THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Rams head coach Sean McVay, defensive coordinator Raheem Morris, offensive coordinator Kevin O'Connell, quarterback Matthew Stafford and defensive lineman Aaron Donald each held press conferences with local media Wednesday, discussing getting wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. integrated into Los Angeles' offense, their impressions of Green Bay's offense and defense, and more.
Here are some of the highlights and key takeaways from those conversations, which you can watch in their entirety below:
"I look at it as a blessing." – McVay
- For McVay, Sunday's game will have him coaching against two close friends in Packers head coach Matt LaFleur and defensive coordinator Joe Barry.
- While both mean a lot to McVay, he said "it doesn't mean that we're not going to try to go give it our best shot, and nd we know what a great challenge it is."
"You're talking about one of the, if not the best, guys when it comes to reading defenses and knowing where the ball should go." – Morris
- One of the keys to limiting the Packers offense on Sunday: Disrupting quarterback Aaron Rodgers and not allowing him to get into a rhythm.
- "Hopefully you can confuse him a few times, and if so, that gives you more opportunity to get to him," Morris said.
"There's a lot of work that he put in leading up to that game (against the 49ers), and it's continued both on his own and now that we have a real clear plan for him with our staff." – O'Connell
- The Rams continue to get Beckham integrated into their offense, a process helped by an extra practice held Monday in addition to the work done by Beckham on his own.
- Now with the benefit of being in his first full game week as a Ram, Beckham can learn in phases his role and the details in the Rams' run game and pass game, according to O'Connell.
"We ain't get too many rushes last week or two weeks ago, but the rushes we did have, we played off each other, which was great." – Donald
- Limited as Donald and outside linebacker Von Miller's opportunities were to rush the passer in tandem in the last two games, it still provided "something to definitely build off of."
- "I think once we get some opportunities, we will have a lot of fun, so I'm excited about that," Donald said.
"I loved playing on Thanksgiving, for the tradition, for the game, for all of that." – Stafford
- Stafford won't be playing on Thanksgiving after doing so in 10 of his first 12 NFL seasons (missed 2010 and 2019 Thanksgiving games due to injury).
- "We'll figure out our schedule, go from there," Stafford said, when asked what Thursday will be like for him.