Los Angeles Rams vs. Seattle Seahawks Postgame Transcripts - Rams Head Coach Sean McVay, Matthew Stafford, Pete Carroll, Geno Smith - Sunday, November 19, 2023

Los Angeles Rams vs. Seattle Seahawks
Postgame Transcripts - Rams Head Coach
Sean McVay, Rams QB Matthew Stafford,
Seahawks Head Coach Pete Carroll,
Seahawks QB Geno Smith - Sunday,
November 19, 2023

Rams Head Coach Sean McVay

(Opening Remarks)

“Unbelievable effort by our defense today. They kept us in the game and I
thought it was key and critical for the offense to be able to get into a rhythm
when they had to. Would've loved to have been able to punch that last in
instead of having to kick the field goal where you're forcing them to have to go
get a touchdown at the end there. But man, I'm just so proud of this group. I
think the grit was on display, the mental toughness, the ability to get stops, the
ability to be able to feed off of one another. Man, there's a lot of things that we
can learn from offensively. I think there's a lot of good things that we can build
on defensively, but the way that they finish, that to me was key and critical and
that was one of the things that I didn't think we did as good a job of in the first
half of the season. Obviously, that's what's the most important thing and you
give credit to Seattle, they're always such a tough team. I thought they did a
great job defensively, really keeping us at bay. And like I said, there's going to
be a lot of things that we can learn from, but it sure feels good to be able to do
that after a win. Really happy for our group and happy for those players and the
coaches did a great job.”

(On WR Cooper Kupp’s Injury)

“Don't have an update. It's an ankle injury as far as the severity of it… He was
going to try to come back and play. He was moving around at the beginning of
the second half and we were hoping that he'd be able to go, but it just didn't
quite feel good enough. And I thought WR Austin Trammell did a great job
being able to step up in his absence and make some key and critical plays.”
(On how the team rallied to win after the hit on QB Matt Stafford)
“It's really meaningful and I thought his toughness was on display. They did a
great job being able to make a play to try to get a trick play going right there
and you credit (Seahawks RCB Riq) Woolen and (Seahawks IL Bobby
(Wagner) ended up forcing that throw to come out a little bit sooner. But
Matthew's toughness, his resilience, being able to put together two scoring
drives was big time. And he's our leader. It was great to be able to have him
back. There'll be a lot of things that both he and I can learn from and we can as
an offense. But to be able to be that way in those crunch time moments,
especially with all the adversity that we faced and some of the things that were
self-inflicted is a great thing. It's always a lot easier to be able to learn from
those moments.”

(On DB Derion Kendrick’s interception)

“It was huge. And I thought he stood up really tall all day. I thought the early
penalty. Hey, how do we respond? What does that really look like? And he did
that in a big way. I thought, like I mentioned just our defense, but especially it
seemed like the guys in the secondary were tight. They were sticky. It seemed
like we were pushing the pocket all day. It made it difficult for them to convert
on the third downs. But Derion Kendrick, it was outstanding. It's a cool thing to
be able to see guys respond the right way and then be able to see the work, the
responses pay off and a performance like he had today.”

(On the final goal line sequence and the second down and seven play
call)

“Really just trying to score a touchdown. So figuring what's the best play. We
had been having success running the football from the seven-yard line. You
could have a chance to be able to do that, but we were really trying to be able
to score a touchdown. And then we had some substitutions where some guys
weren't available, felt like the screen on the third down had a chance to be able
to get punched in. Looked like we had some space right there. And you get the
benefit of the clock rolling because you feel like it's a high percentage play. But
if we make that play, which I'll call that over and over again, feel good about
that call, got a really good player on an iso in breaking route. And if he catches
that he might fall in or the ball is on the one yard line and now you have a lot of
different options. But the most important thing was we wanted to not leave
ourselves susceptible to just going up one where a field goal wins it for them.
So in those moments, we felt like the touchdown was more important than the
time because of how much clock would still be left over no matter how that
ended up playing out.”

(On Stafford coming alive in the second half after taking a big hit)

“I would agree with that. You'll have to ask him about that. Maybe we should
punch him in the gut right before game time.”

(On if he sensed a change in Stafford in the second half)

“I think what happened was I think the urgency went up. And I think this is one
of the things that makes him great is these types of moments. You can add it to
his legacy and his storied career of these come from behind wins. When it
looks like the chips are stacked against you and he just finds a way to be able
to get the drives. I thought really on the scoring drive, the big conversion on the
play action to start that drive where you get a big 20 plus yard play to (WR)
Demarcus Robinson. I thought that was big. He makes an unbelievable throw
to (WR) Puka Nacua. He made a lot of his great plays in that scoring in those
two drives that we ended up having to have to be able to go up one and it was
awesome to be able to see.”

(On the difference of the third down defense late in the game)

“I was really pleased and they were the key to the game. You can't say…it's
always a team game, but I thought for them not to be affected by some of the
things that we were struggling with and our offense was struggling with as a
whole, they just kept playing. They kept competing. They kept it to a tight game.
And then you could feel when we were able to cut it to a one possession game
or we're able to get some stops and keep them to field goals instead of
punching it in, our red area defense was key and critical to not allow it to be
able to get out of hand. I mean, to only be down the way that we were at the
half after the way that the first half went, we seemed really fortunate and I think
our guys knew, all right, hey, how do we really find our way to get it together at
the right moments? And if we're able to do that, good things can occur. And you
know, there's some hidden yardage in there where (WR) Tutu Atwell ends up
getting a couple penalties on a scoring drive that we didn't have where we had
the fourth down and two, you credit them. They got us. I didn't put us in a good
situation on that fourth down. But there are a lot of things that… I'm excited to
be able to look at this tape. We certainly have to be better from an overall
offensive perspective. I'm interested to look at some of those penalties that we
had on (special) teams, but I thought (WR) (Austin) Tramell had a good day
returning. And then defensively, checking a lot of boxes in a good way. Let’s
build on that performance.”

(On what was going wrong in the first half)

“I think the key thing really when you look at it, you have four drives I believe it
was. You end up going three and out on two of them. So it's hard to really have
any sort of rhythm. And then Tutu ends up getting a big penalty on the first play
of the second possession. We go right down the field and then it wasn't a really
good call on fourth down. There were a couple previous plays that I thought we
could have executed a little bit better so you come away with no points right
there and so that's tough. I thought the drive at the end of the first half to be
able to get that, to see the conversion that Matthew (Stafford) and Puka
(Nacua) had, a lot of plays that were made leading on that drive prior to. Austin
Trammell makes a couple plays. Tutu (Atwell) makes a play on a crossing
route. Thought we got some good positive runs off. And so that's kind of the
narrative of the first half. And then there were a lot of examples of us just
missing some things and not being able to really get into a rhythm where we
get a third down conversion and it moves us back and now it's a third down and
long. We've got to find a way to eliminate some of those self-inflicted wounds.
You give them credit for their rush, being able to create that. But I was really
proud of our group and I'm looking forward to being able to build on this and
move forward the right way.”

(On what a win like this can mean for the team moving forward)

“I think it's so big. I mean really to be able to just see, especially the way the
game unfolded, and there were a lot of things that didn't go our way, but they
just kept staying the course and they kept just learning from it. I've said it over
and over again and I'll say it till I'm blue in the face, the defense was so key and
critical. They allowed the offense to then be able to hit their stride at the right
moment. And then how can we really bottle that up? But we talked about being
able to finish games. There were a lot of examples of a starting fast, but then
we weren't really finishing strong. Now let's see if we can maybe do both. But I
think it's really big. I think learning how to win and learning how to identify those
moments where the game pivots and you get a chance to be able to come
away with these types of results, you gotta learn how to do that. Well, what's
the way that you learn? You feel what these feelings feel like. You capitalize on
those moments when they're presented and that's what I was the most proud of
is that I thought our team did that as a whole to be able to get ourselves in a
position to be up one. I would love for us to be able to punch that in and force
them to have to go score a touchdown at the end. What a great job by the
defense, just forcing(Jason) Meyers kind of that fringe range right there where
you're saying once he gets right to the 40, he's pretty high percentage.
Fortunately, it worked out in our favor and here we are feeling a lot better than I
would've if that went in. Isn't that crazy though when you think about that, all
comes down to that one play. This game is nuts, man. I just love it.”

(On DB Quentin Lake’s performance)

“He was awesome. The versatility and all the different things that we're asking
of Quentin Lake… I think when you look at a guy that has just continued to get
better, take advantage of his opportunities, and then earn the opportunity to
really be on the grass every single snap. This guy's a stud. He prepares the
right way. He's got such a great football IQ but then the overall athleticism to be
able to play in a bunch of different spots, make his presence felt, great pre-
snap communication, great playmaking ability. Quentin Lake, I love him. I'm so
proud and happy for what he's done and I'm really excited about watching him
continue to get better as he just accumulates more experience. But this guy,
he's about all the right kind of stuff. Really happy for Quentin (Lake).”

Rams QB Matthew Stafford

(On his pain level in the second half after taking hit)

“It wasn't great, but I just needed a second really more than anything.
Unfortunately, the play didn't want it to end the way it ended, looked better
when we repped it in practice. Obviously, it wasn't a successful play, but just
proud of the guys for bouncing back drive after drive. We had some, obviously
some poor drives in the first and in the second half that didn't give our defense
a ton of chance to rest or flip the field or anything. They played outstanding,
especially there in the second half and we were able to find something late and
just great to get a win. I mean, great to come off that and get a win.”

(On if the offense got a second wind after he was went down)

“I don't know. I mean, it pissed me off. So I don't know if I need to take that
level of a shot every week to get going. But no I definitely, God, there's so
many plays I want back that I know I can make. I'm obviously doing everything I
can to try and make those plays. Hopefully my thumb will continue to get better
and better and better be able to take that stuff off of it and be able to go play.
But just proud of our team, man. This is such a team win. ‘DK’ (Rams DB
Derion Kendrick) with a huge pick, field goal to win it. It was a total team effort.”

(On how the thumb feels)

“I’m not 100%, but I'm good enough to go out there and make some plays. I
definitely want some back, but there's some that I missed today that have
nothing to do with that. So, I just got to go out there and continue to rehab it,
get it better, and continue to try to put the ball in good spots for guys to go
make plays.”

(On the goal line sequence at the end of the game and Coach McVay
wanting to score a touchdown)

“I loved the second down call opportunity to get one-on-one with Puka and the
guy made a nice play. Would love to have thrown and caught that one for a
touchdown and we'd all be hooting and hollering on that one but it didn't
happen. It was great to get a completion on third down to make sure that the
clock was running and they had to use their stuff, use their timeout. So then it
was just up to defense to make a play and they did, made it an ultra-long field
goal and obviously it wasn’t good.”

(On WR Cooper Kupp’s injury and how the offense had to adjust)

“I ran into him a little bit. He's trying to figure that out as best he can I'm sure,
what's going on there, but, yeah, I mean, it's tough. But that's why we practice.
That's why we're a team and I thought ‘Tram’ (Rams WR Austin Trammell) did
a great job stepping in. All the guys on the outside did a nice job today. We left
some plays out there, balls that I could have put in better spots for those guys.
But we just kept battling and I thought Sean did a great job not missing a beat,
move guys around when we need to move guys around, gave guys
opportunities to make plays and can we execute better? Absolutely. Is there
more out there? Absolutely, but it's great to get a win.”

(On why he was able to connect with Trammell today)

“He's been on our team for a while and practicing with him and throwing to him,
he's an easy target to throw to. Guy gets open. You get open, and you catch it,
I'll keep throwing it to you. So he did a nice job. I was happy for him. Obviously
did a great job in the game, not only in the pass game catching the football, but
run game assignments. There's a lot that we put on Cooper's plate in the run
game stuff. And he did a great job of just kind of seamlessly stepping in and
playing his version of that and going and playing.”

(On his concerted effort to target Nacua more when Kupp was injured
and how he’s become a reliable target)

“Similar thoughts, gets open, makes plays when he gets the opportunity, close
on a couple there and could've had a really huge day. But obviously late in the
fourth, did a great job catching that ball right by Bobby and ran a great route,
got open and was able to go and make a play. But he's a young, talented kid,
works his tail off, great teammate, and just happy to have him on our team.”

(On if sustaining a considerable hit and returning to the game has a
discernable effect on his mentality)

“I don't know. I know that late in the game, fourth quarter, we're within a score, I
want the ball. It just so happened that I got my chest run through the drive
before or whatever it was. I don't know that that's the thing that gets me going,
but sometimes it's late in the game, you can be playing as poor game as you
want to play, you play one great quarter. You got a chance to win that thing. I
obviously wasn't at my best at certain points in this game and wanted to make
sure that I did everything I could in my power to help lead this team and see
where it ended up. And today we got the win. That was huge. I loved it for our
guys more than anything, just the guys in that locker room put all the work into
it. Just fun to be a part of that and help do my part.”

(If he can confirm McVay’s pregame comments on there being no
limitations included in the game plan)

“Yeah.”

(On what he saw on the incomplete pass intended for RB Darrell
Henderson and what made them go with that play)

“Oh, you’re talking about the one down the sideline, not in the flat. Oh, that one
hurt. That was terrible, just bad play by me. To be honest with you, #21 on their
team (CB Devon Witherspoon) did a nice job, kind of ran with it for a second
and flashed back and I was like, “Oh my goodness, they're going to let him go
Scot Free down the sideline.” Just an absolute miss of a throw. Darrell ran the
great route, wide open for probably a big game, 30-40 yards, something like
that. I missed him. So flat out miss by me. Got to be better in those spots for
sure.”

(On if TE Tyler Higbee’s reception near the goal line was designed to be
for him and if he was looking for him)

“The one I was running for my life on? Yeah, fear is a hell of a motivator. I feel
fast when I'm out there sometimes, but I'm just running out there trying to
stretch it. He's doing a great job of just trying to two-on-one he flat defender
right there. Guys were in good spots and I was able to throw it to him. He made
a nice play. I thought for a second that I might've been across the line. I kind of
lost where I was there for a second but it was a good play for us, big play for
us, and there were a bunch of those in the game that he's always a big part
of.”

Seahawks Head Coach Pete Carroll

(Opening remarks)

“This was the most disappointing loss for us today because of the way we did it.
We made it really hard on ourselves so many times in this game with the calls
that were made. I'm not disputing any of them. I'm just saying we made… the
penalties that happened were just out of line for us. We have not been good in
that area during the season in general and today really blew up on us and gave
them a really good chance to take advantage of it and they did and found out
that they could get their drive together and get what they needed before the
field goal drive. There (were) big penalties in that one and then we did it again
in the final drive too. I'm really disappointed because it feels like we did that to
ourselves. We talk so much about that and we're trying to make sure that's not
part of our game and shoot, it was the biggest part of the game I thought. Nice
job by them to finish it. They did a good job to do what they need to do with the
clock and all that, but they gave us a chance. (Q Geno Smith was able to pop
back out there, threw a couple great balls to give us a shot. We just didn't hit
our field goal to win the game. That's kind of what the NFL is. You have those
opportunities. We can create those and then you (have) to try to make them.
Unfortunately, you're not going to make them all. Last week was our game.
This week was their game. It's really important that we turn it around and
bounce back. We come back Thursday and we got a big game coming up.
We’ll have to really handle this well and get our act together, make sure that we
can play a great football game because we're in control of what we do. We
have to win the next week's game to put us in a good position and that wouldn't
have changed it either way. It just makes it a little more pressing this time. We
got some guys banged up in the game. (R Kenny (McIntosh) got an oblique
strain that was legit. He couldn't do anything, couldn't move hardly with it. (WR
Jake) Bobo hurt his shoulder but was able to come back in and play. (S) Jerrick
Reed (II) might've hurt his knee some. We'll see about that one. Geno got a
bruised… kind of on his triceps, back of his elbow, that kind of blew up a little
bit but he was able to come back and execute. Nice effort by him.”

(On the likelihood of Smith playing next week)

“I don't have any idea. I have no idea, sorry.”

(On what Smith showed him coming back into the game)

“He gave us a chance. He gave us a chance to kick the ball and win it. Long
field goal for sure. You couldn't have a better guy to kick that one. Jason's been
doing great and he just didn't get a good hit on the ball this time. He's exactly
the right guy to win the game for us. Obviously, we know that.”

(On what convinced him that Smith was going to be able to go back in the
game)

“He convinced them on the sidelines (that) he could do it. He threw the ball
enough and it just took a little while for the blow to kind of dissipate or
whatever. And then he threw the ball on the sidelines where they thought that
he can go. It was a great job of him going in.”

(On if the plan in the closing drive was to run the football once they were
within 55 yards)

“No, we didn't quite handle it as well as we'd like to. We got in field goal range.
We got there and we had a shot. Jason's kicked balls from that far before. We
would’ve loved to have been a little bit closer. Obviously, we weren't.”

(On the thought of running the clock out and giving the team a chance to
kick a closer field goal)

“There are some choices in there. I agree with that, there’s choices.”

(On when he knew Geno was going to be able to come back)

Right when they made the kick. They turned to me and said he's ready to go. I
didn’t know until then.”

(On if he was hoping for more yards at the end of the game)

“Yeah, you're hoping to pop it for sure, you know? Yeah, we didn't do that as
clean as we’d like.”

(On if he got any kind of a lookback at the CB Riq Woolen play )

“I didn't see it at all. I saw nothing. What'd you think? How about the one on
(CB Riq) Woolen? I checked that one on (CB Devon Witherspoon) ‘Spoon’ in
the end zone. It was (S Quandre) Diggs in the end zone? Okay, yep, I missed
it.”

(On what he thought of the defense)

“Oh, we played really good all day long. We did a really good job and we
controlled (inaudible). They ran the ball for, I don't know, 60, 70 yards or
something like that. (Rams Q Matthew (Stafford) wasn't able to get a bunch
of numbers on this day. Third down was okay. I think we were 5-of-15. No, no,
it was the other way around, 2-of-9I think they were. Yeah, that's a good output
for us. We're pleased with that. It wasn’t enough to get us a win. On this day,
with all that happened, that wasn't quite enough.”

(On the Rams last drive and what he was weighing on timeouts)

“No, we did it exactly the way we wanted to do it, yeah.”

(On if he’s concerned about Smith coming back)

“Sure. On Thursday games, you're worried about everybody coming back.
Every guy on your team. It's hard to do. It’s one of the great challenges in the
league. We'll find our way. We have our way to kind of rejuvenate and get
rolling. They’ve got to do the same thing. It's just a battle and hopefully we'll get
our guys back and going.”

(On if was in pain or execution issue with Smith before he came back in)

“He couldn't throw it for a little while.”

(On his confidence in QB Drew Lock’s readiness for Thursday night)

“Shoot, we're going to count on him to win the football game.”

(On if he knows how long RB Kenneth Walker III will be out)

“No, he’s sore though. I know that. It was legit.”

(On if Smith has the option to throw or it was just a the flow and design of
the play to run no matter what on the play on the final drive after the big
catch)

“We didn't do it right. I'm just going to tell you. We didn't do it right. We didn't do
that exactly the way we'd like to do that. It didn't come out right. We'll tell you
more about it tomorrow.”

(On his frustration level after starting off with a fast start on offense then
things getting stagnant in the second half)

“Yeah, we really were controlling the game but it was still only scored 13 points
or something like that. It felt like we were in really good shape and like one
touchdown felt like it's a close game after all that we had done, you know? We
need to capitalize and get those touchdowns. You get just one of the two field
goal drives. I think we went down the first three times we had the ball, did we
not? We looked very clean and very sharp and everything was like we like it.
So, [we] just got to sustain it. I think (R Kenny (Walker III) went out right in
there somewhere, that affected us a little bit. We had the ability to execute on
this day. And we didn’t… not enough though.”

(On the status of S Jamal Adams)

“We're trying to get him back. We'll find out. He was trying to get right. He
couldn't quite get ready for this game. It was close, but he couldn't do it. So
we'll see what happens this week coming up.”

(On the status of S Jerrick Reed II)

“(S) Jerrick Reed hurt his knee and I don't know… Are you talking about (NT)
Jarran Reed or (S) Jerrick Reed? Yeah, he hurt his knee. We don't know to
what extent yet.”

Seahawks QB Geno Smith

(On how he is feeling)

“A little sore. Not the best, but God's good so I'll just keep pushing.”

(On if a helmet hit his elbow)

“Yeah.”
(On playing through the pain during the final drive)

“Just trying to go out there and make plays and get us in a position to win the
game. Was still hurting, obviously didn't do enough.”

(On if there was thought on stopping the clock after the catch by WR DK
Metcalf)

“Yeah, I guess there was an outage or something but no play came in my
helmet, so I called the quickest play I could in that situation. Try to maybe get a
few more yards, called a run play thought we had a chance and really didn't
work out how we thought it would.”

(On if he had lost communication at any other point of the game)

“Just on that play.”

(On if it was curious to him that he only lost communication on that play)

“I don't know. I'm just worried about the game, trying to win.”

(On if his elbow was hurting in that moment)

“Yea, it hurts.”

(On if he had to convince coaches to go back into the game)

“I really just had to try to do my best to fight through the pain. That was the
main thing is pain tolerance and just try my best to just fight through it and keep
going.”

(On if he thinks he will be able to play on Thursday)

“We’ll see how it goes.”

(On how concerned he was initially when he got hit)

“Yeah, I was concerned, just hurting, still hurting, but like I said, God is good so
I'm still going.”

(On if not knowing whether or not he will play on Thursday is due to the
short week)

“Yeah, I think it's just the human body. You got to see how it reacts.”

(On if he was good on his left side side)

“Yes, totally fine.”

(On if his mic ever started working again)

“Pretty much was done after that. We had to kick a field goal, clock it, kick a
field goal.”

(On how often he loses communication in a game)

“It could happen at any time, but it does happen probably more often than you
guys know about, but it does happen. You just got to try to make a call. That's
the situation where if you weren't in two minutes, you probably call time out or
have more time to go to the sideline and get a play. But clock's running, you got
to make a fast call and that's what I did.”

(On if the play was designed to set K Jason Myers for the field goal
attempt)

“Yeah, we're not even thinking about that at that point. We're really just trying to
get to the next play and try to get as many yards as we can to make that field
goal a little bit easier for him.”

(On the process for him to come back into the game)

“Just feeling like I could throw. Feeling like I could obviously go out there and
execute and help the team.”

(On why was it important for him to come back into the game and finish)

“It's just how I am. I'm always going to try to finish the game if I can.”

(On why he decided to call a run play on the final drive)

“I thought we had a good chance. You guys will watch the film I'm sure and
then you'll see what happened.”

(On what changed in the run game as the game progressed)

“I feel like they stopped us. That was the main thing. I feel like, obviously,
they're got great players too so they stopped us, and you got to give your hats
off to them. They made the plays.”

(On what he meant by having ‘good chance” to do)

“Get more yards.”

--RAMS--

---

#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