Tag: road game

Sean McVay on fixing Rams’ issues on the road against 49ers: ‘This game is going to be different’

McVay knows the #Rams’ recent road record against the #49ers and is looking forward to the challenge of facing them in primetime.

Following their torrid start to the 2022 season, the Los Angeles Rams are heading into their Monday night matchup against the San Francisco 49ers with the wind at their back. Despite countless injuries and a particularly challenging schedule, the team has thrived so far this year, but one variable has tainted the narrative of their Week 4 primetime matchup; their abysmal record at Levi’s Stadium in recent seasons.

Los Angeles has lost their last three of their matchups against San Francisco on the road, in a streak that dates back to 2019. Head coach Sean Mcvay is acutely aware of the challenges presented when playing the 49ers on their home turf and told reporters on Monday about the reverence he has for the their roster and coaches, and what he knows what it will take to end the Rams’ losing stretch.

“I think the main thing is they’re a really good football team,” He explained of San Francisco. “They’ve done a good job [against us]. Which year do you want to talk about? We could talk about all those different games, but I think at the end of the day what it boils down to is they’ve played well, they’ve made the plays in crunch time… They’ve always been a good, tough, physical team that has great players, great coaches in all three phases and that’s why we’ve always had such respect for these guys.

“But we know that this game is going to be different than the other ones. We’ve got to be able to show up, play well in that three-hour window, or three and a half hours, however long it takes. That’s what our focus and concentration will be solely focused on. No different than when we had to play them for the third time last year.”

The 49ers might not be the Super Bowl caliber squad they were in 2020, but McVay’s comments made it clear that he does not see San Francisco as an easy target. Los Angeles will be forced to rely on a slew of relatively unproven players after sustaining a plethora of injuries the last two months, and their coaching staff will likely need to amend their gameplan to compensate for the team’s inexperience.

In primetime, and with their lead in the NFC West at stake, the Rams will rely on McVay’s creativity and savvy to win in San Francisco on Monday night. If those veterans who have remained unscathed can pick up whatever slack is left by the younger talent, Los Angeles should be able to put themselves in a position to pick up their third win of the season with the whole nation watching.

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Seahawks looking to capitalize on first preseason game on the road

Pete Carroll and the Seattle Seahawks are looking to capitalize on their first preseason game in 2022 against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Seattle Seahawks head to Pittsburgh this weekend to face off against the Steelers to open their preseason. With a new-look offense and defense, coach Pete Carroll and the rest of the staff have a lot to sort out before the first game of the regular season.

“It’s the first chance for us to go live now,” Carroll said after the walkthrough Thursday. “We understand that we go through camp and practice, that we get great tempo and speed, but it’s not the same thing when you finally crank it up and go. We have to make that next step, introduce our guys to full-speed football, the young guys getting on an NFL field and realizing that it’s just football. There is a lot of stuff that we have to accomplish that has nothing to do with how we play. It’s getting through the process and all.”

The team left Thursday afternoon after practice to get a head start on the weekend and to acclimate to the time change. Carroll and the veterans are well-versed in the drill but the rookies and new players have a lot to learn.

“Traveling is really important, teaching them how to travel,” Carroll said. “This West Coast to East Coast trip has been something that we have really taken a lot of consideration in how we do it and we have been successful at it. I think that there is a lot to understanding the rhythms and all of that, so we are going to practice it. That’s why we are leaving early, and we want to be right when the time comes.”

The Seahawks vs. Steelers contest is set to kick off Saturday at 4:00 p.m. PT. Find everything you need to know here.

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Chiefs HC Andy Reid details travel changes ahead of first road game

Reid took reporters through some of the changes to protocols for traveling and the plan for when the Chiefs head to Los Angeles.

The Kansas City Chiefs will hit the road for the first time during the 2020 season in Week 2. They’ll be heading to the brand new SoFi Stadium, which is home to both the Los Angeles Chargers and the Los Angeles Rams.

Also new to the Chiefs is traveling to play an away game during the COVID-19 pandemic. The team has new protocols and rules by which they’ll abide, altering what is their normal travel schedule. Andy Reid spoke on some of the changes as they relate to travel during his Monday press conference.

“Yeah, so you can’t leave the hotel,” Reid told reporters. “So, we’ll leave a little bit later, get to the hotel a little bit later, and then we won’t have the individual meetings we normally have out there. But we’ll be able to knock out our team meeting, then grab a bite to eat and get on with the evening. So, we’ll spend a little bit more time here with our morning meetings and get those done.”

The team will have their individual meetings prior to heading to Los Angeles late Saturday. Typically they’d have those individual meetings once they landed, but now they’ll only have their all-hands meeting once they arrive. It seems like they’re trying to limit the amount of time they’re out on the road and potentially exposed to COVID-19.

There won’t be any late-night trips to In-N-Out Burger for Reid or any of his players once they arrive ether. They’ll all stick at the hotel until they’re able to get to the stadium and prepare for kickoff.

As for playing in a brand new stadium, Reid feels they have a jump start on what that’ll be like after watching the Rams play in Week 1.

“The thing that jumps out at you is, I mean it was the sound there,” Reid said. “There’s that percussion that takes place in the stadium. You heard the ball hit the goal post and you can hear it on TV and as loud as can be and you can hear players talking in particular – yeah you can hear players talking during the game so you understand that with nobody in there, things are – anyway so they’re magnified a bit from a normal game.”

Players will have to be a little more mindful of the types of things they say on the field with the percussion in the new stadium and the lack of fans.

In the long run, it’s just a few changes that the Chiefs will need to get used to when they’re the road team. This will be good practice at following those new protocols. The team will hit the road again in Week 3 when they head to Baltimore to play the Ravens on “Monday Night Football” before being back at Arrowhead Stadium for Week 4.

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