Rams Will Hold Joint Practice Against NFC Opponent on Thursday

"Unfortunately, we'll have to cancel that practice with the [Los Angeles] Chargers," stated McVay. "I think they're a little bit banged up. [I] talked to [Head] Coach [Jim] Harbaugh. Bummer that we weren't able to get that done but I totally understand and we'll figure out a way to get great work against ourselves.”

McVay on Sunday stated that the team was attempting to schedule a joint practice against the Saints.

“Yeah, we're going try to get with the Saints. [I] had some good conversations with [Saints Head Coach] Kellen Moore after our game last night. Spoke with him this morning. They're obviously getting ready to play right now. I am hopeful that we'll be able to get something coordinated with them on Thursday. It's looking like that's more likely than not that we'll be able to do that. I'll have some more specifics for you guys tomorrow once we finalize those plans.”  

The joint practice is confirmed between the two sides and will take place in Carson, California.

“I think it's AEG," stated McVay on Saturday. "[Rams President] Kevin [Demoff] and [Rams Vice President] Tony [Pastoors] have been coordinating with those people. Over near Home Depot, or whatever used to be Home Depot, there's some fields that I think are going to be available in close proximity to the stadium.”  

Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula spoke about the practice and some of the issues when it comes to exposing their concepts to a familiar opponent.

“There's always that thought in the back of your mind," stated Shula. Even when we were going to the Dallas practice, you trust that the film's not going to get out. I know they have a quality staff just like ours and just like we talked to Dallas where the film's not going to get out, but there's always the word-of-mouth stuff, talking about what they ran. There is that extra thing where we typically don't do this against teams that we play against. So how much do you want to show but you still want to run your stuff and test your rules. It's always that fine balance similar to some of the preseason games. So yeah, it is a challenge. This time of year, it's one of those August preseason problems you're dealing with.”

Offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur confirmed McVay and him spoke on Wednesday morning, putting together a plan that will allow their players to play freely without exposing too much on film.