No one in the NFL enjoys playing in a Thursday night game. Players’ bodies are just starting to recover from the previous Sunday’s game by the time they practice on Thursday during a typical week. And for coaches, it’s a serious time crunch trying to fit a full week of game planning into three days of preparation with their players.
But Rams head coach Sean McVay has almost always managed to turn the undertaking into a positive result in his nine seasons in Los Angeles. His teams are 8-2 on Thursday nights during his Rams tenure, including a perfect 2-0 last season.
After Sunday’s dramatic 27-20 win over the Indianapolis Colts, the Rams (3-1) quickly moved on to preparing to face the San Francisco 49ers (3-1) on Thursday. Players hopped on massage tables and rode on stationary bikes. And coaches began to review the day’s work and to study their NFC West rivals.
McVay said over Zoom Monday that he has found that focusing on the essentials is key to preparing for these short weeks.
“I think you have to be decisive. You have to be able to make quick decisions, make sure you understand where you’re at, what’s the opponent doing, what are going to be the best ways to make sure that there’s clarity for our players,” McVay explained. “We try to be able to give them advantages, but not overload them with information because everything is accelerated in a short week. Clarity, decisiveness, allowing guys to feel like they have that peace of mind and they’re mentally and physically as fresh as they can possibly be.”
Rams still uncertain about Avila for Thursday
While he was still waiting for everyone to report in to the team facility when he spoke with reporters Monday morning, McVay said he believed the Rams came out of the win over the Colts clean from an injury perspective.
But when asked if he anticipates that left guard Steve Avila will play on Thursday, McVay said simply, “We’ll see.”
Avila sprained his ankle in the first half of the Rams’ Week 1 over Houston. He returned to the game in the fourth quarter after right guard Kevin Dotson suffered his own ankle sprain. Avila, a former second-round pick, did not practice for two weeks after his injury, but returned to practice last week, culminating with a full day of practice on Friday and not being listed with an injury designation for Week 4.
But the Rams started Justin Dedich at left guard even with Avila active against the Colts. Dedich has started the last three games for the Rams and has shown his aggressiveness in the run game but allowed eight pressures in three weeks.
Sunday, McVay said the Rams were allowing Avila some extra time to recover, and on Monday he elaborated on Avila’s status.
“I think it’s how he feels,” he said. “I think a part of that is his communication to us, talking with [VP of sports medicine and performance Reggie Scott] and then the evaluation of what he looks like relative to being able to go and be the Steve that we know, and that’s been a really good player for us the last few years.”