Rams head coach Sean McVay, defensive lineman Aaron Donald, defensive lineman Sebastian Joseph-Day, offensive lineman Andrew Whitworth and quarterback Jared Goff each held postgame video conferences with local media from Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California to discuss the team's 24-16 Week 6 road loss to the 49ers. Here are some of the highlights and key takeaways from those virtual conversations:
"We had a lot of our players that we count on that didn't come through in some situations that they typically do, but it's a great learning opportunity for us." – McVay
- From McVay's perspective, Sunday's loss saw the Rams do too many things uncharacteristic of them as a team.
- McVay said there were "a lot" of missed opportunities on offense, but he was pleased with the way Los Angeles' defense settled in and performed in the second half after a sluggish start.
"We just got to do better." – Donald
- For Donald, Sunday's loss was the result of the Rams not playing up to the standard they set for themselves.
- Donald pointed to missed tackles early in the game as an example, but also re-emphasized "we just got to do better as a team overall."
"A lot of people here are upset, because what you guys saw wasn't the team that we've been showing off in past weeks." – Joseph-Day
- Echoing Donald's comments, Joseph-Day indicated the Rams didn't play the way they know they're capable of playing.
- Joseph-Day also stressed the importance of "getting back to work" and "holding each other accountable" as the team moves forward and begins preparing for the Bears in Week 7.
"We did this to ourselves, a lot of just silly things that we shouldn't mess up and things that are routine plays that we can make." – Whitworth
- Similar to Donald and Joseph-Day, Whitworth felt the result was a product of self-inflicted mistakes by the Rams more than what the 49ers were doing.
- Those kinds of mistakes give players inspiration and determination to fix them, according to Whitworth, because they're correctable. If they recognize that and do their part and execute, the team can succeed.
"Every time you play in this division, it's going to be a tough game." – Goff
- For Goff, Sunday night's game reaffirmed what they already knew about the challenges the NFC West will present.
- Like Whitworth, he said the loss is a good opportunity for the Rams to "look in the mirror" and figure out what caused them to make those self-inflicted mistakes ahead of their Week 7 game against the Bears.
