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Sarah Barshop, ESPN Personnel Author
DETROIT– Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay stood at the podium at Ford Field on Sunday night, still in shock that his group’s season had actually ended with a 24-23 playoff loss to the Detroit Lions in the wild-card round.
A little more than a year earlier, McVay stood at a various podium, this one in Los Angeles, and stated he was uncertain if he would be back as coach of the Rams in 2023. However not long after the routine season ended– with a 5-12 record, McVay’s worst given that he was employed in 2017– he chose he wasn’t all set to leave.
After a 3-6 start to the 2023 season and injuries to quarterback Matthew Stafford and running back Kyren Williams, it appeared like the Rams were headed down the very same course. Rather, Los Angeles won 7 of its last 8 video games of the season to clinch the No. 6 seed in the NFC.
” I’m so happy with this football group,” McVay stated. “And the finality of it is still type of … it does not absolutely resonate. However guy did I discover a lot and actually value this group. They assisted me discover my method once again and just how much I like this and like individuals that I’m around.”
Rams novice nose take on Kobie Turner stated McVay informed the group that “there’s a great deal of space to grow, a lot to construct off of, and the structure that we laid this year will go on to ideally do a great deal of larger and much better things.”
” So simply keep pressing which this group is absolutely, no matter the result here this evening, is going to decrease as one of the most unique groups that he’s ever been around,” Turner stated of McVay’s message to the group after the video game.
Stafford, who stated he prepares to be back next season, stated he was “so happy with this group” for defying preseason expectations. The Rams’ over/under for wins heading into the season was 6.5, a mark Los Angeles bested with a 10-7 regular-season record.
” No one provided us a possibility to even be smelling where we are right now, and [we] provided an actually great football group a run for their cash,” Stafford stated. “Didn’t get it done, however happy with the guys, happy with their effort from the training personnel, gamers, everyone associated with it. It was an enjoyable year, a hell of a year and something to be happy with.”
Pass receiver Puka Nacua ended his novice season with another record-setting efficiency. With 9 catches for 181 backyards and a goal, Nacua set the NFL novice record for many getting backyards in a championship game.
On the injury front, the Rams think tight end Tyler Higbee, who took a struck from Lions security Kerby Joseph in the 4th quarter, tore his ACL, sources informed ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Higbee will go through an MRI on Monday to validate the preliminary medical diagnosis.
Although the loss to the Lions was still settling in, McVay stated he believes there’s “a lot” the Rams can construct on moving forward.
” I believe the even more that you avoid the raw feelings of it, the more gratitude they’ll have for what they did,” McVay stated. “And I believe there’s a great deal of things that we can construct on, however you got to do it. … And this group is an example of it. The preseason things does not indicate s–. You got to have the ability to go make it. And every year is a brand-new year, however I do believe we have actually got a great deal of actually crucial and vital guys that we’re delighted about structure and continuing to establish and deal with.”