Rams Head Coach Sean McVay – Rams-Bears Postgame Quotes – Nov. 17, 2019
(Opening Remarks)
“First and foremost, with (WR) Robert Woods not being there tonight – it was a personal matter. That’s all we are going to say about that. We love him, respect him, we are with him and his family all the way and that’s really where we will leave that at. As far as the game tonight, really pleased with our team. To be able to find a way to win as a team, that was the goal, that always is the goal. It was a little bit different than typically what we are accustomed to seeing, but a win is a win, we will take that. I love this group, love the way that they continue to battle. I thought our coaching staff did a great job. Hats off to the Bears. They are a tough, physical football team. We were pleased to come away with a win tonight.”
(On what point did he know Woods wasn’t going to play today)
“A couple hours before the game.”
(On if he made a conscientious effort to put the ball in RB Todd Gurley II hands)
“That was part of the gameplan tonight and I thought he did a great job. What I loved the most about what (RB) Todd (Gurley II) did, is after we put the first carry on the ground, he didn’t flinch, he came back and had some good, tough, physical runs and made some good catches out of the backfield and he was a big-time contributor tonight. I thought our offensive line as a whole – I can’t say enough about (TE) Johnny Mundt and (TE) Tyler Higbee battling through, where they were banged up, they were questionable coming in to the game. For Johnny Mundt to be able to play really his first extensive action like that and do a great job battling against a really physical front – with some of the personnel groupings that they were playing on defense – I thought was a real impressive night for those guys. Just kind of grinding it out had to be patient and a lot of that is a result of being able to play as good of defense as we did tonight as well.”
(On holding the Bears to seven points and how good the defense played tonight)
“Unbelievable. They continued to make stop after stop. I though (DB) Troy Hill’s interception was big. The thing that I thought was as big as anything is when offensively, when we turn it over the first two possessions – for the defense to be able to stand up and not let any points come off those turnovers was huge. Really, our defense was outstanding and that’s what we expect from them. I thought they did a great job.”
(On if he was committed to more of a conservative approach on offense)
“Yes, and really I thought at the most timely spots our guys rose up. To be able to see (WR) Josh Reynolds make some timely catches, I thought the third down, where he ended up having poor leverage on (Bears CB Kyle) Fuller, broke that leverage, (QB) Jared (Goff) delivers him a good ball. What a play by Jared Goff in the empty formation to recognize kind of a trap-type coverage where Fuller comes off on the out-break from Josh and he opens up the hole shot from (Tight End) Gerald (Everett). I hate that the one big play to Josh came back, but really I loved the way that our guys overcame it. To see (RB) Malcolm (Brown) end up punching that one in was big and then to be able to close out the game in a four-minute situation and be able to take a knee, that’s always a good thing for us.”
(On if he expected this good of a performance from the offensive line)
“Yeah, it is. That’s what we expected. That was the type of game that we thought it would be and I thought those guys did a great job. Until you go back and look at the tape, it’s hard for us to say but I did think there was a lot of situations where you are a little bit more conservative. I thought they did a great job just continuing to battle. It was a physical football game and really pleased with those guys as a whole.”
(On which point in the week he decided he was going to use Gurley heavily in this game)
“I think you always have a plan as the week evolves, but you certainly never know exactly how a game’s going to unfold and sometimes it changes. I thought our ability to stay in some manageable situations, the efficiency we had specifically early on in the game was critical for that, and like we talked about, I didn’t think I did a good enough job against the Steelers of kind of recognizing the way that he was running and you don’t want to make the same mistake twice.”
(On if he recognizes the way that Gurley is running now, and if we will see him featured more during the remainder of the season)
“I think so. That’s an ideal situation, but we’ll continue to look at this film and we’ll see how we want to put together our next game plan. Anytime you get Todd involved like that, it’s usually always a good thing for our offense.”
(On what he liked about CB Troy Hill’s performance, which included six tackles, a sack, and an interception)
“All those things you just mentioned, and I thought he just continued to compete. He’s a complete corner and if he gets his opportunities, he’s got the ball skills to be able to deliver. That was a big play right there if he’s coming up in run support, but a lot of different coverage principles that we activated tonight and I thought (CB) Troy (Hill) did a great job in addition to really the 10 (players) around him and all the different personnel groupings we activated.”
(On if he expects to get some clarity on when WR Robert Woods will return in the next day or two)
“Yeah, it’s hard to say. I don’t want to give a finite answer on that. I most importantly want to be able to talk to him afterwards. I talked to him before the game, but want to be able to check with him and out of respect for his family, that’s why we’re just kind of leaving it at what it is.”