McVay … 8/25 & 8/26 … transcripts

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  • August 25, 2019 at 8:48 pm #104312
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    Los Angeles Rams HC Sean McVay August 25 press conference

    (On injury updates following Saturday’s preseason game against the Denver Broncos)

    “Unfortunately for (LB) Josh Carraway, he tore his achilles. With (C) Aaron Neary, he ended up fracturing his ankle and he’s going to end up having to get surgery on that. It’s unfortunate news for those two guys. (T) Bobby Evans nicked up his knee a little bit, but I think it’s more going to be a bone bruise and he should be okay and other than that we came out of it clean.”

    (On if seeing Carolina QB Cam Newton sustaining an injury in the preseason reinforces his philosophy toward playing starters in the preseason)

    “I think you always want to try and keep your guys healthy. I think the biggest thing that we’ve said for us, is we just feel like that’s the best approach for our team. I don’t think anybody has the intention of guys getting injured and that’s unfortunate – you never want to see that. But, it’s part of the evaluation and part of some people’s philosophy on getting guys ready to go for the regular season. We feel confident and comfortable with the approach we’re taking and we understand that it might not be for everybody. But we feel like it’s worked best for us and that’s why we’ve gone in that direction, as you know.”

    (On if a starting quarterback getting injured in the preseason is the worst case scenario)

    “Absolutely. You never want to see you main guys that you’re counting on get injured, especially in games where it’s really just tune-ups for the regular season. Mostly, I think it is a necessary thing to evaluate certain players as we’ve seen. We’ve done that for a number of guys that we are counting on. Specifically with (QB) Jared (Goff) we just feel like that’s the best approach. Anytime you see great players like (Panthers QB) Cam (Newton) or anybody else get injured, you always hate that, that’s always the most unfortunate part of the game. Whether it’s our guys or somebody else, you never want to see that.”

    (On if the starters and key reserves will travel to Houston for the preseason finale on Thursday)

    “We will. The guys that will be out by injury or that we legitimately would leave back because of that, those guys wouldn’t travel as long as we have a legitimate reason to leave them back. We’ll take everybody else. It will be a small group of guys (who don’t travel to Houston), but it won’t be anything like what the Hawaii trip was. The majority of our team will be there.”

    (On if there are any particular positions he’s looking to get clarity on in Thursday’s preseason finale)

    “I think what you’re looking at, mainly, is I think we’re starting to get some clarity on a lot of the skill positions. We’ve talked a lot about the depth that we have at corner, which is going to be a good positive, difficult decision to make toward the latter half of some of those decisions. Then, just finding our depth on both lines – I think guys have started to establish themselves. Then, clearly, the inside linebacker position is something that we’ve got to figure out exactly how it shapes up. In a lot of ways it’s going to be predicated on how we envision those guys contributing for (Special Teams Coordinator John Fassel) ‘Bones’ and for (Assistant Special Teams Coach) Matt Daniels. I think it’s really the depth on both fronts, the inside linebacker position and the corner position are the ones that we’re really continuing to look at closely.”

    (On if Pass Game Coordinator Shane Waldron will continue to call plays in the final game of the preseason)

    “He will. I thought he did a nice job last night. I thought it was a really good rhythm. I thought that even though like what was said afterwards, didn’t get a whole lot of points, I thought there was a lot of production and a lot of good efficient offensive football last night. I think the players ultimately made the plays, but I think (Pass Game Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach) Shane (Waldron) did a really nice job and I think its been a really good experience for him. It’s something that we’ve talked about it before, was something that was really beneficial to me when I was in a similar role and he’s done great. I’m looking forward to getting back to it in Carolina and hopefully I’m not rusty”

    (On if there is a chance McVay may be rusty)

    “I don’t think so. I think we’ll be ready to go. We’ve created a lot of scenarios and situations where it’s not like it will be the first time or whether it be in practice settings, all those practices against other teams, there is a lot of unscripted work. There will be no excuses coming from me if I’m not ready to go.”

    (On what the schedule is like this week in terms of work)

    “What we’ll do is we’ll have a good practice and walk-thru tomorrow. We’ll have on Tuesday, we’ll have a similar deal, where we’ll kind of get some good-on-good work and in a lot of ways, very similar to last week’s scrimmage, but it won’t be totally the amount of volume. We’ll have really good work Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday we’ll walk-thru in the morning and then travel to Houston. We get back Thursday night into Friday morning. Basically, our players will be off on Friday and they’ll be off on Sunday. So, we’ll basically use Saturday and Monday as extra days of preparation. Our players will then be off next Tuesday and then Wednesday will represent the normal week schedule for us – Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and day before. We’ll travel Friday to Carolina. So, it’ll be here before we know it. As I’m sitting there and making the schedules and getting into normal rhythm of a week where you’re really playing a game, it’s going to be here before we know it.”

    (On if there are no established or projected starters that will play in Thursdays game)

    “We’ll meet as a staff tomorrow and kind of finalize those kinds of things. Those guys that you are counting on in some sort of role, whether it be the (S) Taylor Rapps, the (S) Marqui Christians, the (DT) Sebastian Joseph-Days. Those guys, I would anticipate we would probably hold out and really get a chance to evaluate those positions that what we’re still trying to make some decisions on. With those guys that you know are going to be here in some form or fashion that get potentially have carved out a role for themselves, situationally or in certain packages I would think that we’ll probably hold them out, but until I get a chance to sit down and speak with our entire coaching staff, we haven’t made those final decisions yet.”

    August 27, 2019 at 9:35 am #104355
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    Rams Head Coach Sean McVay – August 26, 2019

    (On if everyone other than the players requiring surgery will practice on Monday)
    “As far as I know, everybody’s good to go. We just had a good walk-thru right there and other than the guys that we talked about that were injured as a result of playing in the game the other night, we’re pretty healthy. I think (T) Bobby Evans we’ll be smart with, with the bone bruise that we talked about. He would be the only guy outside of the players that are going to require surgery that will be out today.”

    (On CB Aqib Talib’s status)
    “We’re building him (CB Aqib Talib) back in. He’s done some stuff. To say that he’s fully back in it – we’re not at that point yet, but he worked out before the game. He’s feeling good and we anticipate him resuming truly full participation at some point this week. He’s been a participant and just hasn’t been a full participant yet.”

    (On if there is progress on contract extensions for QB Jared Goff and CB Marcus Peters)
    “I think right now we’ve been so busy just kind of handling training camp, things like that. Those are two very important players to us as we move forward this season. That’s kind of where we’re at right now with that.”

    (On if he is preparing for the Carolina Panthers as the team ends the preseason)
    “It’s a little bit of that, and then it’s also focusing on continuing to establish our identity, some of the things we want to do offensively, defensively and on special teams. We’ll start to tailor and trim our focus towards the Panthers as we get closer and closer. We’re kind of still in the mode of, ‘Alright, let’s really get good with the finer details,’ and then we have some different things on both sides of the football that I think we would anticipate utilizing against Carolina, but to say that we’ve truly put ourselves in the game plan mode for them, that wouldn’t be accurate yet. There is a little bit of eyes looking towards them coming to a theatre near you.”

    (On LB Dakota Allen being in the middle of everything during the preseason games)
    “He’s done a great job. He certainly has made his presence felt and I think you feel what a physical football player he is, the instincts. Made a lot of good plays in the run game and then he showed up the other night in some other opportunities that he had coverage-wise. Been really pleased with him, it’s been good to just have him out there healthy and get a chance to compete. You see some of the things that we like so much. He’s definitely making a case for himself.”

    (On DL John Franklin-Myers getting a chance to play)
    “I thought it was his best. I thought he did a really nice job. He had a sack in our four-man, rush where we’re playing three-deep behind that. It thought he was able to push the pocket consistently, played physical against he run. I thought both (DL) John Franklin(-Myers) and I thought (DE) Morgan Fox was outstanding. I think from the interior defensive line, those two guys and then (DT) Tanzel Smart continued to show up consistently. Really, it was good to see John out there, feeling healthy, feeling ready to go. I thought also that was Morgan Fox’s best performance of the preseason as well.”

    (On the short week and his philosophy of not playing starters in the preseason)
    “You never like to see guys get injured. Like I said, there is a lot of merit to playing in these games, where you’re actually playing real football. You have the ability to play tackle football. For quarterbacks to get rushed, for running backs to get tackled to the ground, but that was the decision that we felt like was best. You never want to see guys get injured, whether it be our team or anybody else, that’s always the worst parts about it. But where we’re at, we feel good. We’re healthy, unfortunately we had some injuries that were sustained that other night in that action, but that’s part of the game. You always want to try to keep players as healthy as possible, especially going into Week 1. For the most part, I think we’re in a pretty good place.”

    (On how much roster evaluation goes into games versus practice)
    “It’s really all of it. We use all of the ways we are trying to evaluate guys in those competitive situations to really try to project who are the best 53 (players). Certainly, there are some positions that I think you have a better chance to evaluate in the live action. But, we try to do as good of a job as we can creating those competitive scenarios, situations, but it is all part of the evaluation process. Even how they handle themselves in meetings, how they retain information, how they handle the above-the-neck walk-thrus, that’s a big part of what we do. So, everything that these guys are asked to do, they are being evaluated in that phase and really trying to carve out a role for themselves. Whether it be establishing themselves as a starter on offense or defense or starter in some of our special teams phases, it’s all part of the process. I think it’s a little bit easier depending upon the certain positions, to say, ‘all right, you can put a little bit more weight on one or the other’, but it is all a collaboration of all those.”

    (On if LB Travin Howard can play safety in addition to linebacker)
    “He’s a guy that has the athleticism you would think just based on the way he moves around. He’s been exclusively a linebacker playing at that inside spot. Some of the things that we ask those guys to do, when we get into our dime-personnel defense, he’s doing lot of the things that we ask of some of our underneath defenders that are playing from the secondary position. I thought he did a great job. We mention Dakota Allen, but you also recognize (LB Travin Howard) ‘T-Howard’ a lot the other night. Pass to the flat, you can just feel him uncoil on that, playing the quarters as a zone-match two player, he did a really nice job the other night. That was one of the things (General Manager) Les (Snead) and his group and our coaches like so much about him – was the athleticism, the speed and the ability to go sideline to sideline. I think he’s showing that. But haven’t done that with him, but I wouldn’t ever, say never, I guess.”

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