Recent Forum Topics › Forums › The Rams Huddle › McVay on Rams … & more McVay/Snead … updated through 3/3
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February 28, 2019 at 4:43 pm #98380AgamemnonParticipantFebruary 28, 2019 at 7:13 pm #98386znModerator
Ramgator
McVay was just on NFL Live. Interviewed by Suzy Kolber.
He downplayed Gurley being hurt. Said Gurley is NOT having any surgery. And said again that he did a poor job of using Gurley. He did make a point I think we all saw. Gurley had a great run that was called back and possibly a game changer.
March 1, 2019 at 10:46 am #98408znModeratorMcVay, Snead detail how Rams have turned the page to 2019
Myles Simmons
https://www.therams.com/news/mcvay-snead-detail-how-rams-have-turned-the-page-to-2019
INDIANAPOLIS — Losing the Super Bowl is like a real punch to the gut.
As a passionate fan or even a casual consumer of sports, you probably don’t need to be told that to know it’s true. But Rams general manager Les Snead described it in somewhat visceral terms when speaking to the media at the Combine on Thursday.
“It’s tough,” Snead said. “I think, if I put it in this perspective — I’ve told many people that I would wish everyone who is a part of the NFL to get a chance to win a conference championship and then prepare to win a world championship.”“I don’t know if I’d wish upon my worst enemy the piercing sting of losing the game,” Snead continued. “It a little bit lingers because, No. 1, there’s no next week. The season is over and that’s what you do. … There’s a physical pain when you replay things in your mind, like, ‘Oh, if we had just done…’ I remember saying, OK, what I’m going to do is journal all my thoughts and then I’m going to count how many days that I can actually have a flashback and not actually hurt physically. We’re at that point. You got through that.”
Head coach Sean McVay described a similar sentiment when discussing the feeling of losing the Super Bowl since there is no “next week” at that point.
“It took a day. I would say the night was really disappointing,” McVay said. “There’s such a finality. We went into that game with a confidence and an expectation to go win and finish it the right way. The thing that’s so different about that — and really, it was the same way in the playoffs the year before — is usually you get a chance to respond the next week, and that’s what you love so much about football. Well, when it’s over, it’s over.”
“Like you guys just heard us talking about,” McVay continued, “if you’re going to ask your players to mentally tough, to be resilient and have the ability of moving on, you’ve got to be able to live what you’re saying. I think it’s important not to be naive to the fact that, yeah, that stings, but you can’t allow it to just linger, where it doesn’t allow you to move forward. And that really is whether we had won or lost.”
McVay noted that he addressed the team back in L.A. the Tuesday after Super Bowl LIII, expressing his appreciation for all that had transpired during the 2018 season. And then after doing some evaluations on the club’s own players, he gave the coaching staff a couple of weeks off in order to decompress. The famously studious McVay even took some time to get away.
“The thing that you love about it is, this is what I would do for fun, too, whether it’s reading things or kind of learning about some of these guys with the draft process,” McVay said. “So, you don’t ever really feel like you’re working, but I think it is important, even if it’s just for a few days — [my girlfriend] Veronika and I went to Hawaii and I wasn’t until the last night that I woke up sweating, so that was good.”
But especially now that the Combine has come around, the focus has shifted to ensuring that the Rams are the best they can be heading into the 2019 season.
“The things you’ve got to do is, you’ve got to rejuvenate and that’s mind, body, soul, and get ready to go,” Snead said. “When you have natural rejuvenation, now you’re fired up again. I don’t know if the pain is going to keep you from — the pain will lead to more motivation. I do think what you’ve got to be really careful of is, 2017 was ’17, 2018 was ’18 and 2019 is going to be very different. We know what we’re capable of, but you’ve got to go do it.”And a big part of that is ensuring there won’t be the dreaded so-called “Super Bowl hangover” — which McVay appears to have a good plan to combat.
“I think the biggest thing is, you want to make sure that as a coaching staff — and me specifically in my role — is you want to demonstrate that mental toughness, that ability to move on like we expect our players to,” McVay said. “And you understand, I think when you get a chance to reflect back on the season, a lot of really good things that we can take away from it. But the focus for us is going to be, we learn from the past, we produce in the present, and you want to prepare for the future. But every single season is a new opportunity.
“And I think the thing that’s exciting for me specifically, and for us as a coaching staff, is you love the process of what the entire year entails,” McVay continued. “And that’s the Combine, that’s evaluating your scheme, that’s evaluating some other things, that’s looking at, OK, what can we do as coaches to get better, implement a plan specific to the offseason program and how we attack that process to get better, to emphasize our players’ strengths, and then hopefully put ourselves in a position — the way that we do the offseason, training camp — to go compete and win our opener. And that’s really what our focus and concentration will be on. And I think you never let the complacency set in. And I think we share that as players and coaches.”March 1, 2019 at 10:52 am #98409znModeratorQuotes & Notes 2/28: McVay on Gurley and coaching changes, Snead optimistic about Rams’ core, calls Fowler a priority
“From a physical and really a mental standpoint he’s in a good place. And we’re excited about how Todd’s feeling moving into the offseason.”
-HC SEAN McVAY
Running back Todd Gurley put up his second-best season as pro in terms of yardage in 2018, touting the rock for 1,251 yards rushing with an additional 580 yards receiving. He also found the end zone a league-high 21 times — but ended his fourth professional season dinged up and in the center of storm of media speculation concerning his left knee.
McVay once again took responsibility for Gurley’s lack of action — 10 carries for 35 yards — in Super Bowl LIII and insisted that the star back would not undergo any medical procedures this offseason.
Both McVay and general manager Les Snead expressed an upcoming focus in paying attention to Gurley’s workload and the best way to use the All-Pro back in 2019.
“He’s definitely a guy that we’re interested in bringing back but similar to Ndamukong, you know they’re going to have some interest.”
-HC SEAN McVAY
Snead disclosed that his NFC Champion club does not intend to use the franchise tag on any one of its pending free agents — including outside linebacker Dante Fowler and defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh.
McVay said on Thursday that the Rams are certainly interested in bringing back the pair of sack seekers, while admitting that Fowler and Suh, along with safety Lamarcus Joyner and left guard Rodger Saffold will be free to test the waters.
Fowler and Suh played a big part in the Rams’ run through the postseason, combing for 3.0 sacks, 14 tackles, six tackles for loss, and eight quarterback hits in three games.“So I had to make that decision and it wasn’t an easy one, but then being able to acquire Eric Henderson is something we’re excited about, and I think he’s going to provide something nice for that defensive line.”
-HC SEAN McVAY
It was announced earlier this week that the Rams will add three coaches to its staff in 2019.
On Thursday, McVay detailed that the club has parted ways with defensive line coach Bill Johnson after two seasons leading one of L.A.’s most impactful position groups. The head coach was appreciative of Johnson’s work orchestrating one of the league’s most impressive pass-rushing units since 2017.
The Rams defense posted 48.0 sacks in 2017 and 41.0 in 2018 — 31.5 of which came from Johnson’s back-to-back AP Defensive Player of the Year defensive tackle Aaron Donald.
Incoming defensive line coach Eric Henderson joins the Rams after a brief run playing in the NFL with the Bengals and most recently two seasons as a DL assistant with the Chargers.
“[W]e feel really good about Jared Goff’s development and I know he’s excited about even continuing to improve going into his fourth year as a pro.”
-HC SEAN McVAY
McVay seemed encouraged about his former No. 1 overall draft pick as quarterback Jared Goff turns toward his fourth pro season.
Goff’s 293 yards passing per game put him at No. 5 among all signal callers in 2018. The California native has improved in each of his three NFL seasons thus far — setting career highs in completions (364) yards passing (4,688), touchdowns (32) in his NFC Championship season.“We’ve got multiple of those young players that got a little bit of minutes last year but not enough. I think, really, the domino is Fowler.”
-GM LES SNEAD
Snead called Fowler the front office’s “biggest priority” with free agency just around the corner, when he was asked about the Rams’ situation at the edge spot.
The GM mentioned the growth in production from outside linebacker Samson Ebukam in 2018, but said other young members of the defense faced a lack of opportunity — perhaps due to the addition of Fowler in Week 9.
Snead wrapped up his comments concerning the position begging the question whether or not Fowler could be replaced from inside the club or from elsewhere. Rookie Oklahoma outside linebacker product Ogbonnia Okoronkwo didn’t see the field after returning from an offseason injury in 2018. And first-year defensive end John Franklin-Myers played in all 16 games and logged 2.0 sacks.
“Last year was kind of sexy, but the goal is not necessarily to be sexy, but it is — I’ll keep saying it — to put the best version of the ‘19 Rams on the field.”
-GM LES SNEAD
The Rams picked 11 rookies in the 2018 NFL Draft — eight of which participated in last year’s NFL Combine.
Snead listed every possible way to add personnel when asked if this year’s combine was quieter than 2018’s, however he did mention being “jacked about [the Rams] core.”
On Tuesday, ESPN’s NFL Nation reporter Lindsey Thiry listed possible edge rushers the Rams could be keyed in on this week in Indianapolis. Thiry’s edge rushers to watch can be found here.“It’s definitely a position we’re going to scrutinize. Now I think, again, I think the way we’ll do it is, we’ll have a priority of position we should target.”
-GM LES SNEAD
Snead said his staff plans to take a close look at the cornerback spot this offseason, with star corners Aqib Talib and Marcus Peters’ contracts up after next season.
Talib and Peters combined for four interceptions and 13 passes defensed in their first season in L.A. Talib, however, played in just eight games due to a Week 3 ankle injury that landed him on the injured reserve.
“That’s always a tougher animal to deal with, because you’ve got to decide between inexperience or experience. Maybe inexperience with upside, or experience on the downside, but has experience.”
-GM LES SNEAD
Snead gave some insight into the challenge of addressing a backup quarterback vacancy on Thursday — specifically weighing out the value of league experience.
McVay also said he expects to have conversations with quarterback Sean Mannion as the backup is set to enter free agency.
Mannion’s played four seasons as a Ram and appeared in 10 games.March 1, 2019 at 12:37 pm #98412AgamemnonParticipantThey pick Fowler for a priority. I would have thought it was Saffold then Fowler. I guess they like Fowler. I read they liked his work against the run and that he could play 3 downs.
- This reply was modified 5 years, 9 months ago by Agamemnon.
March 1, 2019 at 6:54 pm #98420znModerator"We feel really good about Jared Goff's development."
Watch: McVay recaps 2018, talks free agency + more at the #NFLCombine 🎥 » https://t.co/SWpTcDiqRl pic.twitter.com/ifwBQ7GBLi
— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) February 28, 2019
March 1, 2019 at 6:58 pm #98421znModeratorEven though the @RamsNFL offense looked stagnant in the Super Bowl, Sean McVay says his team hasn't lost faith in @JaredGoff16.#LARams pic.twitter.com/CzjzuT4xRP
— SiriusXM NFL Radio (@SiriusXMNFL) February 28, 2019
March 2, 2019 at 9:49 pm #98456znModeratorQuotes & Notes 2/28: McVay on Gurley and coaching changes, Snead optimistic about Rams’ core, calls Fowler a priority
“From a physical and really a mental standpoint he’s in a good place. And we’re excited about how Todd’s feeling moving into the offseason.”
-HC SEAN McVAYMarch 3, 2019 at 5:25 pm #98483znModeratorMcVay shares what he likes about each of the Rams’ new assistant coaches
https://www.therams.com/news/mcvay-shares-what-he-likes-about-each-of-the-rams-new-assistant-coaches
March 3, 2019 at 5:43 pm #98484canadaramParticipantThey pick Fowler for a priority. I would have thought it was Saffold then Fowler. I guess they like Fowler. I read they liked his work against the run and that he could play 3 downs.
I agree. Is it possible that they either believe Noteboom can play LG, or they are already targeting a less expensive option in FA?
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