(East Los Angeles, CA) [From The Editor’s Desk]: The Rams, now with a (3-6) record, returned from their trip to play the Green Bay Packers with an “L'” in the column, but with high hopes from Head Coach Sean McVay, as he met the press for his customary post-game press conference at their practice site at Cal Lutheran University. We are glad to bring you his entire commentary on the game, followed by his remarks on the team’s efforts to gear up for the second half of the season, his thoughts on the “Bye” week for rest and recovery, and much more. They will return to NFC West action when they host the Seattle Seahawks (5-3) on Sunday, November 19th at SoFi Stadium.

Los Angeles Rams Transcripts – Head Coach Sean McVay – Monday, 11/6/23

[Head Coach Sean McVay]

(On if any injuries occurred on Sunday)…“No, everybody came out good. We should be in good shape there. Then coming off of the bye should represent the opportunity to get a lot of the guys back, which will be a big boost to our team.”

(On his focus for the second half of the season)…“I think number one is getting guys back healthy and then just being able to consistently play better across the board. I think when we get a lot of these guys back, I think that’ll immediately offer an opportunity for us to play more consistently like we’ve seen us do in certain stretches. You look at it offensively, you get a guy like (OL) Rob Havenstein and obviously getting (QB) Matthew (Stafford) back would be a tremendous boost. Coming after Seattle then we expect to be able to get (RB) Kyren Williams back. On defense, you’re getting (LB) Ernest Jones back, you’re getting (NT) Bobby Brown back. We’re talking about a lot of significant names that have been big time contributors for us that we have not had. Those guys are very, very important cogs in the big picture.”

(On if this season feels like last season in terms of injuries)…“No, I would say this, we’ve had some unfortunate injuries for sure but a lot of those were putting guys out for the year. There’s been some different ways we’ve navigated through. Even though I know the record is what it is, there’s still a lot of football left. I think I can feel good about looking at the nine games and looking at the film and feel like there’s some tangible solutions for us to be able to proactively address them. I do think that this bye comes at a good time, especially with a lot of our younger players. Some of these guys, and a handful of them that played in the preseason, you’re talking about what usually represents a full college season at this point in the year with nine games and then three preseason games. Getting them rested, getting them reset, giving ourselves a chance to kind of take a step back, address really a lot of the specific nuanced things that you’re asking about gives me excitement and encouragement about how we can attack this back half of the year and see what the hell happens.”

(On if he will stick with QB Brett Rypien as the starter if Stafford cannot play after the bye week)…“The good thing is that the inclination and the direction that we’re headed, I don’t think that’s going to be a part of the conversation. Feel really good about Matthew and how much he’s attacked doing everything in his power to be back and to lead the way for this team. We’re going to look at a lot of different things over this break here. I’m optimistic that I don’t even think that’s something that we have to worry about, but we will figure out whether it be, not exclusive to the quarterback position but at some other spots, where are possibilities to be able to add competition. That could be one of them, but we haven’t made those decisions quite yet.”

(On what he thinks he can improve on for the second half of the season)…“I think like anything else, just consistent evaluation of alright, the rhythm, the routine, the vibe, the atmosphere that we have. It’s about cultivating an atmosphere and environment for these guys to reach their highest potential. I think we’ve done a good job of that. There’s always going to be room for improvement. Then I think evaluating the scheme whether it be offense, defense or on teams. What are some of those things that we can do to continue to put our players in the right spots, making good decisions on game day? I feel like that’s a big part of my job responsibility and always evaluating those things. I think whether we were sitting here at 9-0, hadn’t won one, 3-6, 6-3, those will be consistent things that we always want to strive for improvement, but those are the things that stick out. Then making sure that you just do a good job of continuing to stay connected to the players and coaches so that you can help them reach and realize their highest potential, which is ultimately the goal.”

(On WR Cooper Kupp underperforming compared to previous seasons and if this is due to Stafford’s injury and other factors)…“I think that’s a big part. You look at it, we haven’t had Matthew for six quarters. So yesterday, makes a big catch on the third down and long and then catch catches an in-breaker. He had two catches, but the production that we had offensively was so minimal that it’s hard to even talk about that. You look at the Dallas game and you look at the Pittsburgh game and a lot of situations, they’re doubling him in some of those known passing situations. Very similar to what started to happen in even in the latter parts of ‘21, if he’s getting attention then it opens up opportunities for other people. We want to continue to do a good job of being able to help him shine, put him in the right spots. That’s where I’m really looking forward to kind of taking a step back, looking at our nine games of inventory, some different things relative to the landscape of the league and figure out, how can we do a good job not only for Cooper, but for the rest of our players? This isn’t just offense, but it’s on defense of helping these guys shine and make big time contributions to influence positive change towards this back stretch of the season. He’s done a lot of good things. I think some of the opportunities are specific to, alright, well let’s talk about when we’re throwing it, where’s he fit in the progression? Is he getting doubled? I thought both Pittsburgh and Dallas did a good job of playing some different coverage contours that really paid close attention to him, particularly in some of those situations. Then in the Pittsburgh game, there’s a couple plays that we could have made early on that were uncharacteristic, but thought he was excellent against Philly and Arizona. I think the last three games are more of a byproduct of some other situations not exclusive to just him playing good or anything like that. He’s done a good job and I think we can do better, and then he’s getting a lot of attention as a player of his magnitude typically does.”

(On if he’s noticing teams showing different defensive looks in-game compared to what has been shown on film from previous games)…“No, anytime I think that you’ve been… at certain points in the season, number one, when you’ve got a great quarterback like (QB) Matthew (Stafford), you’re not going to want to give him similar looks because he recognizes things and he can make you pay. I think that’s something that definitely has shown up when you’ve got a player like Matthew. I think probably because they were planning on Matthew playing, there were some definite things that they changed up. But anytime that your good offense or that you’ve got really great players like what Matthew and what (WR) Cooper (Kupp) are, you’re not usually going to get exactly what teams have done on film. I think that’s a compliment to those guys, to the offense. And when we’ve been at our best offensively is usually when you don’t get a lot of the things that you’re seeing on film because you force people to feel like you have to change some stuff up. I think as it relates to what probably Cooper was talking about, there was such a respect and reverence for what Matthew can recognize that if they were going to kind of show him some similar looks, it felt like he could potentially really be on it and I think they probably just kept the same game plan when they realized that (QB) Brett (Rypien) was going to play. (Packers Head Coach) Matt (LaFleur) probably, and (Packers Defensive Coordinator) Joe Barry, those guys have some insight on us too.”

(On the difficulty adjusting on the fly in a game when seeing looks that were not shown on film)…“They did a good job. A lot of the plays that we have are all purpose in regard to if they play this, then that’s where this takes you and this is how you exhaust your progression to work through all five of your eligibles, or four eligibles, depending upon how we’re using the back or the tight end. That’s part of how you coach. You have primary reads and secondary reads and sometimes they’re coverage contours, sometimes they’re across the board so it doesn’t affect things too much.”

(On what the week will look like regarding team activities and days off this week)…“You got a couple of parameters based on the CBA, but we came in, cleaned up the film and then we’ll get these guys away, let them kind of just get recovered, recharged and refreshed. And then we’ll bring them back on Monday for a bonus day and get an extra day of practice and then the coaches will do a bunch of work in the meantime relative to some of the things that I’ve kind of talked about earlier with you guys on this call.”

(On potentially activating TE Hunter Long from IR)…“Yeah, I think he’s done a good job as of late. I think we’ve got some things to be able to work through before those decisions are finalized, but you do feel good about, like I had mentioned, (NT) Bobby Brown being able to get back. That’ll be a big boost to the interior parts of our D line. And then some of those guys that are not necessarily on IR, but that we were missing that are big time contributors when you’re looking at three of our captains in (LB) Ernest Jones, Matthew Stafford, and (OL) Rob Havenstein. So those will be big boosts for us.”

(On his evaluation of the secondary and how they can get better)…“Yeah, it’s a good question. I think they’ve done a good job. I think it’s all about where are your play ops and I think the secondary as a whole. When you look at it, I’ve been really pleased with (DB) Jordan Fuller. I thought he is done a great job leading the way from the safety position. (DB) Russ Yeast is a young guy that’s getting more experience and continuing to grow. I think you’re seeing a lot of big strides from (DB) Quentin Lake being able to have a lot of position versatility. (DB) John Johnson is a guy that I thought did a really nice job yesterday, thought he looks like he’s gotten really himself kind of back to the ‘JJ’ that we’re accustomed to seeing. And I think that’ll really be good for us as we move into the second half of the season. At corner, I’ve been really pleased with (DB) Ahkello Witherspoon, a lot of playmaking, a lot of challenging positions that we put him in. He’s gotten the ball back for us a lot. You look at the play he makes yesterday, that doesn’t go down in the statute as an interception but he’s influencing and affecting the game in a positive way. We put him in a lot of stressful downs so I was really encouraged with that. (DB) Cobie Durant was playing outside corner yesterday and I thought he played really well in the first 20 snaps of the game, gets his shoulder banged up that he ended up having to leave on the 23rd play. And then (DB) Duke (Shelley) came in and he is a guy that has some experience. He’s getting more and more comfortable with what we’re asking. I thought he played better as the game went on. I think (Defensive Backs Coach) Aubrey (Pleasant) does such a great job of being able to communicate exactly what the intent is and what we’re hunting up from him in particular and I thought he improved throughout that game. (DB) (Derion Kendrick) ‘DK’ obviously has had a lot of snaps. I think there’s been some good and there’s been some things that we have to learn from and play more discipline consistently throughout. But I like the way that he handled this past week. He played three snaps yesterday, but I was really just encouraged with his demeanor and his approach to the week and I think that’s going to serve him well and we’re going to need him to come back and be a big-time contributor at some point. When that is, we’ll see. But I was really impressed with the way that he handled last week. And then (DB) Tre Tomlinson makes a big impact on special teams. He’s getting more and more comfortable. I like his competitiveness, his toughness, his physicality, but you know he just hasn’t gotten as many opportunities to evaluate. So that’s kind of where we’re at as a secondary right now overall. That’s probably more than what you asked for, but you got that.”

(On if all the close games are encouraging for the second half of the season)…“Yeah it is because I think when you look at it, really before the last two weeks, the Dallas game got out of hand real quickly like we saw once we ended up turning the ball over for a touchdown and then had some special teams things and a short field, so that was kind of the outlier. And then yesterday, I thought our defense kept us in that game. We can’t expect to win any games if we don’t play better offensively. We all know that. Our players know that. That’s very clear cut. And so, if our defense can play that way, get some of those turnovers, we got to be able to capitalize on that. And I think there’s been a lot of signs throughout the first nine games that you can believe that that can be done relative to the way that I know we’re capable of playing offensively. I am encouraged. I want to see us continue to play more consistently as a team. That’s the no (expletive) statement I guess, if you will, but I am encouraged by that and I’m looking forward to this second half of the season and getting some of those guys back and let’s go see where we can take this thing.”

(On how critical the run offense will be in the second half of the season to establish continuity offensively)…“I think it always is. I think anytime that you’re a good offense and you look at any of the games that we’ve played where we’ve played well this year, the consistent theme is we’ve run the ball well as well, or we’ve at least been able to get attempts off. I guess Seattle is kind of the outlier. I don’t know that we ran the ball efficiently, but we were able to get runs off and I think that contributed to some positive outcomes as it relates to just the overall offensive production. But it’s going to be key and critical. I think that’s where it’ll be a good opportunity to be able to look at some different things that we can implement, get some guys back, whether it be upfront or from the running back spot and I think that’ll help that overall approach as well but that’s going to be a big factor as it is with any good offense.”

(On if he notices defenses breaking their tendencies when they play them and how that manifests)…“Yeah, that was asked to me earlier as well. The answer is I think anytime that you’ve got a quarterback of Matthew Stafford’s magnitude and experience and the way he plays, they’re going to try to mess with not showing him the same things that he expects relative to coverage contours, different things like that. So that’s kind of been a consistent theme with Matthew at quarterback. And then in certain situations if you want to give some different looks at what they’ve shown because maybe there’s a respect factor for those players, that has kind of been par for the course. It’s mainly shown up when you’ve been really good. It’s usually kind of what you have to deal with, but it also has something to do with sometimes the familiarity. I’ve worked with (Packers Head Coach) Matt (LaFleur) and (Packers Defensive Coordinator) Joe (Barry) and there’s obviously a relationship with (Offensive Coordinator) Mike (LaFleur), with myself, they know what those guys can do. There were a couple tendency breakers yesterday and then that’s been par for the course. But I would say that’s been pretty consistent since we’ve had Matthew at quarterback because of the respect that people have for him in this league.”

(On what the process is like and how he adjusts to other teams breaking tendencies with such a young team)…“It doesn’t affect things too much. If anything, it affects the quarterback, but it doesn’t affect…We still try to teach these skill players how to read and recognize coverage contours and if you have certain routes, if they’re adjusted or adapted or if they’re a fixed route, that’s consistent with offensive linemen with pressure patterns every single week. People change up their pressure patterns or some of their movement patterns and so I think that’s a part of the game. It’s not something that really significantly alters…There’s certain things criteria-wise, but I don’t really necessarily…That affects the quarterbacks majorly, but it really doesn’t affect the other people as it relates to some of the different things that people are changing up coverage-wise.”

(On what the bye week means for rookies like WR Puka Nacua physically and mentally)…“Yeah, I think it’s big. We did talk about that a little bit earlier. But yes, it’s basically like the equivalent of them going through a full collegiate season when you include a lot of these guys we’re talking about (who) played in the three preseason games leading into the regular season, which we’re nine games through, as we all know. So I think it’s great. I think it’s really good for our team. I think it comes at the right time. I think it’ll be a good chance to not only physically, but mentally, just be able to kind of just pull away for a little bit. Let yourself kind of just relax, get refreshed, get rejuvenated, and be ready to attack a great opportunity that we have in this latter part of the season.”

                                                                                                                 –RAMS–