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August 12
Practice begins at 3:00pm PT
Autographs: Quarterbacks & Tight ends
Giveaway: Towels
How do you deal with complacency?
That was clearly the question Los Angeles Rams Head Coach Sean McVay was trying to answer yesterday at the end of a training camp practice that saw his team, well, not getting after it. And he was clearly non-plussed in his comments afterward:
We don’t get enough opportunities to get out here and practice and we’ve got to maximize every single one. Today is going to be a good chance for us to look back at this tape and find a way to get better. But I think all the guys would agree, we’ve got to have better urgency from the start. That’s just the bottom line. We can say what we want about when we got back, but however you want to cut it, we’ve got to be better than that.
...
I think just from the start, we just need to be a little bit more crisp. A lot of different situations – putting guys through some challenging stuff and really forcing them to think – especially when you get tired, that’s when you really got to have great focus and concentration. It’s something we could all utilize to get better from and these experiences are really valuable for us, when it’s the unscripted and a lot of different situations where they have to react just like in a game.
This is perhaps the biggest challenge for McVay heading into the regular season. For a franchise with higher expectations in more than a decade, staving off complacency is going to be a constant battle for McVay. And it’s also a sign that for all his inexperience, he’s clearly comfortable facing the challenge.
My obvervation of #Rams Sean McVay & today's practice: He could have easily cut players slack given circumstances of their 4 am return yesterday from east coast & hour+ bus ride to Irvine. But he wasn't about to let them off easy. No room for easy excuses in this world.
— Vincent Bonsignore (@VinnyBonsignore) August 12, 2018
Injuries
Officially, it was the same list as has been the case since camp broke on the PUP:
- DE Dominique Easley
- EDGE Ogbonnia Okoronkwo
Did Not Report (DNR) List - Reserve
- DL Aaron Donald
Things have gotten a little more interesting though. TE Gerald Everett had his arm in a sling dealing with a shoulder injury that McVay confirmed will keep him out “another week or so at least.” WR Josh Reynolds has ankle injury from Thursday’s preseason opener against the Baltimore Ravens that will require some time. And EDGE Matt Longacre, along with Everett, didn’t make the trip out to Baltimore with a bicep injury. Since none of the three have been added to the PUP, you have to think they’re coming back pretty soon. Which suggests that Easley and Obo might be not be ready for the preseason at all.
Offense
Defense
Yesterday was pretty soft without pads and at a walkthrough level that even ILB Mark Barron participated. Perhaps things turn up a bit given McVay’s displeasure yesterday.
This is the 12th practice of this year’s 15-practice camp. We’ll be back at it tomorrow before a day off and then a back-to-back on Wednesday and Thursday heading into Saturday’s home preseason game against the Oakland Raiders.
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