Sean McVay - Head Coach, rams Event: Press Conference | Date: 2026-09-17 | Full transcript (primary source).
Sean McVay, Head Coach of the Rams, addressed the media during a press conference on September 17, 2026, providing updates on player injuries and discussing the upcoming matchup against their opponents. The session focused on the status of key players and the challenges posed by the opposing team's defense.
Transcript
McVay: Alrighty. Okay, as far as the injuries for today, guys that will be limited in practice will be Cam Curl with his ankle, Omar Spates with his hip, Nate Landman with his shoulder, Cam Kitchens with his hamstring will be a DNP, and then Devontae will have his normal rest day, and that's where we're at. You guys go ahead.
McVay: Well, good. He's feeling good. You know, you already see, you know, he had crutches yesterday, and then he was, you know, walking without crutches today. So, he's like Wolverine, healing fast. You know, I'm reluctant to put a timeline on it. You know, we've kind of talked about it, but, you know, we know that he's going to miss the, you know, those four weeks at a minimum, and we're not going to rush him back. We want to make sure that he's feeling good. He's able to get out on the practice field, do all the things that are necessary for him to perform at a level that he's been accustomed to. And so, that'll be something that I'll kind of keep you guys posted as we have updates as we go.
McVay: Yeah, they got great players across the board. You know, I think, you know, they do a great job schematically, but then you look at it, you know, whether you're talking about Thibodeau, obviously Burns and Abdul Carter, you feel their presence. And then Reese was an excellent player in college, and you see why he was picked where he was, you know, doing a good job as an inside backer. But I saw a defensive play with their hair on fire, played with a great energy, a great effort. You know, there was a style of play. I think that's the biggest thing defensively that you could really see. They were connected, and it was impressive. You know, they got really good players on all three levels of the defense, and that was on display on Sunday night.
Unknown: What are the benchmarks that you're looking for with Aaron in terms of deciding, you know, whether it's this week or next week?
McVay: It's more along the lines of how does he feel, you know. You know, he's obviously chomping at the bit, but I think for him, getting those reps in 11 on 11 settings, there just hasn't been a whole lot of opportunities for different reasons that, you know, you guys know based on kind of the schedule that we've had. But what we are hopeful is is that he'll have some good work today, tomorrow, and then, you know, hopefully he's feeling good enough. And if he says he's ready to go, then we'll be excited to see him rock.
McVay: I just want to see us be present right now and move forward. You know, that game is so far. It's almost like you try to do the men in black thing where you say, all right, hey, I don't remember what happened. That was so long ago. We're not playing in Australia ever again, I hope. All right. So, you know, not because it wasn't a great atmosphere. That'll get taken out of context. But, you know, bottom line is, is I like the way that I feel of our preparation, eyes moving forward, you know, chest out, you know, chin up, eyes forward. And let's go, you know, let's go be about it. And let's go prepare the right way. Let's have great focus and concentration. Let's have a great energy and an edge in which we prepare and compete with. And then let's go be ready to go against a really damn good football team. You know, what they looked like in week one. We got a, you know, great challenge ahead. That's what every week is. And we're just excited to compete. And all we can do is really have a great day of preparation today, which is Thursday, but it's a Wednesday in our mind.
McVay: You know, I don't know. I mean, I think, you know, there's, I have such respect, you know, for everybody in this league because of experiences. Humility is a day away. And we've talked about that a lot, but, no, the film speaks for itself. You know, when you put the silent tape on, those guys did a great job. They've got playmakers, you know, all over the place on both sides of the football, and then they did an excellent job in the kicking game as well.
Unknown: After that game, both you and Steph talked about guys not being on the same page. How much did that show up in the film? And do you feel comfortable that that won't happen Sunday?
McVay: Well, we got to have a great, you know, I think there is a lot of reasons that I'll never really know the answers on some of the stuff, you know, in terms of what didn't go down the way that we wanted. But what I am focused on is our operation, our clarity that we're providing as coaches, the consistency at which we're giving our players a chance to be able to bring it to life. And that's, you know, you earn that confidence from your preparation. And so that's what we want to be able to see. And that's where my full focus and concentration is.
McVay: I did. I wasn't surprised, you know, I was really happy for Mike, you know, he's obviously one of my closest friends and I love Mike. And he's meant a lot to, you know, to me and my family, his family has thought it was an awesome day for the Cardinals. You know, I thought they looked really good in all three phases. I got a chance to watch that whole game. And, you know, it's unique because they're in the division, but it overrides because, you know, that's is like family and, you know, being able to see mom and dad and how nervous they were in the stands, really, mom was, you know, excited to see it, you know, even when they were in four minute mode and had good control when they showed them on the TV and seeing Lauren and the kids. So it was cool. They looked awesome.
Unknown: I didn't see that. I don't know. You'd have to ask him that. I don't know about that. So hopefully it doesn't tear his planner fascia like I did last year in week two.
McVay: It's awesome. You know, I mean, these are the thing that's really cool is, is there's so many of your close friends in a very small competitive league, you know, when there's 32 teams. And when you see some of your best friends, you know, it was unique watching the Vikings and Packers game because two of your closest friends coaching against one another. But it's a blessing, you know, and, you know, I'm happy for my buddy that he did a great job and, you know, and they look, they look damn good.
McVay: I thought they did a good job. You know, I thought we created some good space, good movement. I think the standards that they have, they both tell you, man, we got some more, you know, yards to be able to get versus some of the space that our guys were able to create up front. But that game, you know, we never got any continuity. I mean, any sort of rhythm, you know, to even be able to sequence some of the drives and stuff like that. There's a lot of factors for it, but we never allowed ourselves to get into any sort of rhythm that's been consistent with, you know, what we've had a chance to be when we've been decent on offense here before. But the other day, I thought those guys, you know, did a nice job with what they could control, but the minimum amount of plays, you know, credit the Niners, they did a good job possessing the football. But what's wild is, is you have so few plays in the first half, then you come out and they end up doing a good drive. You go all the way down the field and then you don't score. And then really, you know, you're in a totally different game, you know, after that when you only have one possession into the second half. So doesn't want, don't want to make excuses, but we never allowed ourselves to get into any sort of rhythm, you know, for it to almost be evaluated, if you will.
McVay: The interior offensive line greeted up pretty well, especially in that run game. And I know now looking at that pass game, but moving forward, just what are you leaning on with their continuity in there?
McVay: You just said it, you know, I mean, if you say, all right, what are some of the things that we can build on? There was some really good job, you know, good stuff from Coleman, from Steven, from KDOT, and thought both Alaric and Warren on some of the inside combinations and the tight ends, you know, there was, there was some good space that they created on some specific runs. But, you know, consistency is the truest measurement of performance. We're looking for consistency as an offense. How do we string good positive plays both in the run and the pass together? And that's what good offenses do. And that's what we're striving to do.
Unknown: Was there anything when you went back and looked at Stafford specifically, you said you guys never got into a rhythm, but is there anything you saw from his performance that was uncharacteristic?
McVay: Yeah, I think that game was so unique, you know, and I think it's one of those deals that, you know, you can look into it, but you're really wasting your emotional energy on stuff. Let's, let's move forward. There's nobody that I believe in more than him in terms of, you know, leading and playing the quarterback position. And he'll be the first to tell you as what I that, you know, everybody is looking inward on, all right, where can we be better to help, you know, for the collective and what we're trying to hunt up. And that's where our sole focus and concentration is. And I don't care if you're Matthew Stafford or you're any great in any sport or any arena. There's going to be some days that you have off, but how you handle the adversity is usually what the separator is between successful people and people that don't have success. And that's why he's been successful because he can handle some of those tough moments. And that wasn't a day that, you know, that really any of us, you know, liked, but hey, it's not final and we're looking forward to moving forward.
Unknown: Okay. Thanks, guys.
Unknown: So Sean just talked about the fact that he felt like you guys didn't have get into that rhythm in the last game. How do you sort of correct that?
Unknown: I think just execute a little bit better. Obviously got to stay on the field more, you know, not enough plays to really get into that rhythm. Just got to be a little bit better on third down. I think early down pass game as well. Just be a little bit more efficient. Had a couple of explosives, but be able to be a little bit more efficient and I keep the ball moving forward. You know, it just helps everybody out. Helps the play caller getting new rhythm helps me get into rhythm and everybody up front as well. So just not enough plays for us. You know, it didn't play well enough, you know, really from the start.
Unknown: No, I think we're pretty comfortable doing the way, you know, doing it the way we've been doing it for a long time. That didn't, that didn't enter my mind when I look back at it.
Unknown: When you do look back afterwards, when you talked about maybe we weren't on the same page and Sean just said, I'm not going to waste black, emotional energy going back. How do you process that moving forward?
Unknown: I mean, it's easy for me. I mean, it's, I got a new opponent to look at, you know, a new team to look at, obviously all while trying to make sure that, you know, I play at a better level. Everybody on our team plays at a better level so we can go get the results that we want. But you flip the tape on, you watch the Giants, you know, they jump off the screen at you, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Got a bunch of really good, young talent, mixing with some great veterans that have, you know, played a lot of football at a high level as well. So it'll be a big challenge for us, ultra talented, obviously great guys up front, really all levels of the defense I got playmakers. So that'll get your attention, get you ready to move forward and look at somebody new.
Unknown: Yeah, I mean, just, you know, feel for him. Obviously the guy that has done a lot of great things in this league, you know, we brought him over here just to be a piece of what we're doing, you know, not to be anything other than who he is. And injuries are part of this game. It's really a difficult part of it. You know, everybody thinks it's the physical part of it, but really it's probably more so the emotional parties on a new team with, you know, a bunch of guys who's trying to, you know, ingratiate himself and let guys know what he's all about. And then you got to go sit there and, you know, get cleaned up a little bit. So, you know, feel bad for him. But I know that he'll have a great attitude, attack his rehab, and when we do get him back, it'll be great.
Unknown: Yeah, I mean, just obviously have a good scheme, you know, and those guys attack. When you watch them play, even the first play of the game, you know, it's the Cowboys, little Carter just kind of blowing up the, you know, the back sift or whatever that was. Just you look at those plays and you go, man, these guys, they play with their hair on fire. They really get after it. And so I got to match that or exceed that energy in that edge. And, you know, as far as playmakers go, they got them, like I said, at every spot. And so, you know, this is the NFL. We got good players on our team. They got good players on their team here to go out there and execute and play at a high level.
Unknown: At what point in your career were you truly able to put a game behind you and start looking ahead immediately? Did that take time?
Unknown: Um, maybe, you know, but I feel like I've played this position for a long time. You kind of get trained, whether it's a game or a play. Good, bad, and different. Move on to the next. And, you know, don't think too much about it. Don't harp too much about it. Just be honest with yourself. Play in and play out. Game in and game out. How can I be better? Where can I be better? Try to do that. And that's served me well.
Unknown: How did you just really make football see any different good playing on a Sunday to you?
Unknown: Um, I love playing on Monday nights. You know, obviously the schedule part of it is a little bit unique and a little bit difficult. You cut into your next week. I obviously get that extra day on the front end, but cut into your, you know, your recovery for the next week. But Monday night football's always meant something in this league. Grew up watching it and it's fun to be on it.
Unknown: Have you, have you built?
Unknown: You know, I think for me just, it's probably on a lot of the throws that don't get a lot of, you know, don't get a second look. You know, sometimes it's, hey, it's just getting it to a running back or getting it to a tight end on a screen or a check down that you think is going to be like this and then has to get kind of, you know, maneuver it over because you feel a D lineman jump and those kinds of things. Not to say it always happens, but those are the kind of little throws where the average fan probably watches and just goes up, you know, there's a check down for four yards to the running back. But, you know, maybe that ball gets batted or you don't even get the chance to throw it with that, um, you know, D lineman in your, in your face, uh, or something like that. That's where I feel like they come out. It's not the launches down the field where I'm like, I got a great clean pocket. Let me just drop it down for no reason. Um, it's just kind of instinctual place.
Unknown: Are there times that you look for the D ways that all right, we handled this correctly. We're okay. Did you see what you want?
Unknown: Yeah, I mean, every team is unique and different, and every game and whatever you're trying to either continue to do well or work on or work through all those situations are fluid and different. I know for a fact, we have the right kind of guys obviously starts at the top of Sean and our coaching staff, but the guys in our locker room have the right, you know, mindset and attitude to go out there and attack this, uh, this week, the way we should and looking forward to the opportunity in terms of immediate recovery from that trip. You guys have had a couple of days. Did you feel that whether, you know, just the, the length of that, uh?
Unknown: Yeah, I mean, on this on the flip side. Yeah, no, not too bad. Um, not too bad. Um, obviously, you know, the travel was what it was. Um, but, uh, no, feel ready to rock and roll.
Unknown: What was that flight like on the way home?
Unknown: Um, I don't know how long it was. However long it was. It was a long one. Um, but, uh, when we landed here, I was glad to be back.
Unknown: Cool. Thanks.
Unknown: It was fun. I mean, it was more of a mental recovery than anything, but it was our, uh, not, not great, but I mean, we're on the plane for 16 hours. So I ended up sleeping at some point.
Unknown: Sean talked about the team not being in rhythm during the last game. How do you sort of keep that from happening again, moving forward? How do you fix that?
Unknown: I think just better execution. You can talk about running certain things or whatever, but at the end of the day with who we have on this team, we don't, we don't need a premier call every single time we go up to the line to be able to execute and make it work. So just executing, just figuring out how to, how to click and obviously putting ourselves in advantageous moments and not hurting ourselves help. Um, you know, we don't, we don't want any setbacks. The game is hard enough. So anytime we can get a, get ahead of the sticks and, um, you know, get the ball in the playmakers hands that obviously helped. But it's not like you can fast forward to this Monday and wait for this game.
Unknown: You talked about the mental, how mentally challenging is it preparing, staying focused on a Wednesday or Thursday, knowing you want to get that bad taste out of here?
Unknown: Well, I mean, I don't, I wouldn't say it's difficult. It's just more as a competitor, it's hard to, you know, have to sit and wait and not have an opportunity to go out and, you know, rectify the situation. Um, so that more eats up as you not having, um, you know, the ability to get to it right now, but we still need time to prepare and to get right and obviously get our bodies back adjusted and, um, you know, all of that stuff that goes with, with traveling and, and, uh, you know, playing a, playing a Monday night game after that. But I mean, we eager, but we, you know, we'll be, we'll be primed already at the right time.
Unknown: Can I follow up on that? You've been traveling, obviously, your entire career, you're used to traveling. How different is this week after a 16 hour, two 16 hour flights in a short span?
Unknown: Well, I mean, that's all behind us at this point. I don't think that the flights we had in any of that stuff. I mean, like I said to you before, we could sit here and try to make excuses and say it was because of the flight all we want. But at the end of the day, I didn't feel tired. I didn't feel crazy fatigued in a game and I felt good enough to go out there and put what we've typically put on tape. So, you know, we can make excuses all we want. But at the end of the day, they play better than we did. And that's what I attribute that to more than a flight.
Unknown: But do you feel normal now?
Unknown: Yeah, my body feels fine. Um, I got kind of a little under the weather throughout that trip, which obviously doesn't help, but, getting back now, getting back adjusted back into our rhythm. So I feel fine.
Unknown: When Matt, when Matthew doesn't, when Matthew has a game that, you know, is atypical from what people are used to seeing, what he knows about the way he carries himself, not only during the game, but in the following days, like during a practice week and things like that.
Unknown: Nothing, which is, I mean, that's, and I say that from the sense of that, you know, some people, they got to elevate, you know, come in here and then you see a different look in the face or walking around like a different, he's just like I say, I've told y'all probably a hundred thousand times. He's the most cool, calm, collected person I've been around. Um, whether he throws a pick, throws a touchdown, like you look at him on the sideline, you would never know if you weren't watching the game before that. So, um, that's kind of the feeling I have now. I don't, I'm not walking around seeing him looking like he has to be extra intense or looking like he lost anything. And he, you know, mentally or whatever. It's just another, uh, another game week for him and he's locked in ready to go.
Unknown: Well, for sure. I mean, anytime you get going into, into regular ball, going from preseason to the regular season, it's like going into the playoffs from the regular season. So, the intensity, there's different things that obviously you have to get in front of the team. You can have a great week of practice and it doesn't set you up necessarily. You're not guaranteed a great week in the game, uh, because you're going against different guys. It's tackle football now. You know, we just, things change, but at the end of the day, we, we practice at a certain speed and intensity to where we make it as game-like as possible. So, um, when you have the guys that have the right intentionality every time they touch the field, that obviously helps.
Unknown: Do you feel that, uh, Sierra, just versus Rich, uh, you know, getting into a battle, you can just crawl whatever weekend, like this, we could have reached where we can get some power next week.
Unknown: Well, I mean, we're going off, uh, not a great sample size this year. I mean, we, everybody's freaking out, which I understand we didn't put it together to the greatest, um, showing out there. But at the end of the day, I mean, you're a fool if you think that that's what it's going to look like every single week. Like at the end of the day, there were, you know, a few different variables that we shouldn't have to deal with moving forward. And, um, one of them being the first week, which is part of it. And then obviously traveling and like I said, we're not making an excuse, but that is a, you know, potential, a potential reason why, you know, we, we maybe weren't as energetic or, you know, but at the end of the day, the execution is the execution. Once you get a man in front of you, I'm not falling asleep as he's, you know, standing there in front of me. So you still got to go and block them and, um, go run good routes and get open. So at the end of the day, we, we got our minds right to, to do the right thing. And like I said, the way we practice, the way we get each other ready, it gives us the best shot at being ready on Sunday or Monday.
Unknown: What makes them study very nice and challenging?
Unknown: Well, I think it's less of, you know, specifically the secondary, not to minimize what they do, but just a, just a solid defense all around. And when you, I think that's more important sometimes than having a great secondary is having guys up front that can get pressure. And, you know, sometimes, you know, in a situation like where we have, we have a lot of good interior guys and guys up front to where, you know, on the back end, those guys may not have to work quite as hard and quite as long. So, you know, you look at who they have a friend and that's where it starts on every team. They got some guys that can get to the quarterback and put some pressure on you in the run game and, you know, all those facets. And then on the back end, they got some, some definitely some good athletes. And I've had a chance to plan against pretty much all of them. So a little bit of familiarity there, but definitely got respect for those guys.
