QB room or the sideline)…“It’s both. Things move so fast out here and you don’t really have the opportunity to really see what was going on and what you can see on tape. I try to be a little bit of both, but it’s probably a little bit more in the meeting room setting just because we can all sit there and talk about it and see what was going on. I might’ve been talking to a receiver while he’s running a rep or something and I don’t get to see it. I’m in constant dialogue with everybody on our team about trying to be as good as we possibly can on offense at all positions and we’ll go from there.”

–RAMS–