The Los Angeles Rams are in the playoffs. That means their Week 18 matchup against the San Francisco 49ers does not have as much weight as it would if this were a “win and get in situation”. Sean McVay expresses that his team will take the type of approach that will allow them to rest certain guys, but he still expects an excellent week of preperation with the team’s focus being about getting ready for the wild card round.
The five resting players I notice McVay name were Matthew Stafford, Cooper Kupp, Kyren Williams, Aaron Donald and Ernest Jones. Other players may be out due to injury and other players may be on a snap count. One can assume this is fluid situation, and it’s an interesting one.
Let’s see what McVay had to say about his team preparing for this week, while also keeping their eye on the main goal, the upcoming playoff matchup.
McVay knows his team is in a good spot. They can’t be eliminated this week and for the first time all season LA knows they are playing past Week 18. How should the team prepare?
“The fortunate thing for us…because we kinda know…we’re already in the playoffs…feel like it does offer an opportunity to be able to rest some guys…we’ll hold Matthew, we’ll hold Kyren, we’ll hold Cooper on offense…on defense Aaron and Ernest Jones.”
With Stafford out, Carson Wetnz will come in and the head coach seems to be looking forward to what Wentz can do on gameday.
“I’m excited about Carson’s opportunity. Obvioulsy a guy that’s had a lot of success in this league…just excited to be able to seem go compete, do his thing.”
McVay doesn’t answer with certainty whether or not Wentz will play the whole game.
“I think you’d like to see him get an opportunity to do something special, and then be smart with him.”
LA’s head coach appears to be asked what made him decide to rest some key players this week. McVay basically expresses that win or lose it shouldn’t affect the Rams that much, but also says that it could. You just never know in the NFL, but at this time he feels he is making the best decision for the team, and that is all he can do.
“You think you know, and you just don’t, right?..Taking all that into consideration, didn’t really feel like the other side of it, do try to do something to maintain the 6th or know you could be the 7th…was best for our team.”
The coach is aware that some players may want to play to fulfill contract incentives. For example maybe a player gets 100 tackles over the course of the season, and gets some extra cash for doing so. The head coach says he does want to try and give those players the chance to earn if they can.
“Our any of these guys potentially affected from some incentives.”
I’ve been thinking about McVay’s first year as LA’s head coach, when he rested key players before going on to lose against the Atlanta Falcons in his first playoff game as a Ram. The Rams were eliminated that year, and I always wondered if McVay would’ve done things differently knowing the outcome. The head coach says that he doesn’t regret resting players as he thinks that was the right decision, but he does seem to regret not getting Todd Gurley the rushing title for that season.
