Transcripts - Rams Head Coach Sean McVay, Rams QB Matthew Stafford, Browns Head Coach Kevin Stefanski, Browns QB Joe Flacco- Sunday, December 3, 2023
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Los Angeles Rams Transcripts - Rams Head
Coach Sean McVay, Rams QB Matthew
Stafford, Browns Head Coach Kevin
Stefanski, Browns QB Joe Flacco- Sunday,
December 3, 2023
Rams Head Coach Sean McVay
(Opening Remarks)
“Okay guys, really great job by our guys being able to find a way. I thought it
came to life at the most important moments. Really felt like the turning point in
the game was (D
John Johnson's interception and we've talked about playing
complimentary ball. I think that's been on display, especially the last two weeks,
but what a huge play that was. And I thought (Q Matthew (Stafford) made
play after play against an unbelievable defense. (WR) Puka Nacua obviously
made his presence felt really early in the game, ended up battling back, made a
lot of plays with his legs as a runner too, one that ends up getting called back.
That would've been a huge play for us. (WR) Cooper Kupp makes a huge play.
(R Kyren Williams made his plays. I thought (WR) Demarcus Robinson had
four huge catches for us. It was good to be able to see him do his thing,
offensive line. And then defensively, I just love the way that we battled. We got
off the grass on third down. We weathered the storm after they ended up
scoring early on. Obviously (Browns Q Joe (Flacco) is a great quarterback.
They did a lot of really good things, but we came to life in the most important
moments and I was really pleased with the overall effort for our team and what
a great challenge we've got next week.”
(On Nacua’s ribs)
“I'm not sure. It was his shoulder and his rib. What an unbelievable catch he
makes on the sideline. I thought he was dead and then he comes back to life.
But he is a tough, I don't know… can I say that anymore? I don't know what I
can say, but he is such a tough competitor the way that he battles through
things, the physicality at which he plays this game. He brings an energy to our
team that I think you guys can all feel when you watch. It's why he's so fun as a
competitor, whether he’s got the ball or whether he doesn't have the ball. And I
think Kyren Williams has continued to demonstrate how important he is to our
offense. He had some really hard, tough earned yards, tough runs to be able to
close out that game at the end. And a lot of guys that deserve a lot of credit
and, hey, let's keep taking steps.”
(On if he knew Nacua would return)
“I didn't. I just know that you got to be able to kind of move on. You hope that
he's going to be okay. Then when (Vice-President of Sports Medicine and
Performance) Reggie Scott tells me, hey, he's going to try to give it a go…
nothing surprises me with him anymore. Congratulations to him as well, setting
a rookie franchise record for receiving. He's done a great job and the best thing
about him is he's going to just continue to get better, continue to be coachable
and accountable and only going to take steps in this type of direction and we
love him.”
(On if he’s seeing the team develop toughness)
“I did. I think it has really been on display throughout the course of the season
we maybe just haven't always gotten the results that we wanted. But I'm seeing
a mentally and physically tough team. I'm seeing guys stay connected. I'm
seeing guys create their own energy. They create an energy that makes it so
fun to be able to go to work and continue to push in the right direction. I'm
seeing great leadership from a lot of our veterans and now we've got to just
keep it going. It's a long season. It's been a really good start coming off of the
bye to be able to go three for three. We're going to be just in the moment one
day at a time and if we continue to play this way, then you continue to have
conversations where you're relevant to maybe earn an opportunity to play
afterwards but that's so far away from our thought process. I'm really just loving
working with this group.”
(On the mindset of the team playing December football)
“I think what they've shown is that they can really be able to gather themselves
after the bye and continue to really get better. I think the best teams get better
and I've seen that each of the last three weeks. I've seen us play as a team.
I've seen us be able to complement each other offensively, defensively. We got
to do some better stuff in the kicking game. That's something that we have to
be able to improve upon and I'm confident that we will. I know we've got the
right guys leading it with (Special Teams Coordinator) Chase (Blackburn) and
with (Asst. Special Teams Jeremy Springer) ‘Spring’, but I'm really pleased with
that today. It continues to mean that if you do a good job in these types of
games, playing meaningful December football is really what you want. And
certainly, our guys are putting themselves in a position to do that."
(On the defense before and after the interception from Johnson)
“I thought they did a really good job overall. Like I mentioned, just kind of
weathering the storm after the first drive, but I thought our run defense… I
thought we did a good job being able to get off the field on third downs.
Seemed like our coverage was really sticky and then I thought we did a pretty
good job of rushing with integrity and they made some plays. You give them
credit, but I thought that play that JJ made was huge. John Johnson III right
there, as you would say, but he's been such a big, bright spot for us. He's got
such great command, such great communication. He and (D Jordan (Fuller)
over the last couple weeks have done a great job manning the safety positions
and then for him to make that play against his old team, be able to make a
great return to be able to already put us what it would be in scoring position,
then for us to be able to cap that off. I did think that was the play of the game
and I thought that was where the turning point came into play.”
(On Nacua blocking after coming back into the game from an injury)
“He's a grown man for a rookie. The way he plays this game, even when you
look at the way that we were operating where it's pretty obvious the run concept
that we're running, the type of play where the point of attack is and he was right
there and did a great job against as good a defense as there is in this league.
And I thought our guys really answered the bell. We got tremendous respect for
this league knowing that every single week there's so many different challenges
that you have to navigate through. But I'm really loving working with this group.
Puka definitely embodies a lot of the things that are right about this team.”
(On staying aggressive late in the game and going for a touchdown
instead of settling for a field goal)
“There was a lot of debate right there. You know, really, you got so much
respect for some of the guys that can potentially block a field goal. [We] had a
couple things that didn't go the way that we wanted in what we feel like was,
you know, high-percentage situations. And so, I would be willing to bet you that
a lot of people would say, ‘Just run it down to 30 seconds, kick the field goal to
go up 11 and then, you know, don't even give them any time to potentially have
what [QB Joe] Flacco did against the Browns a year ago.’ So it was some
debate, but I think out of respect for their field-goal-block operation, we said
let's make sure we have great ball security but if we can punch it in, Kyren’s on
my fantasy team. It's a joke! It's a joke! I don't really mean that, all right?
Kidding.”
(On the special pairing of veteran DT Aaron Donald with rookie NT Kobie
Turner and what he’s seeing out of them)
“I think Kobie’s a really inquisitive guy. He's mature beyond his years. I think a
lot of these rookies, whether you talk about [Rams WR] Puka Nacua, whether
you talk about Kobie Turner, Byron Young, Steve Avila, a lot of these guys are
really mature beyond their years and they're doing a great job of accelerating
their progress. But when you've got guys that can really show you the ropes,
there's nobody better than Aaron Donald to be able to model the way. And his
consistency, the way that he goes about it, I've been so fortunate and blessed
to be able to coach a player like him and really a lot of our veteran leaders that
have poured into these guys. And I think they deserve a ton of credit but also
those leaders for being able to help accelerate their progress because I think
seeing is more powerful than anything that we can say. And the way that
they've poured into these guys is really starting to show itself and it's got to
continue to be a theme if we want to go where we're hoping to go.”
(On Stafford threading the needle to hit Nacua for a 70-yard touchdown)
“He's awesome. Matthew is a baller. He plays his best at the most important
moments and I think you've seen that over the last few weeks. It was great to
be able to see him make crunch-time play after crunch-time play and be able to
sustain scoring drives. And there were a lot of things that he was doing,
whether it was getting us in and out of the right play…You know, like the one
long touchdown that he makes to Puka, that's a check that he ended up making
up where I'm saying, ‘Shoot, what the heck am I supposed to do? You know,
you're playing quarterback and you're doing our job.’ But it just goes to show
you what a special player he is to be able to say, ‘Hey if we get a certain look
and I recognize it, how would this be to try to attack the back end of the
coverage contour and what protection?’ And I'm sitting there saying, ‘That's a
pretty good idea. I should have thought of that earlier in the week.’ And he
made it come to life. And then Puka being able to finish for a 70-yard
touchdown was big early in the game. But Matthew's a baller. He had another
great game and he's going to continue to play really well for us.”
(On how he prepped for Browns QB Joe Flacco)
“I thought they did a really good job. You know, we tried to be able to analyze
some of the different things that [Browns Head Coach] Kevin [Stefanksi] and
[Offensive Line] Coach [Bill] Callahan and those guys and [Browns Offensive
Coordinator] Coach Van Pelt have done. You knew that they were going to be
committed to running the ball. They've mixed up personnel groupings well. But
it was more about being able to play rules ball and they've always been a good
team to be able to move the spot. Whether it's Deshaun [Watson] playing,
whether it's ‘DTR’ [Dorian Thompson-Robinson] or even PJ Walker. Kevin's
always done a great job of being able to marry the run in the pass and I thought
they did that today.”
Rams Quarterback Matthew Stafford
(On his overall thoughts on the game)
“Yeah that's a tough team. They play really good defense. I thought (Q Joe
(Flacco) played really well on the opposite side of the ball for them as well.
They ran it well. That's a complete football team, obviously having a solid
season so great to get a win against a team like that. It was a total team win
again. Offense did some nice things, put up some points. Defense got a
turnover, really two there at the end with the safety. It was a total team effort
and great to come out with a win.”
(On what he saw on the 70-yard touchdown pass to Nacua and what he
felt on the throw)
“Can’t give away my secrets. No, but that was something actually that we had
talked about, (Head coach) Sean (McVay) and I had talked about. I kind of
wanted to try to get to something like that if I could feel that one coming and
was able to bounce out back into the shotgun. Obviously, (WR) Puka (Nacua)
did a great job of kind of late hands(ing) that thing, not letting the linebacker
know the ball was coming and then finishing it off with the touchdown was
huge, big momentum play. A team like that that's holding teams to 100 and
whatever it is, 15, 20 yards passing, anytime you can get 70 in one play is a
huge one. It was great to get that one done.”
(On working through his own injuries in games and what he felt when
Nacua dealt with his injury and returned to the game)
“It was great, it was awesome. You never know what’s truly going on. I'm sure
our guys took him back in here, took great care of him, figured out what was
going on and helped him get back out there. He’s a tough kid. Obviously had a
great run that got called back on a tough one there, but really impacted the
game in a bunch of ways and I thought all our guys on the outside really
competed well which was great.”
(On the process of getting WR Demarcus Robinson involved and having a
big day today)
“He’s been doing a great job in practice. We rotate those guys as much as we
possibly can at all spots just to kind of get everybody reps and time. But he's a
pro. He's played in this league for a while. He's made big plays and big
moments. [I have] total trust in him and thought he had a nice job.”
(On Johnson's interception and how orchestrating the touchdown drive
afterwards sparked both sides of the ball)
“It was great. That's complimentary football, right? We get a big turnover, a pick
by (D John (Johnson and a great return too. Not just going down right there
set us up with a short field and [we were] able to punch that one in, which is
huge. That's a huge point swing for us. We're able to do that and that's how you
kind of run away with stuff at the end. Otherwise, it can be a little closer than
you want. [I’m] just proud of him. I'm proud of our guys for finishing it the way
they did.”
(On the team playing well since the bye week and if it feels like they’re
rolling into a playoff team)
“Yeah, you [have] to prove it every week. I think that's what we're doing. We're
coming out every single week in practice, proving it Wednesday, Thursday,
Friday. Every time we step on the grass, we got an opportunity to go get better
and that's all we're trying to do. Each team is a new opponent, a different
matchup of how are we going to scheme to win this game? There's no question
about that. But really, it's all about us going out there and executing and doing
our job and I thought our guys did a great job at today.”
(On the progress from training camp to now and how the team has
showed up in terms of toughness)
“I think you learn a lot about a team when you go through some adversity. We
obviously did that early on in this season, personnel wise, outcome wise,
whatever it was, our guys have done a great job of just continuing to work and
that's the kind of stuff that pays off in the end. It's not rocket science. Let's go
out there, continue to work, trust each other, trust in yourself and go out there
and play. We've been able to do that and it’s showed up the last three
Sundays.”
(On what’s good for the team when the offense and defense are able to
pick each other up)
“Yeah, that's NFL football. That’s how you win football games. They're never
going to be perfect. There are going to be ups and downs, ebbs, and flows, and
being able to weather those storms, continue to trust each other. I have total
confidence in both sides of the ball and really the kicking game as well to go out
there and execute when we need to. We were able to do that which was great.”
(On the offensive line’s ability to protect today)
“Thank you. I was going to say something if nobody asked me. My guys we're
balling today so I was so fired up. That's a hell of a rush. They were bringing
pressures, they were rushing four, they were doing all sorts of stuff to us and
our guys to step up there and protect the way they did today was amazing. And
then be able to really lean on them in the fourth quarter too and run the rock
when we needed to. A couple times Kyren (Williams) got downhill and we were
able to ice the game that way. So proud of those guys. It shows up the way
they work, the way they go about their business every single day. I thought we
had a great plan but shoot, we threw the rock. We weren't sitting there just
protecting those guys up front. We were just saying let's go play our game and
have a lot of confidence in those guys and proud of the way they played.”
(On the growth and maturation he’s seen from the young defensive
players)
“Yeah, I think it's a great mix. There's a bunch of young guys and there are
some guys and veteran guys in all kind of three levels of the defense to kind of
bring guys along, which is awesome. It goes back to just showing up to work
and ready to go, right? Find a way to get better every single day. Those guys
are doing that. It's really awesome to watch them do it and it hasn't been some
early success in some games the last couple games, but man, have they nailed
it down and found a way to make adjustments, continue to play hard, continue
to trust themselves and trust one another. It's been great.”
(On how the confidence factor in his offensive line is helping him out)
“It's been good. I think we rushed for what, 200 something last week. We're
able to protect against a great offensive or a defensive line this week, also ran
the ball well too. So it starts up front on both sides of the ball and I think both
sides of the line of scrimmage for us are doing a hell of a job and it's fun to be a
part of a team that’s got some guys that are ready to go out there, play
physical, play fast, play hard, and they're doing that.”
(On left guard Steve Avila’s performance)
“He's done a nice job. It's tough to come in and play offensive line as a young
guy. I think having Coleman (Shelton) next to him is great and Alaric (Jackson)
as well. So, all three of those guys, really all five of those guys up front are
playing at a high level. Steve's doing a really nice job for a young guy.”
Browns Head Coach Kevin Stefanski
(Opening Statement)
“Okay, (WR) Amari (Cooper) has a concussion. Obviously the outcome, very
disappointed. felt like we had a chance there but [the] game got away from
us. So we got to look at some things and got to find a way to close out that
game and put ourselves in a better position, offense, defense, special teams.
We didn't do it enough in that game. So credit to the Rams. They did a nice job
obviously and we have to learn from it. And then I know this, we have a big one
next week at our place, AFC opponent. So we got to get back to work. With
that, I'll take any questions.”
(On QB Joe Flacco’s overall performance)
“Yeah, obviously the interception, he's trying to make a play, but he did some
really good things today. He put us in a position. We got to come away with the
points. We, the offense, myself, we have to come up with the points.”
(On if Flacco will be the starting quarterback going forward)
“I'm not going to get into all of that.”
(On what inspired the home run ball when there was six minutes left)
“It wasn't really…It's a play action. All your play actions have options on them,
not necessarily has to be a home run goal, like you said, but we'll learn from it.”
(On how much of a strain it was losing WR Amari Cooper in this game)
“Yeah, disappointed for (WR) Amari (Cooper). Obviously, he's a big part of
what we do but we trust the guys to step up in his place.”
(On if Flacco met his expectations)
“Yeah, yes.”
(On what he was most impressed by in Flacco’s performance)
“Yeah, I thought he saw it well, made good decisions, got us in the correct
plays and all those types of things. He operated well and did what we expected
him to do.”
(On if losing CB Denzel Ward and DE Myles Garrett being injured put
pressure on him to score more points)
“Not necessarily that way, we felt like we had to score points in this game, felt
like that was going to be the game. We’re always looking at things that you can
do better, but yeah, we did feel like we had to score.”
(On how concerned he is about their defense the last few weeks)
“As you guys know, listen, it's a long season. You're going to have some good
days and some bad days. We just got to learn from it.”
(On if he thought Garrett’s shoulder affected his play)
“I don’t know. That's not fair for me to say. You'd have to ask him. They did a
nice job.”
(On what he thought wasn't clicking with the pass rush)
“Yeah, again, I think they did a nice job. He (Rams QB Matthew Stafford) got
the ball out quickly at times. Then when they held it, [the] protection seemed to
be holding up and found some deep balls.”
(On his optimism about Ward coming back)
“Yeah, we'll see. Again, I think I'll know more in the middle of the week.”
(On if he thought the false start calls were bad calls)
“We got called on it last week, which we don't teach moving the ball. And what's
going on right now is the Eagles sneak. I think they're very aware and alert to
teams moving the ball forward in short yardage. We weren't sneaking the ball,
so there was no advantage to us moving the ball. (C) Ethan (Pocic) doesn't do
that. He addresses the ball like he always does. So I just feel like with that
situation, what happens is you put the officials on an alert for something. You
send out a tape during the week and they're hyper-vigilant if you will. We're not
teaching that. We don't care about the four inches. We're not running a
quarterback sneak in those situations. It's frustrating. We don't teach it. That's
part of the game that you hope to play clean and those are big moments. I'll try
and get an answer on that, but it's very frustrating.”
(On Flacco’s efficiency in his return)
“I think we had a good week of practice, had a good feel for what we were
doing, felt like he operated well. Again, we’ll look at areas that we can get
better.”
(On RB Jerome Ford's success in run and pass game)
“I think it's important for our running backs to be versatile in the run and the
pass. Jerome’s made plays for us in both areas throughout the season and he's
going have to continue to do that.”
(On WR Elijah Moore’s best game of his season)
“Some of it is obviously (WR) Amari (Cooper) being out and there's only one
football so you're trying to get all those guys touches and he stepped into
Amari’s role in a lot of ways.”
(On if his lengthy discussion with official was about the challenge or false
start penalty)
“Still the false start.”
(On coming to LA a week early for practice)
“I think you got to judge it regardless of the outcome, whether you win or lose or
not. So for us, we got our work done. We, the guys, did a very nice job getting
everything done out here in LA that we get done in Berea. So I was proud of
that. I was proud of this organization and the support staff that put everything
together for us. They did a great job.”
(On how well Stafford has been playing)
“Yeah, he's very talented. He can make every throw. As you know, he made
plays today. He put some balls where not many people can put them. He did a
great job.”
Browns Quarterback Joe Flacco
(On playing quarterback again and how he felt he played)
“It was obviously a lot of fun to be out there and play football again, especially
with that group of guys. You can tell just being here in a short time that it’s a
great locker room. So it was definitely a lot of fun to be out there. Obviously not
fun in the end and how it ended.”
(On takeaways from this game)
“I guess you can talk about that at some point and I would assume you hope
that you can always learn something in these situations, but I think right now it's
kind of tough to sit there and reflect on positives of an outcome like that. It was
one of those games that you just had to stay patient and wait for it to come to
you and just wasn't able to do that quite enough.”
(On his interception in the fourth quarter)
“You know what, they just kind of matched everybody up and I was in the
pocket a long time and ultimately, it was just a bad decision. I was late throwing
that pass. Really wanted to get WR Ced (Tillman). But like I said, they kind of
just matched everything up. I had time in the pocket, but lost track of the safety
there.”
(On if the ball came out of his hand the way he wanted it to on the
interception)
“It wasn't bad. I was trying to like back shoulder him a little bit, WR Elijah
(Moore). I thought I had more space out there but like I said, when you're in the
pocket that long and you're kind of staring that way the whole time, you have to
be aware that the safety's floating around back there and you have to be able
to make a play like that.”
(On other options for the interception)
“Throw the ball away. Maybe run for five yards.”
(On if there was another pass option on the interception)
“I guess you probably could have = tried to stuff it into WR Cedric (Tillman) but I
went to my check down after that and like I said, they just kind of matched
everything.”
(On if he saw Moore open during the interception)
“I didn't see him wide open. I just figured, all right, I'm kind of standing here, I'm
going to give him a shot. I'm going to give him a shot. I had thrown a couple
balls away in the game and I kind of viewed that as another opportunity to
throw the ball away slash maybe give him a shot. And like I said, it was too late
and the safety's back there playing center field.”
(On his feelings about getting the opportunity to start again next week)
“I think anytime you get a little taste of playing football you want to keep that
going for as long as possible.”
(On clicking with Moore)
“Obviously with WR Amari (Cooper) going out, guys need to step up. I'm just
trying to run the offense the way that it needs to be run and if those guys are in
those situations and are getting open then they should get the ball. WR Elijah
(Moore) has a lot of talent and especially when he can kind of get involved
early, he shows a lot of juice throughout the game.”
(On missing Cooper)
“I think it's tough to put your finger on exactly how much but listen, he's
definitely a receiver that kind of pops off the screen at you. I've been at home
watching all year and when the Browns games come on, you definitely notice
him. So like I said, it's tough to kind of measure that in a game like this but he is
a really good player.”
(On if he felt rusty starting this game)
“It's tough to say. It's going be tough to sit up here and judge some of the things
that I probably went through. I think usually you get to go out there in an OTA
and make sure that you can read defenses and anticipate throws and things
like that so to do it in a game for the first time I honestly didn't really think too
much about it. I had the normal pregame thoughts and all that. I think the one
thing I would think about is the decision that I made at the end of the game and
that was it. It does matter.”
(On if he feels encouraged by his performance or upset at the
interception)
“Yeah, I'm just upset at myself. Listen, I know I can play. I think every time you
go take the field, you're obviously proving to yourself and proving to other
people that you can play the game but deep down I know I can play the game
so that's not my thought process at this point. My thought process is just
disappointed in myself and these are the games that I honestly love to be in.
They come down to the fourth quarter and they're not pretty and they're going
to be tight. I think I excel in the games that are played tight and need to have
good decisions be made. So to not come through in that kind of situation, it
definitely stings a little bit.”
(On if he believes the team can make a run to the postseason)
“I do. I think you guys have watched these guys all year. They're a resilient
group and they’ve got a lot of talent. It's one of the more talented teams I've
been on in a while and you can tell that right away. So it's not easy when you
take these long road trips and you come up empty handed and right now we're
not going to be able to reflect too much, but hopefully when we get back in
there during the week we can go out and have more good practices and
eventually put this thing behind us.”
(On why the Browns running game was not up to its usual standards
today)
“I really expected us to have some space out there and be able to do some
things. I think late in the game there on the second to last real drive where we
ended up scoring, I do think you saw us loaded up a little bit and started to get
some seams and looked like we were going to wear them down a little bit. It's
just a shame that we didn't put ourselves in position to kind of do that the next
drive. I think if we just get that started with either a three-yard rush by me or a
throw away, and then you kind of give ourselves more chances to complete a
pass and do more of that… I think it's one of those games that even though it
wasn't going early, you would've seen it kind of pop in the last few minutes of
the game there and helped us out.”
(On how he feels physically)
“Yeah, it felt good. Listen, I think I was very fortunate today to have the guys up
front protect the way they did. So physically I felt great.”
(On what he saw from Ford’s performance)
“Just the vision and when to hit it and he has a lot of ability. Obviously with Nick
(Chubb) going down early in the year, you probably expected a little bit of a
drop off but I think we've been able to run the ball pretty consistently all year.
So you expect those things as a team to be better than it was today. But he
definitely has a spark.”
(On the slugfest with Stafford and his disappointment to not finish it the
way he wanted)
“That's right, exactly what we talked about. You want to be the guy that prevails
in those types of games and it stinks when you don’t.”
(On if he felt comfortable operationally)
“I did, felt good calling the plays and getting in the huddle and listening to
(Coach) Kevin (Stefanski). I don't think we really had any issues either with
that. It wasn't like we were trying to hide stuff in the huddle. I think if you ask
people, it was probably pretty good operationally.”
--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
Coach Sean McVay, Rams QB Matthew
Stafford, Browns Head Coach Kevin
Stefanski, Browns QB Joe Flacco- Sunday,
December 3, 2023
Rams Head Coach Sean McVay
(Opening Remarks)
“Okay guys, really great job by our guys being able to find a way. I thought it
came to life at the most important moments. Really felt like the turning point in
the game was (D
John Johnson's interception and we've talked about playingcomplimentary ball. I think that's been on display, especially the last two weeks,
but what a huge play that was. And I thought (Q
Matthew (Stafford) madeplay after play against an unbelievable defense. (WR) Puka Nacua obviously
made his presence felt really early in the game, ended up battling back, made a
lot of plays with his legs as a runner too, one that ends up getting called back.
That would've been a huge play for us. (WR) Cooper Kupp makes a huge play.
(R
Kyren Williams made his plays. I thought (WR) Demarcus Robinson hadfour huge catches for us. It was good to be able to see him do his thing,
offensive line. And then defensively, I just love the way that we battled. We got
off the grass on third down. We weathered the storm after they ended up
scoring early on. Obviously (Browns Q
Joe (Flacco) is a great quarterback.They did a lot of really good things, but we came to life in the most important
moments and I was really pleased with the overall effort for our team and what
a great challenge we've got next week.”
(On Nacua’s ribs)
“I'm not sure. It was his shoulder and his rib. What an unbelievable catch he
makes on the sideline. I thought he was dead and then he comes back to life.
But he is a tough, I don't know… can I say that anymore? I don't know what I
can say, but he is such a tough competitor the way that he battles through
things, the physicality at which he plays this game. He brings an energy to our
team that I think you guys can all feel when you watch. It's why he's so fun as a
competitor, whether he’s got the ball or whether he doesn't have the ball. And I
think Kyren Williams has continued to demonstrate how important he is to our
offense. He had some really hard, tough earned yards, tough runs to be able to
close out that game at the end. And a lot of guys that deserve a lot of credit
and, hey, let's keep taking steps.”
(On if he knew Nacua would return)
“I didn't. I just know that you got to be able to kind of move on. You hope that
he's going to be okay. Then when (Vice-President of Sports Medicine and
Performance) Reggie Scott tells me, hey, he's going to try to give it a go…
nothing surprises me with him anymore. Congratulations to him as well, setting
a rookie franchise record for receiving. He's done a great job and the best thing
about him is he's going to just continue to get better, continue to be coachable
and accountable and only going to take steps in this type of direction and we
love him.”
(On if he’s seeing the team develop toughness)
“I did. I think it has really been on display throughout the course of the season
we maybe just haven't always gotten the results that we wanted. But I'm seeing
a mentally and physically tough team. I'm seeing guys stay connected. I'm
seeing guys create their own energy. They create an energy that makes it so
fun to be able to go to work and continue to push in the right direction. I'm
seeing great leadership from a lot of our veterans and now we've got to just
keep it going. It's a long season. It's been a really good start coming off of the
bye to be able to go three for three. We're going to be just in the moment one
day at a time and if we continue to play this way, then you continue to have
conversations where you're relevant to maybe earn an opportunity to play
afterwards but that's so far away from our thought process. I'm really just loving
working with this group.”
(On the mindset of the team playing December football)
“I think what they've shown is that they can really be able to gather themselves
after the bye and continue to really get better. I think the best teams get better
and I've seen that each of the last three weeks. I've seen us play as a team.
I've seen us be able to complement each other offensively, defensively. We got
to do some better stuff in the kicking game. That's something that we have to
be able to improve upon and I'm confident that we will. I know we've got the
right guys leading it with (Special Teams Coordinator) Chase (Blackburn) and
with (Asst. Special Teams Jeremy Springer) ‘Spring’, but I'm really pleased with
that today. It continues to mean that if you do a good job in these types of
games, playing meaningful December football is really what you want. And
certainly, our guys are putting themselves in a position to do that."
(On the defense before and after the interception from Johnson)
“I thought they did a really good job overall. Like I mentioned, just kind of
weathering the storm after the first drive, but I thought our run defense… I
thought we did a good job being able to get off the field on third downs.
Seemed like our coverage was really sticky and then I thought we did a pretty
good job of rushing with integrity and they made some plays. You give them
credit, but I thought that play that JJ made was huge. John Johnson III right
there, as you would say, but he's been such a big, bright spot for us. He's got
such great command, such great communication. He and (D
Jordan (Fuller)over the last couple weeks have done a great job manning the safety positions
and then for him to make that play against his old team, be able to make a
great return to be able to already put us what it would be in scoring position,
then for us to be able to cap that off. I did think that was the play of the game
and I thought that was where the turning point came into play.”
(On Nacua blocking after coming back into the game from an injury)
“He's a grown man for a rookie. The way he plays this game, even when you
look at the way that we were operating where it's pretty obvious the run concept
that we're running, the type of play where the point of attack is and he was right
there and did a great job against as good a defense as there is in this league.
And I thought our guys really answered the bell. We got tremendous respect for
this league knowing that every single week there's so many different challenges
that you have to navigate through. But I'm really loving working with this group.
Puka definitely embodies a lot of the things that are right about this team.”
(On staying aggressive late in the game and going for a touchdown
instead of settling for a field goal)
“There was a lot of debate right there. You know, really, you got so much
respect for some of the guys that can potentially block a field goal. [We] had a
couple things that didn't go the way that we wanted in what we feel like was,
you know, high-percentage situations. And so, I would be willing to bet you that
a lot of people would say, ‘Just run it down to 30 seconds, kick the field goal to
go up 11 and then, you know, don't even give them any time to potentially have
what [QB Joe] Flacco did against the Browns a year ago.’ So it was some
debate, but I think out of respect for their field-goal-block operation, we said
let's make sure we have great ball security but if we can punch it in, Kyren’s on
my fantasy team. It's a joke! It's a joke! I don't really mean that, all right?
Kidding.”
(On the special pairing of veteran DT Aaron Donald with rookie NT Kobie
Turner and what he’s seeing out of them)
“I think Kobie’s a really inquisitive guy. He's mature beyond his years. I think a
lot of these rookies, whether you talk about [Rams WR] Puka Nacua, whether
you talk about Kobie Turner, Byron Young, Steve Avila, a lot of these guys are
really mature beyond their years and they're doing a great job of accelerating
their progress. But when you've got guys that can really show you the ropes,
there's nobody better than Aaron Donald to be able to model the way. And his
consistency, the way that he goes about it, I've been so fortunate and blessed
to be able to coach a player like him and really a lot of our veteran leaders that
have poured into these guys. And I think they deserve a ton of credit but also
those leaders for being able to help accelerate their progress because I think
seeing is more powerful than anything that we can say. And the way that
they've poured into these guys is really starting to show itself and it's got to
continue to be a theme if we want to go where we're hoping to go.”
(On Stafford threading the needle to hit Nacua for a 70-yard touchdown)
“He's awesome. Matthew is a baller. He plays his best at the most important
moments and I think you've seen that over the last few weeks. It was great to
be able to see him make crunch-time play after crunch-time play and be able to
sustain scoring drives. And there were a lot of things that he was doing,
whether it was getting us in and out of the right play…You know, like the one
long touchdown that he makes to Puka, that's a check that he ended up making
up where I'm saying, ‘Shoot, what the heck am I supposed to do? You know,
you're playing quarterback and you're doing our job.’ But it just goes to show
you what a special player he is to be able to say, ‘Hey if we get a certain look
and I recognize it, how would this be to try to attack the back end of the
coverage contour and what protection?’ And I'm sitting there saying, ‘That's a
pretty good idea. I should have thought of that earlier in the week.’ And he
made it come to life. And then Puka being able to finish for a 70-yard
touchdown was big early in the game. But Matthew's a baller. He had another
great game and he's going to continue to play really well for us.”
(On how he prepped for Browns QB Joe Flacco)
“I thought they did a really good job. You know, we tried to be able to analyze
some of the different things that [Browns Head Coach] Kevin [Stefanksi] and
[Offensive Line] Coach [Bill] Callahan and those guys and [Browns Offensive
Coordinator] Coach Van Pelt have done. You knew that they were going to be
committed to running the ball. They've mixed up personnel groupings well. But
it was more about being able to play rules ball and they've always been a good
team to be able to move the spot. Whether it's Deshaun [Watson] playing,
whether it's ‘DTR’ [Dorian Thompson-Robinson] or even PJ Walker. Kevin's
always done a great job of being able to marry the run in the pass and I thought
they did that today.”
Rams Quarterback Matthew Stafford
(On his overall thoughts on the game)
“Yeah that's a tough team. They play really good defense. I thought (Q
Joe(Flacco) played really well on the opposite side of the ball for them as well.
They ran it well. That's a complete football team, obviously having a solid
season so great to get a win against a team like that. It was a total team win
again. Offense did some nice things, put up some points. Defense got a
turnover, really two there at the end with the safety. It was a total team effort
and great to come out with a win.”
(On what he saw on the 70-yard touchdown pass to Nacua and what he
felt on the throw)
“Can’t give away my secrets. No, but that was something actually that we had
talked about, (Head coach) Sean (McVay) and I had talked about. I kind of
wanted to try to get to something like that if I could feel that one coming and
was able to bounce out back into the shotgun. Obviously, (WR) Puka (Nacua)
did a great job of kind of late hands(ing) that thing, not letting the linebacker
know the ball was coming and then finishing it off with the touchdown was
huge, big momentum play. A team like that that's holding teams to 100 and
whatever it is, 15, 20 yards passing, anytime you can get 70 in one play is a
huge one. It was great to get that one done.”
(On working through his own injuries in games and what he felt when
Nacua dealt with his injury and returned to the game)
“It was great, it was awesome. You never know what’s truly going on. I'm sure
our guys took him back in here, took great care of him, figured out what was
going on and helped him get back out there. He’s a tough kid. Obviously had a
great run that got called back on a tough one there, but really impacted the
game in a bunch of ways and I thought all our guys on the outside really
competed well which was great.”
(On the process of getting WR Demarcus Robinson involved and having a
big day today)
“He’s been doing a great job in practice. We rotate those guys as much as we
possibly can at all spots just to kind of get everybody reps and time. But he's a
pro. He's played in this league for a while. He's made big plays and big
moments. [I have] total trust in him and thought he had a nice job.”
(On Johnson's interception and how orchestrating the touchdown drive
afterwards sparked both sides of the ball)
“It was great. That's complimentary football, right? We get a big turnover, a pick
by (D
John (Johnson and a great return too. Not just going down right thereset us up with a short field and [we were] able to punch that one in, which is
huge. That's a huge point swing for us. We're able to do that and that's how you
kind of run away with stuff at the end. Otherwise, it can be a little closer than
you want. [I’m] just proud of him. I'm proud of our guys for finishing it the way
they did.”
(On the team playing well since the bye week and if it feels like they’re
rolling into a playoff team)
“Yeah, you [have] to prove it every week. I think that's what we're doing. We're
coming out every single week in practice, proving it Wednesday, Thursday,
Friday. Every time we step on the grass, we got an opportunity to go get better
and that's all we're trying to do. Each team is a new opponent, a different
matchup of how are we going to scheme to win this game? There's no question
about that. But really, it's all about us going out there and executing and doing
our job and I thought our guys did a great job at today.”
(On the progress from training camp to now and how the team has
showed up in terms of toughness)
“I think you learn a lot about a team when you go through some adversity. We
obviously did that early on in this season, personnel wise, outcome wise,
whatever it was, our guys have done a great job of just continuing to work and
that's the kind of stuff that pays off in the end. It's not rocket science. Let's go
out there, continue to work, trust each other, trust in yourself and go out there
and play. We've been able to do that and it’s showed up the last three
Sundays.”
(On what’s good for the team when the offense and defense are able to
pick each other up)
“Yeah, that's NFL football. That’s how you win football games. They're never
going to be perfect. There are going to be ups and downs, ebbs, and flows, and
being able to weather those storms, continue to trust each other. I have total
confidence in both sides of the ball and really the kicking game as well to go out
there and execute when we need to. We were able to do that which was great.”
(On the offensive line’s ability to protect today)
“Thank you. I was going to say something if nobody asked me. My guys we're
balling today so I was so fired up. That's a hell of a rush. They were bringing
pressures, they were rushing four, they were doing all sorts of stuff to us and
our guys to step up there and protect the way they did today was amazing. And
then be able to really lean on them in the fourth quarter too and run the rock
when we needed to. A couple times Kyren (Williams) got downhill and we were
able to ice the game that way. So proud of those guys. It shows up the way
they work, the way they go about their business every single day. I thought we
had a great plan but shoot, we threw the rock. We weren't sitting there just
protecting those guys up front. We were just saying let's go play our game and
have a lot of confidence in those guys and proud of the way they played.”
(On the growth and maturation he’s seen from the young defensive
players)
“Yeah, I think it's a great mix. There's a bunch of young guys and there are
some guys and veteran guys in all kind of three levels of the defense to kind of
bring guys along, which is awesome. It goes back to just showing up to work
and ready to go, right? Find a way to get better every single day. Those guys
are doing that. It's really awesome to watch them do it and it hasn't been some
early success in some games the last couple games, but man, have they nailed
it down and found a way to make adjustments, continue to play hard, continue
to trust themselves and trust one another. It's been great.”
(On how the confidence factor in his offensive line is helping him out)
“It's been good. I think we rushed for what, 200 something last week. We're
able to protect against a great offensive or a defensive line this week, also ran
the ball well too. So it starts up front on both sides of the ball and I think both
sides of the line of scrimmage for us are doing a hell of a job and it's fun to be a
part of a team that’s got some guys that are ready to go out there, play
physical, play fast, play hard, and they're doing that.”
(On left guard Steve Avila’s performance)
“He's done a nice job. It's tough to come in and play offensive line as a young
guy. I think having Coleman (Shelton) next to him is great and Alaric (Jackson)
as well. So, all three of those guys, really all five of those guys up front are
playing at a high level. Steve's doing a really nice job for a young guy.”
Browns Head Coach Kevin Stefanski
(Opening Statement)
“Okay, (WR) Amari (Cooper) has a concussion. Obviously the outcome, very
disappointed. felt like we had a chance there but [the] game got away from
us. So we got to look at some things and got to find a way to close out that
game and put ourselves in a better position, offense, defense, special teams.
We didn't do it enough in that game. So credit to the Rams. They did a nice job
obviously and we have to learn from it. And then I know this, we have a big one
next week at our place, AFC opponent. So we got to get back to work. With
that, I'll take any questions.”
(On QB Joe Flacco’s overall performance)
“Yeah, obviously the interception, he's trying to make a play, but he did some
really good things today. He put us in a position. We got to come away with the
points. We, the offense, myself, we have to come up with the points.”
(On if Flacco will be the starting quarterback going forward)
“I'm not going to get into all of that.”
(On what inspired the home run ball when there was six minutes left)
“It wasn't really…It's a play action. All your play actions have options on them,
not necessarily has to be a home run goal, like you said, but we'll learn from it.”
(On how much of a strain it was losing WR Amari Cooper in this game)
“Yeah, disappointed for (WR) Amari (Cooper). Obviously, he's a big part of
what we do but we trust the guys to step up in his place.”
(On if Flacco met his expectations)
“Yeah, yes.”
(On what he was most impressed by in Flacco’s performance)
“Yeah, I thought he saw it well, made good decisions, got us in the correct
plays and all those types of things. He operated well and did what we expected
him to do.”
(On if losing CB Denzel Ward and DE Myles Garrett being injured put
pressure on him to score more points)
“Not necessarily that way, we felt like we had to score points in this game, felt
like that was going to be the game. We’re always looking at things that you can
do better, but yeah, we did feel like we had to score.”
(On how concerned he is about their defense the last few weeks)
“As you guys know, listen, it's a long season. You're going to have some good
days and some bad days. We just got to learn from it.”
(On if he thought Garrett’s shoulder affected his play)
“I don’t know. That's not fair for me to say. You'd have to ask him. They did a
nice job.”
(On what he thought wasn't clicking with the pass rush)
“Yeah, again, I think they did a nice job. He (Rams QB Matthew Stafford) got
the ball out quickly at times. Then when they held it, [the] protection seemed to
be holding up and found some deep balls.”
(On his optimism about Ward coming back)
“Yeah, we'll see. Again, I think I'll know more in the middle of the week.”
(On if he thought the false start calls were bad calls)
“We got called on it last week, which we don't teach moving the ball. And what's
going on right now is the Eagles sneak. I think they're very aware and alert to
teams moving the ball forward in short yardage. We weren't sneaking the ball,
so there was no advantage to us moving the ball. (C) Ethan (Pocic) doesn't do
that. He addresses the ball like he always does. So I just feel like with that
situation, what happens is you put the officials on an alert for something. You
send out a tape during the week and they're hyper-vigilant if you will. We're not
teaching that. We don't care about the four inches. We're not running a
quarterback sneak in those situations. It's frustrating. We don't teach it. That's
part of the game that you hope to play clean and those are big moments. I'll try
and get an answer on that, but it's very frustrating.”
(On Flacco’s efficiency in his return)
“I think we had a good week of practice, had a good feel for what we were
doing, felt like he operated well. Again, we’ll look at areas that we can get
better.”
(On RB Jerome Ford's success in run and pass game)
“I think it's important for our running backs to be versatile in the run and the
pass. Jerome’s made plays for us in both areas throughout the season and he's
going have to continue to do that.”
(On WR Elijah Moore’s best game of his season)
“Some of it is obviously (WR) Amari (Cooper) being out and there's only one
football so you're trying to get all those guys touches and he stepped into
Amari’s role in a lot of ways.”
(On if his lengthy discussion with official was about the challenge or false
start penalty)
“Still the false start.”
(On coming to LA a week early for practice)
“I think you got to judge it regardless of the outcome, whether you win or lose or
not. So for us, we got our work done. We, the guys, did a very nice job getting
everything done out here in LA that we get done in Berea. So I was proud of
that. I was proud of this organization and the support staff that put everything
together for us. They did a great job.”
(On how well Stafford has been playing)
“Yeah, he's very talented. He can make every throw. As you know, he made
plays today. He put some balls where not many people can put them. He did a
great job.”
Browns Quarterback Joe Flacco
(On playing quarterback again and how he felt he played)
“It was obviously a lot of fun to be out there and play football again, especially
with that group of guys. You can tell just being here in a short time that it’s a
great locker room. So it was definitely a lot of fun to be out there. Obviously not
fun in the end and how it ended.”
(On takeaways from this game)
“I guess you can talk about that at some point and I would assume you hope
that you can always learn something in these situations, but I think right now it's
kind of tough to sit there and reflect on positives of an outcome like that. It was
one of those games that you just had to stay patient and wait for it to come to
you and just wasn't able to do that quite enough.”
(On his interception in the fourth quarter)
“You know what, they just kind of matched everybody up and I was in the
pocket a long time and ultimately, it was just a bad decision. I was late throwing
that pass. Really wanted to get WR Ced (Tillman). But like I said, they kind of
just matched everything up. I had time in the pocket, but lost track of the safety
there.”
(On if the ball came out of his hand the way he wanted it to on the
interception)
“It wasn't bad. I was trying to like back shoulder him a little bit, WR Elijah
(Moore). I thought I had more space out there but like I said, when you're in the
pocket that long and you're kind of staring that way the whole time, you have to
be aware that the safety's floating around back there and you have to be able
to make a play like that.”
(On other options for the interception)
“Throw the ball away. Maybe run for five yards.”
(On if there was another pass option on the interception)
“I guess you probably could have = tried to stuff it into WR Cedric (Tillman) but I
went to my check down after that and like I said, they just kind of matched
everything.”
(On if he saw Moore open during the interception)
“I didn't see him wide open. I just figured, all right, I'm kind of standing here, I'm
going to give him a shot. I'm going to give him a shot. I had thrown a couple
balls away in the game and I kind of viewed that as another opportunity to
throw the ball away slash maybe give him a shot. And like I said, it was too late
and the safety's back there playing center field.”
(On his feelings about getting the opportunity to start again next week)
“I think anytime you get a little taste of playing football you want to keep that
going for as long as possible.”
(On clicking with Moore)
“Obviously with WR Amari (Cooper) going out, guys need to step up. I'm just
trying to run the offense the way that it needs to be run and if those guys are in
those situations and are getting open then they should get the ball. WR Elijah
(Moore) has a lot of talent and especially when he can kind of get involved
early, he shows a lot of juice throughout the game.”
(On missing Cooper)
“I think it's tough to put your finger on exactly how much but listen, he's
definitely a receiver that kind of pops off the screen at you. I've been at home
watching all year and when the Browns games come on, you definitely notice
him. So like I said, it's tough to kind of measure that in a game like this but he is
a really good player.”
(On if he felt rusty starting this game)
“It's tough to say. It's going be tough to sit up here and judge some of the things
that I probably went through. I think usually you get to go out there in an OTA
and make sure that you can read defenses and anticipate throws and things
like that so to do it in a game for the first time I honestly didn't really think too
much about it. I had the normal pregame thoughts and all that. I think the one
thing I would think about is the decision that I made at the end of the game and
that was it. It does matter.”
(On if he feels encouraged by his performance or upset at the
interception)
“Yeah, I'm just upset at myself. Listen, I know I can play. I think every time you
go take the field, you're obviously proving to yourself and proving to other
people that you can play the game but deep down I know I can play the game
so that's not my thought process at this point. My thought process is just
disappointed in myself and these are the games that I honestly love to be in.
They come down to the fourth quarter and they're not pretty and they're going
to be tight. I think I excel in the games that are played tight and need to have
good decisions be made. So to not come through in that kind of situation, it
definitely stings a little bit.”
(On if he believes the team can make a run to the postseason)
“I do. I think you guys have watched these guys all year. They're a resilient
group and they’ve got a lot of talent. It's one of the more talented teams I've
been on in a while and you can tell that right away. So it's not easy when you
take these long road trips and you come up empty handed and right now we're
not going to be able to reflect too much, but hopefully when we get back in
there during the week we can go out and have more good practices and
eventually put this thing behind us.”
(On why the Browns running game was not up to its usual standards
today)
“I really expected us to have some space out there and be able to do some
things. I think late in the game there on the second to last real drive where we
ended up scoring, I do think you saw us loaded up a little bit and started to get
some seams and looked like we were going to wear them down a little bit. It's
just a shame that we didn't put ourselves in position to kind of do that the next
drive. I think if we just get that started with either a three-yard rush by me or a
throw away, and then you kind of give ourselves more chances to complete a
pass and do more of that… I think it's one of those games that even though it
wasn't going early, you would've seen it kind of pop in the last few minutes of
the game there and helped us out.”
(On how he feels physically)
“Yeah, it felt good. Listen, I think I was very fortunate today to have the guys up
front protect the way they did. So physically I felt great.”
(On what he saw from Ford’s performance)
“Just the vision and when to hit it and he has a lot of ability. Obviously with Nick
(Chubb) going down early in the year, you probably expected a little bit of a
drop off but I think we've been able to run the ball pretty consistently all year.
So you expect those things as a team to be better than it was today. But he
definitely has a spark.”
(On the slugfest with Stafford and his disappointment to not finish it the
way he wanted)
“That's right, exactly what we talked about. You want to be the guy that prevails
in those types of games and it stinks when you don’t.”
(On if he felt comfortable operationally)
“I did, felt good calling the plays and getting in the huddle and listening to
(Coach) Kevin (Stefanski). I don't think we really had any issues either with
that. It wasn't like we were trying to hide stuff in the huddle. I think if you ask
people, it was probably pretty good operationally.”
--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
| Subject | Author | Views | Posted |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Ramsdude | 175 | December 04, 2023 12:00PM |
