TRANSCRIPT: Rams Head Coach Sean McVay - Conference Call - October 4, 2019

View this email in your browser




TRANSCRIPT: Rams Head Coach Sean McVay - Conference Call - October 4, 2019

(On an update on WR Brandin Cooks)
“He’s doing good. He’s going through the concussion protocol, but he was asymptomatic today and that’s a positive thing for us.”

(On if there were any other injuries)
“Toward the end of the game (L Clay Matthews actually broke his jaw. That is not good for us, that’s a big injury. He is going to require surgery on that, so he’s going to be out for an extended period of time. Exactly how long that is? I can’t tell you exactly, but I know it’s going to be at least a month.”

(On how LB Clay Matthews’ injury happened)
“I think he got kicked in the jaw by (Seahawks R Chris Carson. It was on a play toward the end. He’s a tough guy. It was a physical game. It was something that you just hate for him because of how productive he’s been for us and what he’s meant to our team and all the things that he’s done. It’s going to be a big loss, guys are going to be asked to step up in his absence. It happened toward the later half of the game and he was making a tackle on Carson and he ended up kind of getting kicked in the jaw and that’s when it ended up happening.”

(On if Matthews ended up coming off the field right after the injury)
“No, he came out after that. It was on the play that ended up getting strung out toward the sideline and that ended up being his last play. It was like his 68th snap. It was kind of hard to see. It was on the third down and II. I don’t know exactly. It was kind of a bulky type play, but that was the one it appeared to. Where he kind of got kicked, Chris Carson ended up bouncing the third down and 11 to the right sideline. You can see if you look at it from the end zone copy. As Clay is wrapping him up, it’s his left foot actually kicked Clay in the jaw and pulls out of his arm tackle and that’s when I think it happened.”

(On who would step up in Matthews’ place)
“(L Samson (Ebukam) would. Samson would step up.”

(On how Samson Ebukah has played up until this point)
“He’s played okay. I think he’s done some good things. Samson’s been a productive player for us over the last handful of years. I think he’s done a nice job really supplementing (L Dante (Fowler) and Clay on the edge. But now he will be asked to step up in a bigger role, play more snaps. We’ve seen him do that last year when he ended up making a big impact. We’ll certainly miss Clay, but it will be something that Samson will have to step up and we have confidence that he can do that.”

(On how LB Troy Reeder performed in the game in place of LB Bryce Hager)
“I thought he did a really nice job. In the backfield, he did a good job just being in on the action, the communication. You could see it’s not too big for (L Troy (Reeder). He’s a good football player, he’s got a great feel for the game, thought he made some great wrap tackles. It was a physical game that when they ran it 40-plus times, you just look at (Chris) Carson’s a really physical back. Obviously, the ability for (Seahawks Q Russell (Wilson) to extend plays. Then you get (Seahawks RB Rashaad) Penny and he’s a nice change of pace. I thought he did a really nice job, really productive and was in on a lot of action.”

(On the physicality of the game and how tough it looked from his vantage point on the sideline)
“It was. It was a physical game, I thought it was two really good football teams going back and forth. A lot of good plays, a lot of lead changes, a lot of resilience, really on both teams that I think made it for a high- caliber game. I think especially when you just look at it in a short week, it’ll be good for our guys to get a couple days off. The important thing for us is obviously this isn’t where we want to be sitting at after five games, but we’ve got the ability to right this ship. The only way we can do that is just by staying in the moment and finding a way to get healthy, get ourselves recharged and refreshed and have a great week of preparation leading into the Niners game.


(On what he’s sees from the 49ers)
“I really haven’t had chances to dive in to them. Just watching from afar, I know they are doing a lot of really good things on both sides of the ball. To really say that I’ve studied the film yet, I’m going to plan on getting into them a little bit this weekend. They’ve obviously upgraded with some of their guys coming off the edge when you draft (DE Nick) Bosa, and you get (DE) Dee Ford, those interior guys have always been really good football players. I think, then when you add (L Kwon Alexander, in addition to
(L Fred Warner, they’ve got speed. You can see (CB Richard) Sherman looks like he’s playing at a high level. Offensively, (QB Jimmy) Garoppolo is rolling, they’ve got backs, they’ve got a great system, (TE) George Kittle is one of the best tight ends in the league. I think (49ers Head Coach) Kyle (Shanahan) does an excellent job of finding ways to really apply pressure to defenses with the way that he can mix it up in the run-pass balance.”

(On if he’s followed up with the league on Clay Matthew’s roughing the passer penalty)
“I’ll follow up with the league office, I’ll talk to (NFL Senior Vice President of Officiating) Al (Riveron) and get some clarity and just see his thoughts. Based on my interpretation, it looked like (L Clay (Matthews) was really trying to be pretty cognizant of staying in that strike zone, but I have not had a chance to talk to the league office yet and I’ll do that. Ultimately, it’s about getting the clarity so that we can educate our players, and then use that as a learning opportunity. There was a lot of plays in that game that will certainly never looked at one as defining the outcome of it.”

(On if the offense last night looked like how he envisioned entering the season)
“I thought guys played well, I thought they competed. As far as what you envision, that’s always hard to say. I think what we are trying to figure out is what’s the best identity for this 2019 Rams football team and ultimately the offense. I think you saw us mix in some different personnel groupings. I think that can be something you can see potentially as we move forward. It’s really about us finding ways to just be efficient like we mentioned. I thought a lot of guys made a lot of good plays. I thought the ability of the guys, especially when you just look at really from the two-minute drive on, we had that one drive where we were rolling and ended up putting the ball on the ground and had the turnover and I thought the guys didn’t flinch. I loved the way that we responded in the two-minute drive to end it with a touchdown. To be able to come out and take the opening drive right down the field. It seemed like really with the exception of when we were backed up in that one sequence, we were consistently were able to move the football. I think you can take some things away from it that are positive and I think there’s still a lot of things that we can all do a lot better and that’s what we expect to do as we move forward.”

(On RB Darrell Henderson Jr. and why he has not received much playing time)
“I think that’s one of those things that we’re going to look at and are evaluating. It’s our job and it’s my job to make sure we find a way to continue to develop him (RB Darrell Henderson Jr.) and give him an opportunity, because I think he is a guy who can help us whether it’s immediately or whether it’s later on in the season. He’s done a nice job, it’s really just kind of that ultimate deal of figuring out, ‘All right, how do you get him with the amount of guys involved that you feel like are deserving touches?’ That’s a positive problem for us, but that’s something that I think you could expect us to see trying to find creative ways to maybe get him going a little bit.”

(On how he evaluates CB Marcus Peters being involved in touchdowns in consecutive games)
“There’s so many different coverage concepts and different things based on how route combinations play out. The one that they ended up hitting to (Seahawks WR DK) Metcalf, that was not how we envisioned it and that was not on (C Marcus (Peters). There’s a lot of intricacies that you can point out – we were in the ‘zero coverage’ the week before. I thought Marcus, with some of his opportunities – and especially in crunch-time when you look at the two-point play, you look at the third-down stop that we had to have to be able to get the ball back to our offense – he’s the guy showing up at the point of attack making those plays. Really, there’s so many different coverage intricacies that are involved. I think, in a lot of instances, when you look at the defensive backfield – very similar to sometimes the offensive line play – once there’s really a clear-cut understanding of exactly what the intent of what we’re trying to get done or how a certain things play out and what’s supposed to occur, I think it can get a little bit misleading. I think the Metcalf touchdown was one of those last night as well.”

(On the team’s schedule for this upcoming weekend)
“Guys came in for treatment and give them a couple days off, let them get recharged. Then we’ll come back Monday with a focus and a concentration solely on trying to get better and figuring out how to put ourselves in a position to win our next game. It’s been a humbling last week, but I think it’s also one that – this game is pretty incredible when you sit back and you think about the amount of plays that occurred. For it to come down to one play whether you’re feeling pretty good or whether you’re feeling like, ‘Man, this is a little bit of a gut-check time for us.’ That’s why you’ve got to stay focused on the process, because sometimes those results can really change the approach. I don’t ever think one play can ever define the way that we approach it, even though it could arguably be the difference in us being 4-1 or 3-2. But, we are what we are as a team and we’ll move forward the right way.”

(On what he makes of the offense outgaining opponents in total yardage and what that tells him)
“I don’t think it tells you too much. I think it’s about winning and losing football games. I think the thing we’ve got to do a better job of and that we haven’t done a good enough job of – not nearly close enough over the last few weeks especially – is winning the turnover battle. We haven’t done that in the last three games. We’ve got to do a better job of taking care of it offensively and then just continuing to try to take it away defensively. I think, in a lot of instances, the physical numbers – specifically from a yardage standpoint – they can be misleading at times. It’s about winning and losing football games and I think other than points, the greatest indicator of that is really the