Rams’ Sean McVay Not Running From Sunday’s Failure

McVay made multiple statements on the game in his full presser but the two biggest from the game is the reason why they lost and how the roster is moving forward.

The Turnover Margin

The Rams were -3 in turnovers against the Panthers, with a strip sack on Matthew Stafford ending the Rams' last offensive drive of the game, while a pick-six made by Mike Jackson would contribute to the loss. That play was a seven point swing in a game lost by three points.

“You’re aware of it," stated McVay. "We coach attacking the football and ball security. Those are two of the most important things. When you really look at it other than points, you're talking about turnovers and explosives. That's taking the ball away, taking care of it, or that's creating explosives or preventing them from a defensive perspective. We talk about that stuff all the time. For our guys to even give themselves a chance to be in that game, when you lose a turnover battle 3-0 and one of them goes for a pick six and the other two were in the tight red area where you're in scoring position. I think it's a tremendous credit to their resilience, but absolutely we talk about that stuff all the time.”

Helping the Young Players Move On

While the Rams did win a Super Bowl in 2021, outside of Matthew Stafford and Rob Havenstein, the team does not have many championship winners on their roster as they opted for an injection of youth in the 2023 offseason.

With their new group potentially on the cusp of a title for themselves, McVay spoke on helping young players move on from a fustrating loss like that.

“I think what you do is you acknowledge, hey, I don't like the way this feels," stated McVay. "Then, let's take a step back and let's say, ‘How do we channel that in a direction that moves us forward?’ Part of being mentally tough is acknowledging I don't like where I'm at. Now I have the awareness to be able to address it and then act accordingly. That's why we talk about all the time, we want to respond, not react."

"You acknowledge the things that we can all do collectively better. I think that whether you want to admit it or not, no matter the most disciplined person, there is a heightened sense of urgency and awareness when you end up coming up short like what we did. Let’s just say we ended up scoring and ended up winning that game, the game would've still gone down very similarly with the 150 plus other plays."

"There weren’t even that many. There weren’t that many snaps in the game. The bottom line is we try to be consistent with it. There is something about when you have the right kinds of groups that can handle a setback, you can use it as a setup for a comeback. I talk exactly like how I'm talking to you to them about it. Maybe I'm a little bit more candid. Maybe I have a couple more curse words in there too.”