McVay discussed moving on from Maher and Havrisik in Wednesday presser…

McVay discussed moving on from Brett Maher and Lucas Havrisik in Wednesday’s presser
LA’s head coach showed nothing but positivity when reflecting on Brett Maher’s time in LA.

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Daniel Stone



Sean Mcvay completed a press conference this past Wednesday, and I don’t know how he does it. One day he’s coaching a game, then his wife is giving birth, and now he’s back talking about preparing for Week 8 of the NFL season. Before the Los Angeles Rams head coach discussed the upcoming matchup between the Rams and the Dallas Cowboys, the head coach acknowledged his newborn child. It’s a really great moment for the new dad, and another reminder that the NFL is ultimately only football. Whereas the loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers certainly stings, I can’t imagine it is bothering the head coach too much right now.

“What blessing, had our little boy yesterday. Jordan McVay, Jordan John McVay. Mom and baby are doing good, and ready to get back at it, and she gets to take care of all the fun stuff right now...what a blessing what cooling, but we’re excited about getting ready for the Cowboys.”

The differing reporters and media personalities congratulate the coach. He says his thank you’s. It’s a really tender moment. All the months of waiting, planning and the baby is now here. Feel free to check out the press conference and below we’ll dive into the kicking situation and the upcoming potentially “must win” game with the Cowboys.



Despite the Rams best efforts to go into this year with a kicker they could rely on, the Rams have parted ways with Brett Maher. LA now has the task of figuring out who their next kicker is going to be. They could be the kicker for this week, or beyond. Enter Lucas Havrisik (is last named pronounced “has risk?”) who has never kicked in a NFL game.

“Lucas is a guy that we ended up signing, we’ll bring him in here and see how he does. Had a couple other guys that we worked out, you know, as possibilities, and the other thing too is want to thank Brett Maher for his contributions.”

The Rams did bring in some other players including, Mason Crosby. It’ll be interesting to see what LA ultimately does here. The kicking position is important. That showed up last week when Maher missed a few key kicks, but McVay has nothing but positive words for the recently released kicker.

“Did a good job. You know, there were some tough situations that I put him in. That doesn’t go lost on me.”

McVay takes some blame for what has transpired recently, and he compliments the kicker with words like “gratitude, appreciation and recognition.” We see McVay being uplifting even when he’s talking about firing someone. He compliments Maher quite a bit.

The head coach even brings up a fun fact. Apparently Maher had as many field goals made going into Week 7 as anybody in the league. McVay says all this, but ultimately Maher and Rams did part ways. As positive as Maher may have been through 7 weeks, it’s now Week 8, and the Rams made a decision to go in a different direction. The coach says it wasn’t an easy one.

“It wasn’t like a for sure decision, but it was something that we felt like, was the best decision. Whether or not it ends up being the right one, you know, you try to weigh the factors and try you try to be as accurate with those assessments as possible, but we’ll continue to monitor that and that’s a really important position for us because the amount of points that go through those guys legs, and how tight these games are. Especially when you look at our first seven games, you know, every single point really matters, you know, I’ve got to do a good job of making sure I’m putting our guys in the right spots to be successful. Very grateful and appreciative of what Brett did do through the first seven games.”

The coach seems to be asked if McVay’s gameplan has been to try and kick field goals rather than go for it on fourth down or if the coach may be a bit more aggressive now that the team is in new territory with the current kicker, and basically any kicker the team chooses to bring in.

“Each week entails a little bit different approach. I think when you get to those situations....how do you call third down, what does that get you to where you’re deeming it, alright this is where we’re gonna go for it, or we feel like we’re gonna kick it...a lot of those things are predicated on the stadium that you’re at.”

The coach talks about how weather is a factor for various stadiums and conditions are different in each one. The Rams seem to just be going with whatever will work out right now. If it takes some time to find the next Matt Gay then so be it. Maybe this new kicker can handle it, Lucas Havrisik. A player who has never kicked in a NFL game before. Sounds like must watch T.V.

“You gotta start somewhere...all these guys had to be able to get their experience somewhere.”

The coach goes on to talk about LA’s former kicker, Gay, who is now with the Colts.

“They had liked him (Lucas) in Cleveland, Matt Gay’s feedback was something that weighed into it as well. Based on him being around him in Indianapolis and so, all of those factors are things that go into it.”

Apparently Gay knew Havrisik to some extent, and he put in a positive word. So we’ll see what happens with the kicking position for the Rams. Could be a merry-go-round for a while with various legs trying in all the various kicking scenarios that McVay is asked about and talks about.

Sean Mcvay is also asked about the naming of his child, and I’ll let him do the talking on this one.



The room is pretty quiet after that. I’ve said this more than once, and I am not the first person to say it. The head coach has a way with words. Regardless, he is then asked about Micah Parsons. The Rams just got wrecked by T.J Watt. One cannot help but wonder (and Rams fans have to fear) Parsons impacting the game in any type of way that Watt did in the Steelers game.

“Micah, Demarcus Lawrence, Dante Fowler’s still making his plays in a lot of these situations and they got interior depth...it’s a plethera of guys that they’re rotating in and out that do a great job of...influencing a lot of problems for offenses and so, you know we’ll have to see. It’s something that we’re working through and...as excited as I was yesterday, then once you really dive into the tape you’re thinking ‘man, maybe I shoulda stayed at the hospital.’”

The head coach thanks everyone before walking away and the reporters continue to say congratulations to him. He probably heard congratulations from reporters after his first NFL win and certainly after the Super Bowl victory. Now the coach is being told congratulations for a totally different reason and it’s awesome. He seems to have a great family that is welcoming a new member. He seems to be in a good place with coaching too. It’s nice to see other people doing well.

Now we’ll see if the head coach can continue to lead his team to some success after a few very disappointing losses to start the season. We’ll see if the head coach’s NFL career can continue to come anything close to what seems like an even better life at home.