Sean McVay On Quentin Lake’s Elbow Surgery; Matthew Stafford & Davante Adams Talk Roster Depth

Sean McVay On Quentin Lake’s Elbow Surgery; Matthew Stafford & Davante Adams Talk Roster Depth

Okay guys, um obviously we put a couple guys on IR. Um Higgby got his ankle rolled up on bad and so it’s going to be, you know, a little bit of time, but we do expect him to be able to make a return. Um Rob is, you know, really, you talk about Higgby, Rob, and Quinton Lake, all guys that are going on IR. Big losses for us. Um Quinton Lake had elbow surgery yesterday, ended up dislocating his elbow. Uh everything went really well. There still is some optimism that he could return this year. Same thing with Higgby. And then, you know, Rob Havenstein, he’s as tough as it gets. He’s been battling, been pushing through his ankle, his knee. Um, you know, he had been kind of sore and there had been some things going on. And so, um, being able to talk to him, I think the best case and the best approach is going to be able to give him some time, see if we can end up, you know, turning the corner and allowing him to be able to feel like he’s capable of. And, uh, we’ll we’ll have hope and optimism that all those guys will return at some point. Um and the soonest that they’d be able to return with, you know, Rob and Higgby would be, you know, with three games remaining in the season. Um and we’ll kind of monitor what what QA status will be. As far as today’s concern, um Xavier Smith got the concussion the other day. He’s doing better, but he’s not quite where we want him to be yet. So, he’ll be a DNP. Um everybody else should be good. With Rob, just kind of when did that happen in the game? You know, it’s it’s been something that he’s been dealing with, Adam. I mean, he is he, like I said, he’s as tough as it gets. And, you know, you look at when he missed some time earlier in the season, he comes back. I thought he played, you know, really well, and then you could see it just progressively started irritating him more and more and really limited his ability to be able to function the way that he’s capable of playing. Um, and when you’re, you know, doing the things that that are asked of that position, particularly up front, um, sometimes it’s it’s one of those deals that you have to do right by the players. you know, when you talk about a guy like him, he’ll continue to push, battle, he’ll fall on the sword and um, you know, I think our job is to be able to sometimes protect these really tough, you know, guys, you know, from themselves and then to be able to, you know, take that information that I’m getting from Reggie from the totality of it all. He ended up getting kind of like a bcitis where his knees swollen, too. And so, um, you know, there’s nobody that would push through more than him. And sometimes you have to be able to protect these guys from themselves. But, um, he’s such a phenomenal leader for us. He’ll do such a great job in the meantime of uplifting and elevating the group just like he’s done. Um and then we’ll look forward to being able to get him back um when he’s feeling better and capable of playing the way that we’re accustomed to seeing Rob play. Tyler, Rob, and Quinton are all such big all the way guys for you guys. Like how do you kind of deal with that on the field? No doubt. Well, number one, those guys are going to be here. They’re going to continue to, you know, uplift and elevate those guys. There is a lot of guys that that we have confidence in. You don’t replace players like that. Um you don’t expect others to be able to do that. You expect the guys that are getting opportunities to step up to be the best versions of themselves. And um you know this is something that you deal with and and it’s an unfortunate. It’s one of my least favorite parts of this business. You watch the amount of work, time, and effort that goes into preparing and then you know how precious these opportunities are to be able to get these games and and to be able to go compete with um you know teammates that they love and care about. And so they’ll still be here. They’ll still be able to affect and influence things in a positive way. And even though I know all three of those guys would be chomping at the bit to be out there, um they’re they’re everything that’s right about this place and they’ll contribute in their own ways. And you know, you’re not going to run away from those are tough losses. Uh but you look around this league and you know we’ve had to deal with things like this before and there is a lot of confidence from the guys that have been asked to do different things um that’ll be elevated you know to to be able to go deliver and and play to the best of their ability not try to be Q not try to be Rob not try to be Higs but be the best versions of themselves and um and that’s what we’ll do. Rob’s case I imagine that player is probably Warren McClendon. How much of a luxury is it having somebody like that that you can put in who’s played as well as he has? It’s a luxury, you know, and I think it’s a tremendous credit. You know, I’ve mentioned it before, Stu, and we’ve talked about it. You know, I think Rob’s done such a great job. You know, obviously you got to give Ryan Wendell, Zack Cromer, Brian Allen a ton of credit, but you know, also Warren of of course because of what he’s done. And it’s really cool to see him just continuously work, earn the confidence through his work, not any sort of words. Um, but Rob’s also mentorship and guidance, I think, has been I would I would imagine that Warren would tell you it’s very helpful, but it is a luxury. Um, and I think Warren’s played really well in the times that Rob hasn’t been able to go um, in previous games this year. You know, it’s it’s hard to say, Nate. I um, I know this, the surgery went well. I think they were really encouraged with some of the specifics and I’d be a little bit out of my element, you know, getting too granular there. But talking with Dr. talking with Reggie, even talking with Q today. Um, I don’t think it’s out of the question if you earn an opportunity to be able to play after the regular season that he could, you know, potentially play. So, don’t know about the regular season, but if we’re fortunate enough to, you know, continue to, you know, do things that give you a chance to play more than the 17 that you’re guaranteed, there’s a possibility he’d be back for that. How much does it help for you, especially with Rob with, uh, Higgby being out and having so much talent and diverse talent in that tight end room? It’s a it’s a big deal, Nick. Um, you know, and Higgy’s been such a glue guy for us, you know, his presence, his charisma, his production. Um, his overall just energy is something that is really hard to replicate or ever replace, but it is a luxury, you know, and I think, you know, Scooter Huff’s done a great job of really developing that room. Higgs has had a tremendous influence on those guys. You know, it’s really cool to see um how far and how much growth you’ve seen from Kobe, from Davis, and you know, and you continue to see from Terrence Ferguson. So, do feel really fortunate to have good depth in that room. with with Quinton. He’s been such a like can’t get him off the field type of guy for you guys the last two years. How tough were just the conversations with him over the last couple days as he kind of came around to this reality? Well, I’ll tell you, you know, and you guys have talked to him. He’s about as impressive of a human with his mental toughness, his ability to acknowledge that he’s disappointed. But, you know, the thing that Q’s one of those guys that when you sit there and you talk to him, you’re like, man, I I wish I was like that. uh because his mindset is man I’m just grateful it’s not anything in my lower half and I can still walk around and you know because it’s his left elbow and he can throw the ball around. I mean it’s unbelievable right you know but that’s who he is um even when I spoke with him after the game he was going to get the MRI scans and they had a premonition of what it could be and we thought that that you know you know for him to come out it’s probably something that’s going to be significant. Um, so we had a a feeling and and then when things were confirmed after I spoke with you guys on Monday, um, but his his mindset and mentality is incredible. I think there is part of the mental toughness is acknowledging, yeah, I’m disappointed. It’s a bummer. All right, so I don’t want to stay in this space. How do I move forward? How do I surround myself with people that uplift me? How do I make sure I’m not in this alone? And I think there is something to be said for those temporary milestones as you start to gain progress um, you know, getting closer towards a return. and he’s a he’s a special guy. His perspective is is something, you know, when you think sometimes when I think about complaining about stuff, he’s a good uh reminder of of how to handle things. Josh Wallace guy that uh you look at to fill that spot or Yeah, I thought he did a good, you know, I think it’s something that, you know, we’ll continue to evaluate throughout the course of the week. What I will say about Josh Nate is he did a great job the other day. Came in, played almost 30 snaps. Um and really that’s been consistent with Josh Wallace. You know, he’s a guy that can play so many different roles. He’s so smart. He’s got great instincts, great overall awareness, great physical and mental toughness. And I thought against an excellent outfit, he came in and really didn’t miss a beat. And uh his ability to communicate, to understand big picture-wise, you know, not exclusive to one spot, but the concept of everything that we’re trying to get done specifically on the back end is a tremendous credit. Roger’s a guy that we’ve been working and um you know, there’s a possibility of that. And so Aubrey does such a great job of being able to get those guys ready along with coach Beak and you know this week will be really important you know for those two guys in particular. Couple more. Can you walk me through what it was like getting him ready those 48 hours for the Thursday night? Yeah. We’ve we’ve talked about this a lot now, haven’t we? You know, you writing another article about this. So, um I here’s what I would say. You know, I’m always a little probably too long-winded. incredible testament to him, to Liam, to Zack with the amount of information that he could digest in a short amount of time. I think there’s also a credit to his teammates. You know, you think about even something last week when I somebody called me, you know, that I think is a local writer for the Bucks that artist had me talk to and I can remember, you know, they brought up that Brian Allen is telling him what the clock mechanism is in terms of the cadence and you could see that on the TV copy. But, um, he’s a fun guy to be around. Obviously, I think when you look at it, you know, with the two quarterbacks, we feel so fortunate to have Matthew. Um, obviously, I know Tampa feels that way about Baker, but you got two guys that um elevate the people that they’re around. Um, instill a belief, which I think is some of the most powerful things that you can offer as a quarterback with the way that you lead and the way that you compete that’s authentic to you. Um, and I think Baker’s always done that throughout his career. Matthew’s always done that. But what he did was he was himself. And I think when you look back on it, I don’t know that many people are surprised. Um, but it’s an incred it’s a it’s an impressive feat, that’s a real testament to his, you know, competitiveness, but also his mental capacity to be able to handle and absorb so much information in a short amount of time. The amount of I mean, that’s the amount of learning he had to do in those in that time. Hard for any player. But what’s even harder about the quarterback? Oh, there’s just so many. I mean, I I think, you know, you tried to make it, you know, as similar or like as what he’s done, you know, you but he he did a great job. I mean, what’s what’s asked of that position in general, you better be able to operate above the neck and and he certainly did that in an u in a very impressive fashion. Matthew, the news that Tyler and Rob are going on in reserve, like what what are kind of the steps this week in terms of moving forward as an offense? Yeah, I mean it’s um obviously unfortunate for those guys. They’re such great players, good guys in our locker room, leaders. Um you know, that’s tough, but it’s next man up. It’s the NFL. That’s what we have to do. We understand that’s part of the game. It’s part of the game that we all dislike. Um but uh you know, we’re going to have to move forward with the guys that we do have available. Um you know, from the tight end standpoint, a lot of those guys have gotten a ton of experience already, so feel good there. And then Warren’s played, you know, a decent amount of snaps this year as well, too. So, um, both those guys are obviously big- time leaders and and catalysts on our team and our offense. Um, but, you know, we’ll just move on with with the guys that we have forward, uh, or move forward with the guys that we have and then, uh, you know, hopefully those guys can can, you know, heal up and and be ready to go at some point. What kind of opportunity is this? What kind of opportunity is this for Terren? Yeah, I mean, I think, uh, you know, he’s he’s been rotating in and out of the game, you know, at the same, you know, regularity. um you know they’re trying to keep those guys fresh as best they can. We have four of them obviously now three that uh you know still feel really comfortable with all those guys being in the game. So um you know I think it’ll be a you know a good opportunity really for all of them with this Sunday being the Aaron Donald celebration game. Just when you think about his legacy and impact on this franchise and especially your guys’ time together as teammates just what what sticks out to you the most? Oh man. Um obviously on the football field he was just as dominant as you could be. Um you know whether that was practice or or in games. Um he forced the hand of the offense more than any player probably I’ve ever played against or really with. Um which was you know incredible to be around. Uh great teammate, great uh energy to be around. A guy that brought it every single day and then and off the field just a class human being that represents all that’s right with the NFL. and um I was very lucky to spend time with him on the same field and and and uh do some special stuff uh you know watching him do his thing. So um it was all time great. Uh what have you seen from uh Tampa’s defense challenge? Yeah, I mean it’s it’s a Todd BS defense. I think they’re really well coached. They do a really nice job. He’s been doing it for a long time. He understands what he wants to do, how he wants to attack offenses. Um I think their front is big and physical. couple guys on the edge that are rushing the passer at a high clip. Um, you know, their backer backer’s been doing it for a while. Levante has. And uh um you know, just really smart back end when you look at it. They do a lot of different stuff. They ask them to do a lot of different stuff and and uh you know, I think uh they do a really nice job in the back end mixing up looks on you, making it difficult on the quarterback and and uh you know, being aggressive in nature in a game um not necessarily this year, but not getting a rough roughing the passer called. What is your mindset about whether it’s worth to complain or ask about a flag and have you seen any success from doing that? I mean, not really. Just because after the fact, I mean, they’re not going to like, “Oh, yeah, you’re right.” and and drop it. Um, you know, sometimes when it’s late, I mean, you have a little conversation, but it’s move on to the next play. Sometimes whether you, you know, I I understand it’s probably difficult to see a lot of times. Do you get hit in the face? Do you not? Grabbed a there was one earlier this year got grabbed in the face mask um and got pulled, you know, to the side trying to throw a ball over the middle and and just made them aware of it. Hey, got me there. You know what I mean? Whatever it is. Um but it doesn’t mean it’s going to happen again the whole rest of the game. So, you don’t know. Um but just trying to if I see something, just try to make those guys aware and a lot of the times they’re understanding and and uh you know, they’re trying to do their best out there. You had you had a big moment against the Buccaneers in the playoffs. several years ago. What do you recall about that play that went the long pass to Cooper? Yeah, I mean a lot of it um I can kind of put myself right back in there in the moment to be honest with you and and see what I saw in the moment. Um obviously a huge play, great play by Cooper the play before to get out of bounds to stop the clock, give us a chance at that play and then Sean did a great job of kind of jumping the ball at that point. um keeping the pressure on him, not letting him huddle up and get all organized and then u recognized it um as I caught the snap kind of and and uh in a split second kind of realized that the best route versus that coverage is probably the one that never gets thrown. But um Coops had a great angle I put into a spot and he made a great play. Talked after the game on Sunday about how you emphasize the stakes before the fourth downs during that game. But when do you ch how do you choose your moments for when to like deliver a little extra message? Yeah, I just trust my gut on those things. Um, you know, fourth down’s, you know, pretty easy uh obvious moment to uh, you know, push the fellas, but uh, they do such a great job. They understand. All these guys know, um, you know, what’s at stake every time we go out there with every single play. It’s all of them matter. Um, we happen to have some that were, you know, fourth downs. We’d love to convert them on third down, frankly. But, um, you know, if there’s if there’s opportunities where I feel, uh, my voice can, you know, add some input or or help us get to where we need to go, I’ll do it. Lesson you learned about running a huddle. I don’t know that I’ve ever really had advice about it to be honest with you. I’ve just got in there and tried to be myself as much as I possibly can. I love to compete. I love to uh um, you know, be in that huddle. It’s a it’s a special thing that not a lot of people get to experience. But advice-wise, no. as long as you know what you’re doing um you know and can relay it to those guys in a in a clean manner then uh good things happen. You talk about you being very calm in those moments. Is that just how you are naturally or is that you saying I need to be calm because I’m here? No, I don’t I don’t uh actively think about being calm. I think that’s just who I am. Um uh you know played the position for a long time but in other sports probably competed and and have a similar similar temperament no matter what I’m doing. um doesn’t mean that uh just because I’m not yelling and screaming doesn’t mean that I’m not um giving it everything I got, but that’s just how I am. To spend any time with Baker when he was here and uh what you know, what’s your impression of just his journey throughout his career? Yeah, I did. Um obviously I was around um I was rehabbing some stuff at the time, but was really impressed with um you know, obviously the physical abilities there. That’s why you get picked where you get picked. But, um, you know, his ability to come in and play, you know, pretty darn well on a short shortened timeline was was really awesome. Um, gave us a spark that season. Um, he’s a great human being. Played some golf with him in the offseasons. Um, really enjoyed being around him. You can tell why his teammates love being around him. He’s just a great uh great guy and and obviously a heck of a football player. He’s been through a lot. um and you know, come out the other side playing about as good as ball as anybody and and uh always pulling for him um to have success as I am most of the guys in the league, man. Just want those guys to go out there and and play well. And he’s uh he’s done a nice job. Uh you know, it wasn’t monoemano. We were just enjoying our time. But uh he’s a pretty good player. I’m not going to lie. He swings at lefty, but uh he’s a good player. Yeah. I mean, I can’t get mad. You get mad at golf, you got something wrong. I’m not uh I’m not working hard enough at it to be good. Cool. Thanks, man. Thanks. Yeah, that was fine. Yeah, I just played bad. That hadn’t have nothing to do with it. Yeah, it was it was completely separate from the injury. But when you haven’t had many games like that, I imagine Yeah, not like that. No. as long as you Yeah. I know you guys It’s always difficult for me. I mean, I like to think I can move on with and and continue to play football obviously, but just having a standard that I do for myself. I, you know, I never want to drop passes. I never want to, you know, do anything negative on the field. So, anytime it’s, especially when it comes to catching the football, like that’s something I pride myself on. You know, obviously reaching a thousand catches, that doesn’t just happen. So, um, yeah, it’s something that I beat myself up on about, but it’s it’s much easier situation like this where you can, you know, like I said after the game, get backed up by the rest of the team, rest of the receivers, you know, and and that faith and confidence in a, you know, in me is still there, you know, with from the the coaching staff and everybody else, which it should be obviously, but um, just me being the level player I am and the experience I have, I just I always want to go out there and light it up. Um, but yeah, it’s also one of the weird games where you just didn’t get many opportunities. So, it’s hard to, you know, I could have did that and then went and caught another six, seven balls and, you know, feel like it’s a little bit better about the day, but when you don’t end up with that because of possessions shortage or whatever it is, it just feels a lot worse than what it, you know, maybe actually was. So, I know it looked bad, but it feels worse for me um than than what it looked like for you. For sure. Does that feel like a thousand catches? Yeah, when you think back on it, does it seem like a lot of mileage or does it seem like it was yesterday? I mean, it’s a big number for sure, but it it does kind of feel like it was just yesterday where I just kind of got here and, you know, I still remember my my 500th, which was a touchdown against the Bears. So, um, and I I felt like that was crazy when it happened. I was like 500 grabs in this league is, you know, I’m thinking of all the people that have played and how many have even done that at that point. So, that was, you know, that meant a lot to me reaching that milestone. So to double that and to still be playing and playing at a high level, you know, I’m blessed. Yeah. I mean, like I said, just I I don’t know how many people have done it on a touchdown specifically. So to be able to do that and then to get embraced by the whole team like that um get acknowledged after the game where you know I’m happy we won but still pissed off that you know I didn’t you know contribute the way that I’m used to being able to do um you know it it definitely made me feel better. I was able to sleep better at night knowing that we you know at least caught a touchdown while playing that bad. You know, something to be said about that, too. Yeah. I mean, you I think especially in a situation where you win the game, you know, it’s always good. Sometimes you come back from a loss and you want to play quickly, too. But I think for us, you know, we we it’s not going to be a whole lot of tape to watch in between. You know, we can kind of go off of what we seen last. They’re not going to have, you know, some completely different roster where, you know, half the team is different. you know, there’s been times where I played teams and then, you know, they they get, you know, smacked by injuries or whatever it is. And um yeah, it’ll it’ll be different obviously being on the road, but it’ll it’ll be a little bit more um alike any other than any other situation, I guess, that we have divisional games this year. I mean just honestly we were on the way back just just I was sitting next to him on in the sprinter and you know that that’s that’s just my place that where I come back to center. They don’t care if I scored or if you know half the time they just want to go and just just go down on the field before the game. You know they they get excited seeing people embrace me. you know, my daughter’s now my my oldest is starting to understand a little bit what’s going on. So, it’s just cool to, you know, have my family a part of, you know, the whole thing. So, having my boy is a little bit of a different feeling now. And, you know, I did have my my oldest at the time when I got to 500. So, and I took a picture with, you know, with her at that time holding the ball. So, just wanted to do it with the with my boy this time. Yeah, man. I mean, having depth in this league is is what it’s about. That way, you don’t end up with situations where you’re, you know, you lose a guy, and now your whole season is is potentially different. So, we got a bunch of tight ends, bunch of receivers. And I think that’s what makes this team great is obviously the the the one deep is is amazing. But you can, you know, pluck me out and put, you know, Kate in there and he can go do his thing and make you pay. And maybe not on paper, you won’t look at it that way. But then when you look back at the rest of the game, looking at the details, the run blocking, you know, the the run after catch, all of that stuff, we can we can still find a way to, you know, make up for, you know, for a loss of here here and there. Same with when Puka went down, go out to London and and getting 13 personnel and, you know, a star was born. So that’s that’s uh it’s it’s a good feeling knowing that we can just kind of, you know, plug and play. Anything else?

Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay discusses safety Quentin Lake’s recovery following elbow surgery. Quarterback Matthew Stafford and wide receiver Davante Adams highlight how the Rams’ roster depth will help the team after key players have been placed on injured reserve.

0:00 Sean McVay on injury updates
1:15 Rob Havenstein ankle update
2:28 Leadership absence
3:20 Integrating Warren McClendon
4:30 Quentin Lake’s elbow surgery
5:04 Diverse tight end room talent
5:41 Conversations with Quentin Lake
7:08 Josh Wallace playing vs SEA
8:03 Playing vs. Baker Mayfield
9:25 Learning the quarterback position

9:47 Matthew Stafford on IR moves
10:41 Opportunities for Terrance Ferguson
11:05 Aaron Donald celebration game
11:56 Tampa Bay’s defense
12:36 Mindset on roughing the passer calls
13:31 Recalling big moment vs.Bucs in playoffs
14:16 Emphasizing the stakes
14:59 Running a huddle
15:23 Staying calm
15:53 Baker Mayfield’s journey

17:08 Davante Adams on Sunday’s win
18:46 1,000 career catches
19:24 Celebrating Sunday’s win
20:04 Playing Seattle again
20:47 Photo of his son with the 1,000 catch ball
21:37 Offensive depth

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