Rams Head Coach Sean McVay – Postgame Press Conference – November 23, 2020

(Opening statement)
“Great team win right there, all three phases came up in the clutch. That’s a great football team, I have a lot of respect for Coach [Bruce] Arians and the Bucs. You can see why they’ve done what they’ve done up until this point. I just loved the way our guys stayed together. [Kicker] Matt Gay comes through at the end, [safety] Jordan Fuller with the interception. Loved the drive when the offense was stalling a little bit by [quarterback] Jared [Goff]. A couple big catches by [wide receiver] Robert Woods and then [wide receiver] Cooper Kupp makes a big conversion to get us in field goal range. A lot of good things, that’s a really tough outfit that we played tonight. We’ll take that win, we’ll enjoy it for now, and we’ll get ready on a short week for the Niners.”

(On rookie contributions)
“[Safety Jordan Fuller] did a great job. He’s been steady ever since he’s been playing, getting him back , getting a little rust off the previous week and tonight he was just outstanding. That’s a great offense that can beat you in a variety of ways. He shows up in a big way, in crunch time, and makes the play we expect him to make. He was awesome. I liked the tough contribution from [running back] Cam Akers. You could feel the burst. That’s a tough run defense we played [against] tonight and he made a big touchdown catch. Then, [wide receiver] Van Jefferson came through with the big touchdown pass, as well. So, for both of those rookies to have touchdown catches, where that’s a tough defense to punch it in on in the red zone, was huge for them. I was very pleased with those guys.”

(On McVay’s undefeated coaching record when leading at the half)
“You guys got to stop saying that, don’t jinx us. Don’t say it anymore, please.”

(On kicker Matt Gay)
“Watching the way Matt [Gay] handled himself throughout the game, you could feel there was a lot of confidence. I know he had the one miss. But, you can tell the difference between a ‘miss’ and then one of those where ‘that looks a little shaky’. He was true all night. Great height, good timing, and he was very accurate. I loved what he did. It was a great snap, great hold, great operation. He made it and it was as true as it gets.

(On confidence in defense to hold final lead change)
“Defensively, a lot of confidence. I thought our defense played outstanding. Really, the one drive they ended up getting was a result of the turnover by the offense. They just continue to do such a great job of being able to settle in. Obviously, [quarterback] Tom [Brady] has such great command. We have a lot of respect for their perimeter players and you see why they’ve given so many people problems. I wasn’t nervous, I was more confident. Just seeing those guys come through in the clutch was big time for our team. We’ll enjoy it. We’ve got a lot of things that we’ve got to continue to clean up in a short amount of time [for] a team that beat us in a very sound way the last time we played them.”

(On effectiveness of hurry-up offense)
“Sometimes those are more ‘feel’ things than anything else. The guys did a great job executing. They were doing some things that maybe were a little bit different than maybe what we anticipated. But, our guys executed the menu of plays we were operating with. I thought [wide receivers] Cooper Kupp and Robert Woods were outstanding tonight. You talk about guys creating their own tough catches in crunch-time moments. I thought [quarterback] Jared [Goff] just continued to demonstrate resilience. I love the fact that he was outstanding from the jump. We had the one little mistake where we threw the interception on the screen, but what did he do? He just kept competing. We had a tough time getting the run game going. That’s really when you have to rely on the pass game. That’s a lot of stress when you look at the caliber of defense and how aggressive they are. But, what he did in terms of leading us down the field at the most important moment I think was critical. What I [also] loved is a lot of the things you saw us have trouble with against Miami, this was a defense that did very similar things. Jared handled it beautifully tonight, and I was very proud of him.”

(On back-to-back victories)
“It says that we’re 7-3 and we’ve got to go see if we can get our 8th win. That’s it. I’m proud of these guys, I love this team, I love how connected they are. But, I think we all know this is one win. It’s a great win, but you’ve got to reset. Got to hit the reset button. We’ve got to continue to improve and now it’s about figuring out how we can get our 8th win against a very tough team that is well coached. They’re getting some guys back and it’s going to be a great challenge.

(On ‘electric’ post-game locker room environment)
“That’s a pretty good word right there, I’d say ‘electric.’ That’s what you do this for, to be able to celebrate those moments with people you care about and love. Just to see these guys and the enjoyment. We always talk about this and I think it’s really great the balance of urgency and enjoyment. I think these guys are really finding that right now. I love this group. I love this team. I’m really looking forward to enjoying this for a little bit and getting back at it in about six hours.”

(On the contributions of this year’s draft class)
“I think it was a big win tonight. What I’ve been really proud of is a lot of these guys are part of our draft class, they’re just great football players that have really exceeded the expectations given their draft slot. You look at [safety] Jordan Fuller, we knew he was a great player. It was amazing that he was available when he was. But he came in and continued to demonstrate why we probably waited too long to get him when we did, actually. [Running back] Cam Akers and [wide receiver] Van [Jefferson] are going to continue to get better. But, I’ve just been very pleased with those guys. I love this team and they way these guys just continue to improve. What I was really proud of is that there were a lot of things that we talked about. But, some guys were asked to step up and I thought they did that in a big way tonight and that was really important for us.”

(On resiliency of QB Jared Goff)
“You’re going against the opposing defense, one of the best defenses in the league without a doubt. Based on how the game had been going, it would have been easy to think [that there was] no way our offense can put together a drive. I thought the first play of the drive, the 22-yarder to [wide receiver] Robert Woods was instrumental. Being able to hit him again and then when they ended up all-out blitzing us, he ended up hitting [wide receiver] Copper Kupp for 21 yards. That got us in field goal range. Really, we just missed [wide receiver] Josh Reynolds on that drive, as well. That would have probably gotten us another ‘explosive’ on the play right after we hit Robert [Woods] on the first play of the drive. So, he did a great job. I think it says what we expected. That he’s a really good quarterback that just stays steady and neutral throughout the course of the game. I was very proud of Jared tonight. Not surprised, but very proud of him.”

(On offense’s ability to overcome adversity)
“Things that we expect, I don’t ever take for granted how tough it is to win in this league. But we do have high expectations. We have a lot of confidence in our players. Really, [in] this team. But, as for the offense, to be able to make plays. Like I said, Cooper [Kupp] and Robert [Woods] really stepped up in a big way with the opportunities that they had. We didn’t have a lot of things going in the run game, but we kind of just stayed committed and then made a lot of plays in the pass game when we were asked to. I thought [offensive linemen] Joe Noteboom stepped up in a big way. Now, we need to continue improve going into a really tough matchup in a team that’s going to be as healthy as they’ve been all year, given the circumstances. But I know [head coach] Kyle [Shanahan] is going to have his guys ready to go.”

(On signing K Matt Gay and if he expected Matt to perform well tonight)
“I did. I think, really he came in and – under the circumstances – it was an exciting thing. That gave us a little bit of excitement watching him kick on Friday, Saturday – I don’t know what the hell day it was now, but it was out last day of practice before we got out here. Guys were ‘Oooh’ing and ‘Aaah’ing and you could see the height on the ball and the leg strength. He looks like he trains with Aaron Donald, the kicker is pretty jacked, man. I was pleased with him. I thought he handled himself really well. It doesn’t take anything away from Austin MacGinnis because he would have easily stepped in and we felt good about him had Matt not come in and been so impressive in the limited fashion. But we’re looking forward to continuing to improve in that phase of our team.”