What Sean McVay and Matthew Stafford had to say about Rams-Raiders practice fight

Following the L.A. Rams-Las Vegas Raiders joint practice on Wednesday, Matthew Stafford and Sean McVay gave a press conference and it’s pretty much more of the same. I am not saying that is a bad thing either because I appreciate the consistency the team has showed so far during these conferences.

A common theme among all the coaches so far is this young team needs practice, but I do not think this team is using youth on the roster as any type of excuse for the good or bad. McVay also is asked about the reported “skirmish” between the Los Angeles Rams and the Las Vegas Raiders, and more!

Let’s get to the conference.

Stafford discusses how joint practices with the Las Vegas Raiders has been going.

“It was good, got a lot of good work in. You know always plays you’re gonna want back but you know had a lot of explosives and it was really just good work for us to get against another defense, another team, they play very very different style of defense then what we face against every single day.”

It is good for all the players, even Stafford, to see some different looks and play some different players. Do you think the Raiders play a “very very” different style of defense because they aren’t manned by a team of rookies? I kid. I’m sure it’s a different scheme, but I do wonder how much work the Rams O has been getting from their defense.

“It’s a constant you know, learning thing we’re trying to figure out what we’re gonna be good at, what our certain guys are good at, I thought they did a nice job setting their pads in the run game...for the most part I had some time back there.”

Stafford says that Kyren Williams ran well, and I would guess Williams took over at RB fter Cam Akers had to leave practice. Stafford goes on to say he needs to watch the film, for a variety of reasons, but also to see if Maxx Crosby “sacked” Matthew as much as Crosby apparently said he did. He compliments Crosby overall, but also says that he (Stafford) is not just a statue. Everyone keeps saying this, if Stafford is actually healthy, defenses need to watch out.

“Joint practices get that way a little sometimes.”

Stafford didn’t have much to say when asked about the “fight” between Akers and Crosby. LA’s cool quarterback makes a few jokes about not having to deal with what RBs do because he usually slides whereas RBs are more likely to get the ball (and themsevles) punched at.

“The more experience he can get the better and that’s really all of our young guys.”

There’s a lot of hype around Puka Nakua and there probably should be. I appreciate that Stafford keeps it simple and ultimately says this team, including Nakua, need more experience. It’s not insulting, it’s true. Young players need experience. To get better at anything you need experience, and that’s been a sentiment with a lot of LA’s coaches this year. This team needs the repetitions.

“Tape is always the best thing to be able to look at. We had some good one spots drills at the end, some good Special Teams periods, a lot of team work some one on ones...we got a lot done.”

McVay goes on to immediately head off any questions about the reported “skirmish” between the Raiders and Rams, specifically between Akers and Crosby.

“I didn’t see exactly what happened when ther was a little bit, you know, of a little skirmish, but got it separated, it wasn’t an issue and we were able to get everything that we wanted accomplished.”

My immediate question (if I had the guts and luck to ever ask Sean McVay anything) would be: Was having Cam Akers leave practice something you wanted to accomplish? Then I’d probably never be allowed to ask him anything again.

Regardless LA’s coach did his best to avoid being asked these questions, but instead, McVay is seemingly asked about Akers and the “skirmish” and McVay says that:

“If you do that, you’re out.”

McVay says again that he doesn’t really want to speak on it, but the insinuation is he doesn’t want to see fists or helmets flying. Reportedly Cam threw a fist, and Crosby may have as well. This is the NFL. These things happen.

“The best part is hey let’s go try some stuff with no ramifications. That’s how you really, you know, give yourself a chance to get better is you test your tools within the fundamentals and the techniques and that’s what you love about this stuff and it’s the same thing for us coaches.”

Stafford already mentioned this. Experience is good. Every team is doing the same things right now, they are practicing. It’s the preseason and that is what this time is for.

“When you look at anybody’s that’s successful at their craft, these are the times, you know without being reckless but to try some techniques and fundamentals to add to your toolbelt, so that you can do these things when you get into real competitive situations.”

It is true that none of the stats or plays at this point in the year count, BUT these are the moments that lead to the moments that do count. That’s what causes so much drama in the preseason. These plays can mean nothing, they can mean everything.

“He (TuTu Atwell) made a lot of plays...the work that he’s put in is paying off.”

It would be great to see Atwell contribute in a big way. Apparently he’s a nice training camp, but I think he had a “good” camp last year too. We’ll see.