TRANSCRIPT - Rams at Bills - Postgame Press Conferences - September 27, 2020 Head Coach Sean McVay

TRANSCRIPT - Rams at Bills - Postgame Press Conferences - September 27, 2020
Head Coach Sean McVay

(Opening Statement)
"A disappointing end to a very resilient effort by our guys. I love this football team. We're not going to make any excuses. We're going to use this as an opportunity to move forward. Congratulations to the Bills and we're on to next week.”

(On what broke down on the third-and-22 with 3:20 seconds left to play)
“We'll have to go back and look at the film."

(On what changed in the second half)
"I think the guys just played like they're capable of. I did a terrible job of putting us in some really poor situations early in that game. I make no excuses about it. Our guys ended up responding, we made some better adjustments, and the guys made the plays. I saw a lot of individual efforts that were outstanding. I saw a resilient group. I saw a team that stayed connected when you go down 28 to three against a really good football team. They just kept battling. They kept swinging. I hate it for our guys, that it ended up the way that it did and came down to some of the things that it came down to. But, we're a tough group, we’re a mentally tough group. We're going to use this as an opportunity to respond, and we're not going to allow the Bills to beat us twice."

(On impressions of RB Darrell Henderson Jr. this season)
"He did a great job. I'm not surprised. I think he built on a really good performance from the previous week. He ran hard, leveled his pads off. I thought the touchdown run to put us up was a big time run, just running through a lot of traffic, a lot of bodies at the goal line. He made a lot of plays. He's going to continue to make a lot of plays and I’ve been very pleased with (R Darrell (Henderson) over the last couple of weeks."

(On if there was any miscommunication after losing S Jordan Fuller)
"There wasn't any miscommunication. (S) Taylor Rapp has played a lot of good football. I think that's the beauty of having some depth at that safety position. It's like anything else, we'll go back, we'll look at the film, and we'll be able to clean up some stuff. I thought there was a lot of good stuff as well. So, you know, they made some plays, we made a lot of plays and we definitely did everything we could to steal the momentum back and to be able to come away with the win. Ultimately, it didn't go in our favor for some things that sometimes are out of your control and that's unfortunate, but we're going to continue to move forward. I just can't wait to get back to work with this group. I love what this team's about. I think we can use this as a real opportunity to gain some strength and some momentum. Fortunately, these are things that if they occur early enough in the season and you're able to respond the right way, they can be great learning opps that don't cost you in the long run."

(On describing how Bills QB Josh Allen played)
"He's a big strong kid. His ability to extend plays is one of his elite traits and keep eyes down on the field. I think the receivers do an excellent job working off script and off schedule for him and hats off to him. You see why he's played so well through the first couple of weeks and he made some great plays today without a doubt.”

(On his message to the team at halftime)
“It was nothing different than the norm. We’ve just got to play better. We talked about the communication and we have the right character in this football team to be able to respond and that's what they did. I was very, very pleased and very proud of this group. I think I learned a lot about this team, things that I had already hoped and thought. You know, the way that they responded, I love this group and I'm very excited about the opportunity to continue to compete this season moving forward.”

(On the 53-yard missed field goal by K Samuel Sloman)
"That was a terrible decision by me. I can't do that to (K) ‘Sam’ (Samuel Sloman). We can't take a sack on third down either. We moved back eight yards. That's a play that we can’t have, and we'll be better moving forward for that.”


QB Jared Goff

(On what the Bills were doing early to put pressure on the team)
"They're just doing a good job on defense. They're a really good defense. They're a really good team. Specifically, they're a good blitzing team. They had a good beat on us early, for sure. You can tell they did their homework and, again they're a really good defense. They're going to be one of the top defense we probably will play all year and it was tough early on."

(On what they saw from the sidelines on the pass interference call against CB Darious Williams)
"There's a million calls in the game and it's unfortunate that one like that can go make it, essentially, that they don't call it, the game's over. There's calls that went our way that game and there's calls that went their way that game. Unfortunately, that one was at the end of the game like that, but it's part of the game."

(On what went through his mind when they were down by 25 points)
“We were actually moving the ball relatively well and we had a couple of drives finish without points and just kind of stall, but we knew we had a really good thing going in the run game and we knew we had some good things going in drop back and play pass that we hadn't called yet, that were kind of waiting to get called. I think that's what we saw in third quarter is, kind of, all the bullets came out of the chamber there of what we had and what we were able to get called and just what they were doing defensively was dictating a lot of stuff to us early on. I think once we started rolling, once we scored that first one, we had 28-10, our defense got us a couple of stops and it just kept on rolling from there."

(On what the comeback with a chance to win the game says about the team and where they want to be by the end of the season)
"Yeah, I think that's the main thing you take away from this. Obviously, we would love to win that game and finish it with a great win and a big comeback for us and hooting and hollering right now. But at the end of the day, I think you learn that we're never out of it. No matter what the situation is, what the game is, who we're playing, this is a good team. We're on the road. They had a good offense, a good defense, they’re well coached, and we came all the way back and were in the position to win that at the end. I think there's a lot to be said for that, but at the same time, we would love to have closed this one out and be 3-0, but we're 2-1 and move on to the Giants this weekend."

(On his evaluation on how he played)
"Outside of the interception early on, I thought I played well. I thought we were able to move the ball well and, I mean, there's some things obviously I’ll always want back, but I was really pleased with how we fought upfront and…on the outside. Our guys made plays all day. You saw (WR) Robert (Woods) take a two-yard pass for a touchdown and as a quarterback, that's always fun. You saw (WR) Cooper (Kupp) make some great plays, (WR) Josh (Reynolds) make some great plays, even…(R Darrell (Henderson Jr.) and (R Malcolm (Brown) made some great plays all day, and I thought our O-line again, really showed up today and did a great job."

(On what he wants the team to learn from the back-to-back East Coast road trips)
"Again, I think it just, kind of, shows who we are as a team. We're a strong team and a bunch of dudes that play and play hard and love to fight a little bit and get out there and get after it. I think last week was an example of us, kind of, being on top the whole game and riding that out and finishing that. This week we had the opposite, we had to show what we can do from behind and face a little adversity this week and it really showed who we are. Again, that is the biggest takeaway, but at the same time you'd love to finish that out with a win."

(On if he had been in a game similar to that before)
"Yeah, in college, a bunch of them."

(On if he came out on the right end of those similar games)
"Always both. There are games that at the end, sometimes yeah and sometimes no. This would have been a fun one to have. But at the end of the day, I think, like I said, either way, you do see the fight that we have and the ability that we have on offense, defense, special teams. to be in a hole as big as we were, and to have confidence in everyone to dig out of it and believe in each other."

(On what he believed made RB Darrell Henderson Jr. so effective today)
"Our O-line. Our O-line played really well and them giving him some big holes and he's a good runner. He's a really good runner. He runs downhill and he's obviously super fast and sees it well, really sees it well and he really fits what we do up front and has done a great job these last two weeks. I'm excited about his progression."

(On the team’s refusal to be rattled considering how they stuck with the run)
"Yeah, I thought that was a great job by (Head Coach) Sean (McVay), play-calling there, because we were running the ball so well, but at the same time, you do have to be aggressive. So, picking his spots and moving the tempos and moving me off my spot. It was really good by him in that second half, and really, just like you mentioned, we were running the ball so well, so you do want to run the ball, but we're down by 25 points, so we needed to throw the ball. I thought he did a great job and just keeping everyone involved and hand the ball off to receivers at times and doing a bunch of things. At the end of the day, you’d love to come out with a win but we've got to move on."

--RAMS--