Head Coach Sean McVay – December 18, 2020

(Opening Remarks)
“I know you guys are all interested in what’s going on with those five guys. I don’t know if it hit the wire yet or if it already has, but the two players that we had to place on COVID-IR are (OL) Bobby Evans and (S) Nick Scott. With ‘Obo’ (OLB Ogbonnia Okoronkwo), with (LB Justin) Hollins and with (OL) Brian Allen, we will still have those guys remain away only as precautionary deals, as we try to navigate through this, the best that we can. We’re expecting them to play in the game as long as they remain asymptomatic and continue to test negative. But we adjusted some different things, where we even went virtual this morning and we’re basically, in essence, trying to eliminate the locker room. We’re going to make that locker room almost like the tent is where they’ll kind of change and adjust for practice and get their treatments, because the air flow and things like that. In a lot of instances, it’s just kind of deferring to the experts on the best way to handle this. I do feel confident that all three of those guys with Brian, with ‘Obo’ and with Hollins, they’re mature enough to handle the virtual meetings. That’s the approach that we’ll take. They’ll reconvene with us on Saturday evening at the hotel and then they’ll be ready to go on Sunday.”

(On whether OL Bobby Evans and S Nick Scott are out for the game)
“Yes, they are.”

(On who specifically was COVID positive)
“I can’t tell you if one was positive or if they were both high-contact traces. Out of respect for just that these things, I can’t go into the specifics. I think sometimes those things express themselves as they either come off or stay on that list.”

(On who the next man up behind Evans and Scott)
“With Nick, he’s done a really nice job of being a core player on (special) teams and then playing really well at the safety position. (S) Juju (Hughes) will be asked to step up in a lot of those roles. As far as when you look at just missing Bobby Evans, he does a great job providing depth for us, but that’s something that, you feel good about (OL) Tremayne Anchrum (Jr.), Brian Allen will most likely be active to get your eight linemen up and (OL) Coleman Shelton. So, that’s really kind of more of a depth thing. But we know Bobby is capable and we really feel good about Bobby, he played really well when he started in games for us last year.”

(On the players coming from different position groups and if that was surprising)
“It’s part of it’s all by design, the way we have the locker room situated is so that everybody in the same position (group), because the locker room is the biggest risk area and that’s where those interactions occurred based on the information, the interviews and the Kinexon data that we compiled. You don’t want to have anybody affected, that’s the ideal situation, but what I think would be a worst-case scenario is when you have all of the same position group in one area and then one of them gets it and then you get that whole group wiped out. So that was partly by design. You want to not have anybody, but that was not surprising based on how we’ve kind of tried to strategically tried to approach this thing.”

(On if specifically he meant the players were in a similar area inside the locker room)
“That’s correct.”

(On any concerns of a potential bigger outbreak)
“I think what we’ve done, we have taken all precautionary measures, because we could have those guys come in the building today if we wanted to. I mean, you talk about taking all the necessary measures and being as careful and as cautious as possible, that’s what we’re doing. That doesn’t mean that it’s a perfect way of going about it. This is just the best way that we think to go about it. And a lot of these decisions are I’m deferring to the doctors, (Vice President, Sports Performance and Medicine) Reggie (Scott), what they understand about this. This year, that’s what you have to be able to do. I think all things considered, when you look at the landscape of the league, we’ve been very fortunate and this is very minimal when you see the way that some of these other teams have been impacted and how they’ve had to adjust based on similar situations occurring.”

(On whether everything will be conducted outside today)
“We’re just in essence trying to eliminate the locker room, which is the highest risk area for our players. It’s just being extra cautious. The air flow and being outdoors, that’s something that you’ve come to learn that that is a really important thing for the risk mitigation. Obviously, the masks like we’ve talked about at great length. Basically (Director, Equipment) Brendan Berger and Reggie Scott have transitioned the equipment rooms, locker room and the training room to that tent. You’re able to do it on a Friday practice because you’re not full pads, it’s a little bit less stressful, in terms of the workload we place on these guys. It’s a real credit to them for enabling us to even be able to do that.”

(On if the team will be having a walk-thru or practice today)
“We’ll have a walk-thru and then it will transition into practice, like what a normal Friday reflects. So, the only thing we’ve done is we’ve just tried to eliminate the locker room. I mean, all of our meetings are either virtual or outside. The only transition is just taking the coming inside the building, we’re just trying to eliminate the building with regards to locker room and the treatments in the training room.”

(On if he has considered having a permanent locker room outside)
“I mean, part of it, you’ve got to ask yourself are you able to do that just based on the space that we have. For us, I think you want to just continue to follow the protocols and then if you have to have some flexibility, like what today is, then we’ll do that. What I’m very appreciative of is, is the flexibility from the people that have to do all the work behind the scenes. I don’t have to do much more, but you look at the amount of work that Reggie and Brendan and their groups have to do just to make something that seems seamless, but it’s not. We’re always trying to figure out ways to make this as easy and as seamless as possible, while trying to keep a similar routine and rhythm for our players. I think this is kind of that next step, being able to do that on a Friday and you could potentially do something like this on a Wednesday. But, when you’re full padded, you still have to be able to shower, things like that. Those are things that I think it would be hard to truly transition everything outdoors, even though you’d say that would be ideal. But, do you have the means to be able to get that done? I don’t want to say the means, it’s more the space.”

(On if the logistics of outdoor training room and locker rooms are actively being discussed)
“We talked about this yesterday. It was something that they started that process as soon as we decided to go virtual. The reason that we were able to do that is because you say, ‘Well, you could still meet.’ Well, yeah, we could, but then, you wouldn’t be able to have the locker room in the tent or the training room in the tent. So, we said, ‘Okay, what’s the best way to adjust? Let’s go ahead and do all virtual meetings and then once the players start to come in for treatments and the locker room is an essence in that tent.’ Which with the outdoor air flow, all those things, that’s the best risk mitigation that we can abide by. Then you hopefully get enough time that passes that you’re saying you feel really like you’re in the clear. Because that’s the thing, that’s the concern is when somebody pops a positive, you do all the contact tracing, that’s still an imperfect thing. Somebody might be positive that still remains asymptomatic and is actually negative on their tests for a few days. That is what’s the scariest thing and the most volatile thing about all of this, as we’re learning on the fly. That’s why I don’t think you can be cautious enough with this.”

(On if calling of a Friday practice in Week 12 influenced the decision to move forward with today)
“We’re going to practice. We just walked-thru that week. This is going to be a normal Friday. The only difference is instead of having our meetings in the tent, we just did them virtually. Then like I was talking about with the training room and the locker room. Our guys are feeling good. I feel really good about the way that these guys have practiced with urgency this week. I can’t remember since I’ve been here being able to practice like this, this late in the season. That was one of the things that, man, it is stressful when you have that much film on a short week to get ready for a Thursday game, But once you get past it, you’re saying, ’Man, that provides a really nice mini-bye later on in the season.’ That enables the guys to get their legs back underneath them. You’re still able to practice on a similar rhythm and routine that you would typically do earlier in the season. So, that’s a blessing for us and I think that’s reflective of why hopefully we’ll continue to play our best ball in the month of December. That’s the goal this week.”

(On if any additional adjustments will be made at SoFi Stadium for COVID precautions)
“No, we’ve already kind of done those things. I think the league has implemented really sound protocols and our people have done a great job. We won’t have to alter any of the things that our guys have been accustomed to doing already at the games.”

(On if there is thought to create a team bubble when making a playoff push)
“I think there’s certainly a thought. But then to be able to activate a plan like that, I think it is really important, the mental health of it, enabling players to still be able to feel like, all right, how much normalcy in a very non-normal time can we have them still go home and be with their families and come back. I think they’re making good decisions. When you really learn about some of the instances and incidents that we’ve had, it’s not because our guys aren’t doing good things, making sound decisions off the field and trust our players. I trust what they’re doing, I trust our group. I think we want to try to keep it as normal as possible, while not being naive to the fact that this is a volatile thing. I certainly have had my eyes open to that within the last couple of days, especially.”