Rams Head Coach Sean McVay –Media Availability – October 3, 2021
Rams Head Coach Sean McVay –Media Availability – October 3, 2021
(Opening Statement)
“First of all, congratulations to the Cardinals. They did a great job. I’ve got to be way better for our football team. Make no excuses about it. I didn’t do a good enough job to get our guys ready to go. But fortunately for us, we’ve got a chance on a short week to be able to respond the way that we expect to, the way that we want to. And that’s exactly what we’re going to do moving forward.”
(On the accepted penalty on third down and if he was tempted to challenge the quarterback sneak play on the goal line)
“I was. I was tempted to challenge the sneak. The first one, you know, moving them back, it put them out of field goal range. They ended up converting and our guys did a — it didn’t work out for us in that instance right there. I felt like that was the right decision at the time. It didn’t work out for us. I’ll make no excuses about that. I did think about challenging that, but our guys up top felt like he was short. So that’s why I didn’t. And then we didn’t end up punching that in. So there was a lot of decisions, a lot of things I didn’t do nearly a good enough job for our football team. I love the way our guys continue to battle, continue to compete. We got the right guys in that locker room. We didn’t all of a sudden become a different football team. We didn’t play up to our standards, but you give the Cardinals credit and we look forward to responding on a short week. Our work will start right after this.”
(On the importance of consistency and how he explains today’s performance)
“Yeah, they did a great job. You got to give the Cardinals credit. But, also, it’s about being able to show up and play the best football you can in that three and a half hours of time you’re allotted and you’re guaranteed. And, you know, there’s a lot of decisions and things that I wish I would have done a better job for our football team with. We’ll look at ourselves critically, we’ll move forward. And, again, part of being able to do this the right way, is being able to handle the ebbs and flows. You know, things aren’t going to go perfectly. This is such a competitive league. Our guys are wired the right way. And those opportunities to be able to show your mental toughness, the resilience that I know exists in that locker room. And we’re going to get ourselves up, ready to roll, and be ready to compete on Thursday.”
(On if he thought there could be a letdown this game during the week coming off an emotional win last week)
“I didn’t. But again, I’ll always look at myself first and that’s where the responsibility lies. The beauty of it is, you don’t have a ton of time to sit around and be sorry for yourself. You get ready to go and move forward and that’s exactly what I’m going to do and what our team is going to do.”
(On Matthew Stafford’s performance)
“I thought he was gutsy. There were a couple of things that he didn’t play up to his level early on. But you talk about being able to will us down the field when we ended up coming short on that fourth down and one where we just missed Higs (Tyler Higbee). But some of the individual plays that he made, the look in his eye, you know, I’ll ride with that guy any day. And I feel that way about our football team. And I think these are the moments you can really see a lot about how people are wired the right way. And this guy is everything that you could ask for in a quarterback and I can’t wait to go back to compete with him on Thursday.”
(On WR Van Jefferson’s performance)
“Van (Jefferson) did a good job. He made the most of his opportunities creating after the catch. I was very pleased with Van today.”
(On if he got the sense that our defense was frustrated)
“Yeah, he did a great job. You know, that’s the athleticism and just the great playmaker that he is. And there was a couple instances where we felt like we could have been better. But you got to give him credit. You know, he’s a playmaker. He’s been doing this for the last couple years. But it’s especially been illustrated the first three weeks of this season. And it was on display today. Hats off to him. He did a nice job.”
(On if he felt like he had a good defensive plan coming into the game and what he saw fron CB David Long Jr.)
“Yeah, of course I felt like we had a good defensive plan. You know, those are going to be things we go back and we look at. And we’ll evaluate ourselves critically, starting with coaches and then seeing, ‘Okay, what can we do better to put our players in better positions.’ David is doing a good job competing snap in and snap out. I’ve been pleased with him. And there’s going to be a lot of things that everybody, to a man, can look at and be better and that’s where we’ll get a chance to let that show itself on Thursday.”
(On what he thought went wrong defensively)
“Yeah, I’m not really sure. You know, they did a good job throughout the course of the day. There’s a lot of things that we’ll be able to go look back at and clean up.”
(On the connection between Stafford and Cooper Kupp today)
“We were just a little off. They made some plays. That’s the one thing, is, you know, we expect to be better. I have to be better. You know, everybody can be a little bit better. But you do give credit to the Cardinals. They did a nice job and had a good plan. Like I said, it all starts with me.”
(On how we improve inside the redzone)
“Yeah, I think you look at the film and make sure we’re making good decisions and then the execution has to be there.”
(On what he saw in Darrell Henderson’s return)
“He did a nice job. I thought Darrell (Henderson) was sharp from the jump. I thought our line did a good job creating some removal. We were running the ball efficiently. It just kind of got out in some of those situations when we weren’t able to stick with it when the score got out of hand. But I got to do a better job of being patient and making sure that, again, I’m putting our guys in better spots. But I thought Darrell (Henderson) did a nice job today.”
(On if Kyler Murray and the Cardinals did anything differently)
“No, they did a nice job. But he made some plays. It’s hard to simulate and mimic and emulate the speed he plays with the athleticism, the feel, the instincts. And that was on display today. And that’s why he’s done such a great job during the first month of the season of playing at such a high level. You got to give him credit.”
(On next week’s game in Seattle coming off a loss)
“Yeah, I mean, you got a lot of respect for Russell (Wilson) and the Seahawks organization. They’ve always done a great job under Coach Carroll’s leadership. We know that. But, you know, we’re going to do a good job of getting a plan together, put our players into positions, let’s go roll it out there and go compete. Thanks, guys.”