Transcripts: Los Angeles Rams Transcripts - Head Coach Sean McVay - Friday, October 20, 2023

Los Angeles Rams Transcripts - Head Coach
Sean McVay - Friday, October 20, 2023

Head Coach Sean McVay

(Opening remarks)

“Okay injury wise, (L Ernest Jones, we’ll limit him today, but he's made good
progress. He'll be listed as questionable but expect him to go. (DT) Larrell
Murchison will be out. (R Kyren Williams will be out. (WR) Ben Skowronek
will be listed as questionable, but don't expect any sort of setbacks in that
regard. Then with (D Derion Kendrick, obviously have him back. Got a
chance to be able to sit down and speak with him yesterday. I think based on
the information that that I got, the conversation that we were able to have, I
think use it as a learning opportunity. I think there's certain circumstances and
situations that arise that you always use your values and principles to be able
to make decisions. I trust this kid's heart. I believe in him. I also believe in
forgiveness and understanding and there's certain things that we can use to be
able to learn from and then there's certain mistakes that people make that
maybe it's a little bit different conversation. But based on my understanding of
what occurred, I feel like this is something that we can move forward with. I
really do believe in the human being. I believe in the person and we'll see how
he handles today. I want to be smart with him just because he was away for a
couple days but if he feels good then he will have an opportunity to play for us
this weekend. We're going to take it a day at a time. He didn't practice
yesterday. He was here for walkthrough. It was good to just be back around the
guys. There'll be a conversation that he and I will have, but as far as if he's
feeling good and we feel like it's the best thing for him and for our team, based
on the information I have, feel comfortable with him being a participant in this
week's game and us being able to move forward and learn from it because of
the understanding and the information that I have from our dialogue.”

(On if Kendrick will practice today)

“He will, yes.”

(On the league’s involvement with Kendrick and if he expects any sort of
punishment from them)

“I'm not. Usually those situations, if there is any sort of punishment or
suspension, that usually takes a little bit of time. I think in a lot of instances too,
they trust the teams to be able to say, okay, how do you measure the
information you have? Then what are the guidelines for your values and
principles that dictate and determine how you want to be able to move forward?
I do feel like, hey, it's a mistake that we can learn from, but not exclusively to
Derion, but also a lot of our players. There were some things that I learned
about some of the California laws that I didn't even know in regard to just
checking all the boxes in regards to some of the things that we can learn from. I
want to be careful to say too much just because of the legalities but based on
the information that I have I feel comfortable with our conversation. I do know
he is remorseful. I know how regretful he is for any sort of distractions that he
caused for this team. I know his teammates love him, and I don't think there's
anything… I think it can be powerful when forgiveness is deserved. In this
situation, I do think this is one of those situations. Now, you have other
situations that come up that might not be the case with some of the values and
principles, but this isn't one of those. That's exactly how I feel. I'm always going
to be open and honest with you guys to the level of extent that I can be.”

(On if the Kendrick situation allegedly involving a gun raises a concern
for him or the Rams)

“Well, I think you ask the questions about, all right, what were the layers behind
it? You try to have an understanding and then you say, ‘How do we learn from
that?’ That's kind of how I chose to look at that as it relates to the gun.”

(On the previous discussions surrounding Kendrick’s lack of hydration)

“It's really just getting him back into a normalized rhythm and routine. He was
away from us for a couple days. Whether it be Katie (Ahlers) our nutritionist,
(VP Sports Medicine and Performance) Reggie (Scott), (Performance Science
Associate) Zach (Witherspoon), our performance staff, all of those different
things where there's a lot of metrics that we measure relative to just making
sure that when you're away for a little bit and some of the things that you're
accustomed to going through with your rhythm and routine, we want to make
sure that we're doing everything in our power to not leave them susceptible to
an unnecessary soft tissue injury, things of that nature. I think to the question
earlier, a big part of it is that hey, these things take an emotional toll on guys as
well. That's as important as anything is. Based on the information we have,
alright, (we) want to be able to welcome you back with open arms and let it be a
learning opportunity that we've got to be able to learn from. With that being
said, you also want to take into account, how do you feel? It's our job to be able
to make sure we're putting players in a position to be able to be successful.
This is one of those deals that's not exclusive to just football, but there's a
totality in terms of the human being that's more important to me than anything.”

(On how Kendrick has handled the situation)

“I think he's handled it as good as you can. What you don't feel until you talk to
him is the authenticity, the regret for any sort of unnecessary distraction for this
team. What I also felt was a building and a team and a bunch of people that
were willing to be able to extend their arms, welcome him back, know that, hey,
we love you, we care about you, and let's learn from it. That's what we're going
to do. It was good to be able to have him in the building the last couple days.
He has a good look in his eye today. We'll see how practice goes and how that
dictates and determines exactly what his role will look like for us on Sunday.”

(On if he has a sense on who will start and be in the rotation at the
running back position)

“I have a sense. I do have a sense of that, yes.”

(On if he will share it)

“No, I will not. Not to be rude on that, it’s just that there’s no reason to share it.”

(On if he liked what he’s seen from the running backs stepping in)

“I did. I liked what I saw from all four of those guys. (R Darrell (Henderson)
came back in. He's a guy that's going to be up and active this week. He's done
a great job of being able to quickly re-acclimate himself back to a lot of the
things that we've done. He is taken good care of himself in the meantime and I
have been pleased with (R Royce (Freeman). He's smart, conscientious.
He's been ready for this opportunity. (R Zach's (Evans) a guy that's
continuing to learn and then (R Myles Gaskin being in Minnesota, being in
Miami, there is some familiarity and he's got a skill set that's intriguing. I liked
what I've seen from him. So there's a possibility we'd have all four guys up and
then if not, then we'll go with three and we're really still working through,
truthfully, who those three would be between those four guys and we might
have all four of them up.”

(On the protocol that players go through when facing a situation
like Kendrick's)

“Yeah, we have (Rams Psychologist) Carrie Hastings who does an excellent
job as a team clinician and psychiatrist if they need to be able to do that. But
also, I think it's about just the people that you've developed relationships with
whether it be, myself, (Defensive Coordinator) Raheem (Morris), (Defensive
Backs/Pass Game Coordinator) Aubrey (Pleasant) and him have developed a
really special relationship, his teammates. I think just getting back to a
normalized environment. I think it was really great. I got a chance to speak with
his mother, who I know was incredibly comforting in terms of helping him
navigate through that. His girlfriend was great with the situation as well and
those are never easy things, but I think more than anything, you just want to
know (that) you have a lot of different people that you can go to that care about
you the person, and that's kind of what has been standard operating procedure
for us.”

(On if he’s made a IR decision on RB Kyren Williams)

“We haven’t yet. That’ll come tomorrow if we do.”

(On if Kendrick’s past factored into the decision-making process)

“I think you want to always educate guys and I think you want to understand
exactly what were the circumstances behind each individual situation. Instead
of saying it's kind of a one-off, I think there's always some different layers that
you weigh. What I think is important that doesn't go lost on us, we want to be
able to learn and we don't want to make repeated mistakes. It was a similar
type of situation, but there was some different dynamics that existed in this one
and so those are things that are important to us. But I always believe you guys
hear me talk about the football character and different things like that. I think
some of these things, when you look at it as a whole and you say, do I think this
makes him a bad person? No, I do not. I trust based on the relationship that's
been built. I trust based on the heart that I know that he has that these can be
learning opportunities. Now there's other things, and this is a totally different
case, but you do something where you harm a female, that's a totally different
conversation. I feel totally different based on our values and principles, but
based on the information that I have, we definitely weigh the backgrounds and
all that kind of stuff heavily. But it's also getting to know the person and then
when certain situations arise, how do you help them navigate through it? How
do you make sure that there's an empathy, but there's also an understanding
of, all right, what are our standards and how can we move forward the right
way? And then where are we at in regard to let's make sure things like this
don't occur again. And if they do, then maybe there's a different conversation
and a dialogue that I'm having with you guys as well.”

--RAMS--

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#HelmetHornsMatter

“Well, the color is good, I like the metallic blue,” Youngblood recently said while laughing, via NFL Journal. “The horn is terrible. It looks like a ‘C.’ When I first saw it on the logo I honestly thought it was a Charger logo.

“Now when I see it on the helmet, it just isn’t a ram horn. There is no distinct curl like a mature ram horn. I don’t know how the Rams could get that wrong. That is your symbol and it has been for what? Seventy years or more? Longer than I have been alive? It’s just not us, it’s not the Rams.”---Mr. Ram Jack Youngblood