Tag Archives: Sean McVay

2017 NFL Draft, LA Rams, Los Angeles Rams, NFL, NLCS, Uncategorized

Transcript Of McVay;Snead Pre-Draft Pres Conference

Rams’ GM Les Snead and Head Coach Sean McVay held a pre-draft press conference on Tuesday.  The following is an excerpt from the transcript which appeared on TheRams.com 

(On how needs of the team play into building the draft board and when needs override best player available)

Snead:

“I think you always try to set your board with not taking needs into play. Obviously, if you really need something, you might be desperate and then all of the sudden, you’re making players better than what they are. So you try to do that, for sure. I always say this, ‘Best player available is always speculative.’ That’s our best player available, time will tell – it’s usually about three years later whether you were right. But I do think there’s a blend of common sense in this thing where there are some definite needs that will help us as a team in 2017 and the future. Then, there are some times where, guess what, a really good football player falls that may not be your A or B need, but you can always use a really good football player, especially if there’s buy-in and he’s going to start and help us. It’s a blend of that, I think.”

McVay:

“Yeah, I think exactly what Les said. When you look at free agency and the draft, you certainly evaluate your own roster and then you develop your needs based on your evaluation of your current players in place. I think the thing that he said that is critical is that you do have needs, but you don’t want to overreach for a need – meaning, if you have a specific player valued at that spot and you don’t get a certain guy at that spot, you don’t then go to the next guy because of it being a need. But I think when you look at it, there’s a certain position that might have a little bit more depth at, you’ll lean towards that need. But I don’t think you want to reach for it. He and his staff have don’t an excellent job of being able to listen to our coaching staff’s evaluation of our current players that we have and how that dictates and determines how we’ll move forward, both on offense and defense and with ‘Bones’ (Special Teams Coordinator John Fassel) on special teams. And I feel very good about where we’re at, collectively, as an organization, going into Thursday.”

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La Dodgers, LA Rams, NFL, Uncategorized

Kershaw Saves the Day and Gruden Optimistic about Goff, McVay and Other Tidbits

I am sitting here at my desk and gazing at laptop’s screen while wondering what to write today,  MY mind has been wandering in so many directions.  Should I write about the Dodgers victory over the Rockies last night?   How about Jon Gruden’s comments about Jared Goff and Sean McVay? Maybe I can write about the Rams signing a Patriots’ castoff.  So many topics and too little time, so I guess that I’ll briefly write about them all.

I am going to tread the day that we ever lose Clayton Kershaw.  If you ever need somebody that can be the clutch for an uplift, he is the one you want because he comes through all the time and last night he came through for the Dodgers.

The Dodgers went into last night’s game after a disappointing Wednesday night loss to the Rockies and adding to their three-game losing streak.  They faced the division leading Rockies for the last time in their series and needed to avoid a series sweep, but one obstacle stood in their way. The last time Kershaw faced the Rockies he gave up two back to back home runs for a lifetime first and lost the game 2-4.

But, Kershaw blasted through that obstacle last night. While he did give up two runs, they were not back to back and they were the only two.  While Kershaw did his part, the others scored four runs to break their losing streak get a 4-2 victory.

The Dodgers will be in Arizona Friday night to face the Diamondbacks with Ales Wood on the mound in place of Rich Hill.

Jon Gruden is optimistic about Jared Goff and Sean McVay.  Before I proceed, I would like to make this disclaimer.  McVay had been an assistant coach for Gruden when he coached the Buccaneers.  He also had been Jay Gruden’s offensive coordinator.  There could be some bias here coming from Gruden, but here is what he has to say about Goff:

“He came out early — a true junior,” Gruden said on a conference call Wednesday. “I don’t think he’s a hundred percent what he’s going to be physically; I still think he’s going to get stronger, I think he’s going to mature physically. I do think that he went into a difficult situation. That’s an offensive line that has struggled; that’s a receiving corps that has struggled. And his inexperience — I think that’s a difficult combination for a young quarterback. And I think that’s a big reason why they were 0-7 when he was the starter.”

Now His thoughts about McVay:

 “I just think he’s going to bring a real positive, upbeat presence to the offensive side of the ball,” Gruden said. “And fortunately for him, he’s hired one of the best defensive minds in all of football over the last 25 or 30 years [in coordinator Wade Phillips]. I think they have a unique battery there — a young, energetic offensive coach who’s proven he can get the job done, and a very, very good, experienced defensive coach on the other side.”

All I can say is that I am not a Goff hater because I believe that he got a raw deal under Fisher and his offensive cohorts. Some people compare his play to Carl Wentz of the Eagles and that is an unfair comparison.  The Eagles had a much better head coach and offensive staff.  I am looking for a better performance from Goff given the positive changes in the Rams’ offensive staff.

Gruden’s quotes come from an article written by ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez which could be read by clicking here.

The LA Times’ Gary Klein reported yesterday that the Rams claimed Patriot castoff lineman Tre Jackson off waivers.  The Patriots drafted out Florida State 2015 according to Klein who also wrote that he did not play a single game in 2016 because of a knee injury.  In 2015, he started in nine games as a right guard.

I wonder if this pickup just to have competition at that the guard position.  While I am little concern about his missing last season because of his knee, I will take a wait and see position before beginning to gripe.

 

You can read Gary Klein’s piece in the NY Times by clicking here.

This is it, for now, peace out.

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LA Rams, NFL, Uncategorized

A Brief History of The Rams New head Coach

On Thursday, the Rams hired the youngest head coach in the league at 30 years of age. This will be a perfect match for their youngest quarterback and team in the league. But, do not let his young age fool you because he has a pedigree, and Jon Gruden approval.

McVay’s grandfather is John McVay who had a role in five super bowls for the San Francisco Forty-Niners.

The younger McVay also has his own impressive accomplishments as well.  In high school, he played quarterback and defensive back for Marist school where he was the first player to gain 1,000 passing and rushing in consecutive seasons.  During his high school years, he rushed for 2,600 yards and 40 touchdowns and passed for 2,500 yards and 18 touchdowns.  He led the school to 26-3 record with a 14-1 state record in his senior year.  He was named Georgia 4A Offensive Player of the Year for his senior year efforts.

He went to play wide receiver for the the University of Miami(Ohio) where he earned Miami’s Scholar-Athlete Award in 2007. While playing for Miami he caught 39 passes for 312 yards.

After his graduation from the University of Miami(Ohio), he accepts his first coaching assignment with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2008.  Jon Gruden, then Buccaneers’ head coach, made his assistant wide receivers coach.  After Gruden’s firing in 2009, McVay became wide receivers/quality control coach for the the Florida Tuskers of the now defunct United Football League(UFL).

In 2010, McVay would return to the NFL, but this time the Washington Redskins.  He would be their assist tight ends coach until 1011 when they promoted him to tights ends coach.

A Gruden would re-enter his life in 2014 when Jon’s son Jay became the Redskins’ head coach.  The younger promoted him to offensive coordinator 2014 where he would remain until becoming the LA Rams new head coach.

In his first year, he turned their number 25th ranked offense to the tenth ranked total offense and would further improve the offense by moving it from the 12th ranked passing offense with a 268.4 average passing yards to number three ranked passing offense with 309.3 yards per pass.

(The above information comes from Wikipedia.)

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