Sean McVay Talks Lions Loss, Cooper Kupp's Big Game, Cardinals Preview & More | The Coach McVay Show

[Music] hello and welcome to a new season of the coach McVey show presented by Microsoft Surface I'm JB long with Super Bowl champion DeMarco far the head coach of your Los Angeles Rams sha McVey coming off an overtime loss to the Detroit Lions next up week two in Arizona well that was a nightmare scenario last night in Detroit almost turned into a dream victory yeah I was proud of the way that our guys battled JB you know there was a lot of adversity that we had to overcome and I don't think you really learn about groups until you go through those storms and um to be in a situation against an excellent football team and make no mistake about it that's a a really good football team well coached they got great Personnel great scheme they're checking all the boxes um their their expectations I believe is real and that atmosphere was real um but we go down 17 to3 and there was a lot of reasons for our guys to to not feel like there's a belief there's a confidence to just play the next play and you don't reel off 17 in a row to get to 20 to 17 with four and a half left without mentally and physically tough players without the coaches just staying nice and steady we came up short um we had some real injuries and we had to make some real adjustments and uh and there had to be some necessary flexibility and fluidity from our players and coaches and I thought that was on display um but ultimately it's about how we move forward you know you're not used to sitting here we've been very fortunate to win a lot of our openers but it's the one game and we got 16 of these guaranteed left left and whatever happened yesterday um we've got to be able to move forward accordingly and I do trust that we have the right men uh coaches and players to be able to do that and uh and I'm looking forward to doing that with these guys I heard you postgame you said I learned a lot about this group and I know you guys preach about mental toughness and how to finish football games but when you see it play out in front of you does it kind of surprise you like wow they they do believe in what we're talking it doesn't but I see better than I hear you know and and I thought it was powerful to get to experience the things that if you were to say were you going to bet on that group responding that way I'd say yes I am going to bet on that um you can't ever mimic and emulate those types of scenarios or situations unless you're actually in those moments and so there was a lot of reasons for me to be encouraged um but it is about how we move forward you know we're banged up you guys are going to ask me about these injuries and they're very real and we're going to miss some good players for significance amount of time um but that oer that offers opportunities for other guys to be able to step up and um you know whether you look at as fortunately or fortunately I feel for the players because of the work that they put in um but we're going to pour into the guys that are going to get an opportunity to take steps forward and and it's not going to be anything um you know that we're not capable of handling for the players and the coaches even though you you hate it for the guys that are going to be missing some time do you want to Rattle them off you want me to kind of walk you through one by one injury-wise what's what's your preference how would you want to do this just joyous exercise let's start with puka I guess mhm injured reserve puk's going to probably go to IR he's got a uh grade 2 PCL sprain um it's the same knee it's the same injury it's just a little bit more significant and it's a shame for him because he's worked so hard to get himself I thought he had a great week of preparation and you can see um his impact on the game is is immense he had four targets four catches for almost 50 yards in the minimum action he had he had a Jet Sweep he's competing without the ball he attracts attention um and so that's a big loss um but guys did step up yesterday we have guys that are capable that have played a lot of meaningful football for us but that is um you know that's a deal that you hatte it for him um because when you're with him and he gets the information and you know you know how bad he wants to be out there with his teammates to contribute and to be a part of this um it hurts him he's going to be back at some point though so that's a positive when that is at what point I don't know um but that is why IR is the most likely scenario because it'll at least be for a month Steve played every snap as a rookie unfortunately heading the same direction it sounds like with me does you know he got he got his MCL pretty good he's a tough guy and uh and he's been resilient you know you're looking at it both of those guys were Iron Man in their own right as rookies and uh and unfortunately you know they go down but they'll be back and um and we'll get them back and we'll be better when we do get them back but in the meantime it'll offer opportunities for other guys to be able to develop to mature um and to be positive contributors for this football team and we'll see exactly what that looks like God he wanted to keep playing hard to say no yeah it was cool it was pretty cool I mean it Reggie Scott didn't think it was very cool but you know at halftime he ended up you know where they're telling me he's he's going to be out for a few weeks and then I see him in the Huddle for our first snap of the second half and fortunately it was at a clock stoppage and so you get him off the field but it shows you how much he wanted to be out there and sometimes you have to protect these guys from themselves so Sean a couple of you know real NFL World Dynamics here one there is a limit to injured reserve per season right like like eight per year and potentially guys that you can put on for the DI you know designated to return you know where they're only missing four weeks or whenever you decide to be able to bring them back and you know you're talking about you started KT leveston on that um you know and you don't have to once you put guys on at you know KT leveston is an exception you put him on that at the very beginning so he's one of those guys you know you have Laro meres on there with the expectation to be able to bring him back at some point uh Darius Williams is one of those guys as well and so you know you start to look at it and before you know it um they start building up and you're saying man we're only in week one when you only have really eight of those for the whole year but I think it's uh more than reasonable to expect why puka and Steve are guys that would fit into that criteria if we need those roster spots which which we will and the other thing is a week six by which when it comes out in the spring you're like oh that's earlier than Sean's ever had it probably not best you'd love to have it down the schedule maybe it kind of plays to your advantage here where you can get five for the price of four weeks you know what I've tried to do JB is be really disciplined and it's so so hard about worrying about the things I can control um and and that's one of those deals that in this situation that's a glass half full approach where you're saying all right you don't want to be in these types of situations scenarios or circumstances but if you are and early buy does benefit where you're stealing a week um in terms of some of the things that we're talking about right now so that is a positive uh but I I think the most important thing for us to do is let's let's really focus on the progress let's really focus on the things we can't control and I thought I I do believe if we do that it's going to give us the best opportunity to hunt up the results that we want so we're sitting here feeling a little bit better about it but there are just there's so many things that take part in a game that you can't control and I think I've gotten more discipline and I think our team is pretty disciplined in regards to let's look at it let's have no regrets let's really focus on the part of the process that we can control and the things that we can't let it go and keep it moving man who do we miss on the list boom boom and dcoe Durant are the other guys that are you know Joe not booom you know he got his ankle on the first play of the game and you can see he gets rolled up on and he's battling through it uh he played a few handful more snaps but it you know it forced AJ Airi to step in and you know he battled but uh but Joe is you know I feel bad for Joe because Joe is tough uh Joe's just had some unfortunate luck in terms of his availability but he is a very important part of this team he can play left tackle he can play right tackle he could play left guard he could play right guard he's uh he's done those things but missing him we missed him a lot yesterday um and that altered the way that we were able to play but uh he did um he got his ankle pretty good now whether or not that's a an IR guy or not there's a possibility but you know we'll see but he'll be out for a little bit of time I do know that much so speaking of the way you play that's three offensive guys that are major contributors when you lose that many how what do you do game planwise like what can we run how do we run it yeah how does that work for you well you know it's tough and then you're not even mentioning that we already had Rob and Aller out yeah you know and so here's the thing it is challenging um but I will say this I was really proud of Bo limmer the way that he came in um he is a mature rookie it's not too big for him he's tough he's gutsy he's gritty he's one of our kind of guys so I thought he did a really nice job Jonah to be able to play basically Center for two weeks oh and then let go back to guard you know you're doing that in the middle of a game and and he battled and competed and and I love you know what he's all about thought Kad you know you look at him he's he's got an ankle injury uh he's going to be dayto day he battled and finish the game but it was uh and I thought Warren mclenon you know held his own Warren Warren has really made tremendous growth and progress but it is uh you know it feels similar I know we all know this to what some of the you know challenges that we navigated in the 22 season but I think we're better equipped to handle it in terms of let's worry about the things we can let's develop let's really focus on um you know how we move forward and instead of you know what we can't do all right what can we do what's the best way to accentuate these guys skill sets what's the necessary flexibility and fluidity that that we have to have as coaches starting with myself and then how does it put the players in the best spots to be able to go shine and that's why once we get done with this there's going to be a lot of hard work and and deep thought proc process that goes into you know trying to have that come to life um throughout the course of this week and then ultimately on Sunday when we play the Cardinals could it be Rob at right and McLendon flipping to left possibility you know that that's a possibility but here's the thing um I don't want to put any I think expectations can sometimes be a killer and when they're not met there's disappointment and what I mean by that is Rob's done a great job of putting himself in a position to make progress whenever he's ready the doctors will tell us that um and if that is this week man I'll be really happy but um I think I don't want to put the cart before the horse I think we'll see how the rest of this week goes um I know that he's chopping at the bit to be able to get back out there and to lead and and to be a part of this thing you know on the field he certainly has been leading in his own right but we'll see that could certain certainly be a possibility JB but that's still to be determined you uh I he told me this morning walking and we got back late so I didn't watch the whole game film but Cooper had 21 targets yep I was standing out there I didn't know it was 21 targets but it's it's nice to have that guy back that one consistent thing that you know can win for you yeah and he caught 14 of them you know and and that's the thing and and some of them there'll be some opportunities where you know he was out he was outstanding and we asked so much of him and uh and it wasn't too much for him and he I thought he and Matthew I thought Kiren Williams played really tough I was really impressed with Kobe Parkinson you know we mentioned some of the guys up front uh but I thought he and Matthew really you know came to life um in some of the most critical moments to be able to get us back in that game and in the crunch time you know situations they did that and um you know I was I thought Cooper was Cooper was the Cooper that we know he's feeling good and I thought his body of work where he could just go trust to go cut it loose and play was on display that little quick out people say it's easy that ain't easy if it's easy everybody would do no those are those are hard and um you know and those were things that we kind of had to resort to just based on some of the other things that we had discussed and um for those guys to consistently execute that and for him to have as many catches where he's catching with his back to the defense you know there were some challenges but um he just kept swinging and and he kept delivering and did a nice job those are essentially your early down runs I mean those are first and 10 throws right but it takes Elite arm talent to have the timing the Precision to make sure that's not a touchdown going the other direction there were a couple of hold your breath moments there there were how about the 20 yard tow drag swag yeah that was great you know that was um we had hit him on that same play earlier in the game when he had gotten Arnold flipped um on our near sideline and and came back to it and um you know Matthew delivers a great ball you know you could see BR has an underneath Defender was kind of in no man's land there was a big cavity in between and um and he you know he put it over the top and then Cooper to have that you know I think the other thing too is this an amazing catch but just you know there's certain guys that have just great sideline awareness you know to be able to make that play to really understand you know there's just there's a subconscious feel that these great ones have and C certainly Cooper's sideline or backend line awareness In The End Zone has has always been one of his great traits and I think that's consistent with some of the great players but that was a big explosive that we had to have on a drive that Matthew went eight for eight that ended up giving us the lead there he said Stafford so now I can talk about the quarterback he they think I talk about him too much uh just unreal just what he can do and how he's doing it just special player just one more gush about your quarterback yeah no I mean just gutsy resilient standing in there keeping his eyes down the field I thought he made some off schedu plays thought he was at his best when he when he when when we needed him you know and uh he's so hard on himself he'll be talking about the couple opportunities that he wants back but you show me a great quarterback and a great game from a quarterback they'll always want a couple plays back he made some plays that we'd have no chance of being in that game without him um you know when we did get the ball back with four and a half minutes the throw to Demarcus Robinson to be able to convert on the third down to give us a fresh set of downs was magic um you know some of the plays that he made on that you know on the eight throws that he did have that I alluded to on the you know the drive that put us in front um they were great throws and they were you know he really pulled out every Club in his bag um to be able to make some of those different throws um and we just came up a little bit short but uh as a competitor if I'm him he's got nothing but uh he should be nothing but proud and uh and he'll come back and and he'll be ready to attack this week but he instills a belief and everybody around him U regardless of the circumstances and I think that's as big a compliment as you can give to your quarterback we had a chance to sit down with Tyler Johnson today what a what a impressive young man he is and seems so ready for this moment too he's he's been on a championship team he's worked with Tom Brady he's been a part of your organization now he and Jordan Whittington ready to step up in Phil puka cleats I think so and I think tutu is ready to get some more opportunities you know tutu is a guy that's delivered for us JB there's a lot of different reasons when you put together certain U you know game plans if you will that can sometimes um help guys get in the flow and then sometimes they just the way the game unfolds it doesn't allow it to be Illustrated that way and so um the answer is yes on both the guys that you asked about and then I also think 22 is going to be a factor and you know once we finish up here that'll represent you know getting going and figuring out how to maximize that room because you've got Cooper you've got DeMarcus Robinson and then you got three other guys that I just mentioned in 2 two and Tyler Johnson and Jordan Whittington that are smart uh tough physical football players um I mentioned our kind of guys and then they all fall in alignment with that and they all have kind of complimentary skill sets that we got to do a good job of figuring out how to accentuate that I hope Jared vers is your type of guy I haven't watched the entire defense yet but the the mental reps that I have is him walking tackles back cam curl knocking the hell out of everything I thought the defense played like Gang Busters I did too I I was really pleased and that's an excellent offense DeMarco I mean you look at it I mean these guys um I think they challenge you from personnel with the skill players they've got a quarterback that knows exactly what they're trying to get done and he can play on time and in rhythm with accuracy they're excellent on the offensive line they have great design in the Run game um so it's a combination of scheme and personnel and you're checking both of those boxes and when you do that you're really challenged thought our guys did a great job you know they they they fought their you know they they fought their tails off I was really proud of him um you know we have a couple things that we want back in that overtime period but for the most part I thought there was a lot of positives a lot of things that we can take away and I think our players know that too um you know they wanted to be able to finish that deal they have high expectations I think a lot of people were probably surprised um but I don't think they were um and nobody in this building was uh just based on the body of work that we've seen I thought Chris and our defensive coaches did an excellent job I thought they had some great flexibility based on some things that they were doing that allowed us to get off the grass in some known passing situations and um and I thought a lot of the young guys or the new additions that you mentioned showed up and I think a lot of the you know guys that we're familiar with whether it's the Quinton Lakes John Johnson's um you know Kobe Turner I thought Byron young showed up and I thought Kobe Durant had a pretty complete game as well what a pick by JJ what a pick is oh my God Collision in that moment shoot I thought he knocked himself out um but that was such a huge play when they're getting ready to potentially go up two possessions a 1713 game we had to have it and then for that that was great complimentary football in display we get the turnover and then the offense you know takes the ball down the field and scores and um and you know to just be able to finish it out against some of those great teams that'll be one that we'll learn from and uh and we'll use it and we'll apply it the right way I don't want to be the guy who puts you in a position to sound like sour grape so please take this in the spirit where it's intended but now that you kind of got the uh competition committee leadership role within the league how do you feel about what we've done with the overtime rule even though you're on the losing end of it yeah I mean I I felt for Indianapolis last year here here's what I would say it's tough when you go back and forth and I understand it because over the course of a 17 Game season you're trying to say let's not extend it but it is tough whether it's you know obviously it's why they changed the playoff format to be the way that it is so that it El least each team's guaranteed a possession that was tough you know for a game to go back and forth like that and to not get an opportunity to go match it and I'm sure Indianapolis felt that way last year when we you know they get themselves back in a game we're up with a big lead we take the ball in overtime and we score and puka ends up having a walk-off and so now in you know in consecutive years seeing it from both angles um you know I do it's tough you know you would like to be able to get you know would I have liked another shot of course do I think that Indianapolis you know probably deserved another shot based on the way the game unfolded last year yeah of course I do and so but that's what the rule is and unfortunately you know that's that's where we're at funny I didn't care last year yeah well you never know how the the end of regulation leads into that too like your defense is on the field for a long time and they get a coin flip and a quick timeout to get right back out there no doubt so um there's something about this trip to face Arizona it seems like in your career they've been the Rams have been short-handed at times needing to bounce back at times maybe the back against the wall a couple of times and then you go see red and find a way I hope that's the case again this week for you I do too it'll be a great challenge I mean they went toe to- toe wire to wire they're really well coached they've added some new additions I thought they looked excellent yesterday I'm going to jump into the tape when we finish up but we better be ready to go yeah I I don't know how you could ever sleep on Kyler Murray no matter what they're doing how do you sleep on a guy like you don't and he is dangerous and um and they they do an excellent job and then defensively theye a lot of different problems that you have to prepare for I see you sliding and sleep sliding and sleep yeah can't sleep on Kyler can't sleep tonight that all three of us especially the head coach of the Los Angeles Rams good to see you Sean great effort learned a lot about your 24 Rams in Detroit for shaming F to Marco far I'm JB long this the debut episode of 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