Rams Head Coach Sean McVay – Media Availability – October 7, 2021
HEAD COACH SEAN MCVAY
(On the outcome…) “I’ll take it. The guys did a great job. I love the way our team just continues to compete, continues to stay connected, stay together. So proud of Aaron Donald. He ends up breaking the all-time sack record for the Rams. He’s only going to continue to build on this. Robert Woods, what can you say about him? So tough, such a great competitor. Thought he stepped up and made some big-time plays. He ended up having 12 for 150, and all of them were vital for our success offensively. I love how Matthew responded from the early turnover. We’ve got to be better than that. I thought we had some tough, hard-earned yards. And I love the way that Matt Gay ended up finishing the game for us. He’ll be better, he’ll improve. But, to me, being able to make that kick in crunch time, when that would have given them a chance to have some life, he took it right away from them. We’ll take it for him. A lot of things we can improve on, but I’m really proud of this team.”
(On the health status of Matthew Stafford and Darious Williams…) “I don’t have an update on Darious. I’m not sure about him yet. And Matthew continued to battle through it. I know he got his finger nicked up. I’m not sure of the specifics. When you talk to him, he’s so tough. He won’t tell you what’s going on. He just says I’m fine. So I’ll talk to Reggie and his group after this.”
(On if pain in Matthew Stafford’s throwing hand or elbow affected him…) “I don’t know. You’ll have to ask him. But he had a lot of pretty good one’s tonight, too. He did a great job. Again, I just thought there were so many good things that I could point out, and there’s going to be so many things that we can take a deep breath, digest this and improve on, because it’s a great football team. Really was impressed by what Geno Smith was able to do coming in there, being able to move the ball a little bit, sustain some drives. But, OK. A lot of good things. We’ll take the team win.”
(On the slow start for the offense in the first half and the stronger second half…) “Yeah, you know I thought they did a good job making some plays. We were just a little ahead of some of our progressions. I thought Matthew was playing really fast. He was a little bit ahead of some things early on and just the continuity. There’s always some decisions, you know, like I would tell you guys, some different things, you want to put guys in the right spots. We were just a little off. But I thought at the most important times we settled in, took a deep breath, and I continue to be impressed with just the resolve, the resilience and the cool, calm, collected competitor that Matthew Stafford is in crunch time.”
(On if he foresaw a big night for Robert Woods…) “That was something, because Gary asked about it, you know, we wanted to get him more involved. No, but he deserved it. We were definitely trying to get him involved tonight. He delivered in a big way, and they’re a reason why he has a C on his chest. He’s made the most of his opportunities that he’s had the first four weeks. Tonight was an opportunity where he got 14 targets. He delivered on 12 of them. He’s a stud, and just love the way he was instrumental in the win tonight.”
(On what Stafford’s demeanor was going out after Seattle cut the deficit to two…) “You keep the ball in his hands and he makes plays. Some of the plays he made on that drive were unbelievable. One of the plays that he made to Robert Woods on a second down and 10 after we had an incompletion, he winds up making an incredible kind of no-look on an in-breaking route. He made a bunch of timely throws right there, and how quickly we retook the lead. You can see when we’re firing on all cylinders we can be explosive. We’ve got to do it more consistently, but there’s a lot of things we can take from that. He’s a stud.”
(On what he saw from his defense and the late interception…) “Huge. It was big. Just like we’ve said all along, the complete team win. Everybody was vital to the success. I thought Nick Scott closing it out, Jalen getting the tip that Troy Reeder ends up picking. I wish we would have taken advantage of that momentum offensively. We’ve got to be better at playing complementary football in that regards. They did a great job of being at their best when their best was required. Same with Matt Gay and special teams. I’ve never seen anything like a double-punt, either. That was crazy. And then we wind up being on the minus-10. What the hell?”
(On what explanation he got…) “I don’t have the brain power to be able to explain it. But basically what happened was because he kicked it still behind the line of scrimmage, they reviewed it in New York, they said his foot was still on the line, so he wasn’t totally over the line of scrimmage. So they said he can do that. I said, ‘He can kick the ball twice, huh?’ I guess you learn something every night.”
(On what he was hoping to see from Robert Rochell…) “Just competitiveness. I think for him, even a couple of plays that went back, I love the way that he responded. He’s an unflappable guy. He’s mentally tough. He’s got great traits, great athleticism, great toughness, a lot of things that we can build on. I thought he stepped up in a big way, especially with all the weapons that those guys have on the perimeter. I thought Shane did a nice job kind of being able to mix it up tonight as well.”
(On the play of Tyler Higbee…) “He was tough tonight. He comes back, he makes the touchdown catch when we had to have it. He did a great job of blocking at the point of attack when we were in some of those numb-run situations, but Johnny Mundt seamlessly filled in as well. I’m not exactly sure what had happened with him, but he needed a little bit of a break and fortunately, when you have confidence in Johnny, he was able to step up and do a nice job. Tyler’s so tough. He won’t even tell you what’s going on with him, but he’s playing through so many bumps and bruises, and he plays so physical and he’s so instinctual. But I love Tyler Higbee, love what he brought to the table tonight.”
(On what his team accomplished in a short turn-around time after a loss and now playing in a tough environment…) “Just like we had hoped. We were disappointed in the result. Didn’t have too much time to really digest it other than, hey, we know we can be better. Let’s correct the obvious things and let’s be able to have some resilience and mental toughness as we move forward and can’t wait for that next opportunity to compete. And it wasn’t all perfect tonight by any stretch. We’re down at the half. Being able to do the things that the defense did, being able to see some of the plays offensive guys made, and special teams was encouraging, but again, we’ll take a break, we’ll try to get ourselves refreshed, recovered, and there’s a lot of improvements we can make from these first five weeks. We’re pleased with where we’re at, but not complacent by any stretch.”
(On third-down plays…) “There were a couple of things when we had multiple options, especially versus some of the coverage contours that we got. Matthew and I talk about those types of things. But we are an aggressive offense that has confidence in our ability to be able to connect on those types of plays. We’ll never apologize for that. But you do want to be sure that we’re smart situationally. I’ve got to be smart in some of the plays that we’re activating. That’s something that we’ll be mindful of. But I think overall you want to keep the ball in Matthew’s hands and you trust those guys being able to come through.”