The rise of temperatures that occurred in the state of Georgia allowed the Los Angeles Rams to complete their first free air training at the Atlanta Falcons’ facilities in preparation for the Super Bowl LIII, which they will play this Sunday against the New England Patriots.
Certainly it was not cold from the previous days, but the temperature was never above 10 degrees Celsius, something unknown for players who come from California, although there was also sun.
“It really was to take advantage of the possibility of going out on the field and having contact with the turf,” said Rams head coach, newcomer Sean McVay. “We were flexible with that, but I think that just with the ability to come out and surface, we felt it was going to be a little better for our bodies, and the weather allowed us to do it, so it was a great day.”
The Rams began with a tour before the stretch and then a training session of one hour and 10 minutes. The sunset and the temperature dropped to 7 degrees Celsius when the Los Angeles team finished work at night.
“Yes, it fell quickly,” McVay said. “That’s why we were trying to keep up in a tight schedule, but we did a good job, a lot of things we could work in. The main thing was that I thought the guys were going to feel good when they went out to the field, competed in the right way and we had the opportunity to improve in relation to the previous day “.
The Rams had a period of competition with the first team’s offense against the first team defense to start before the two units worked against the preparation team. The Rams had a period of special teams in the middle of both sessions.
“We’ve definitely done everything we wanted,” said McVay, 33, the youngest head coach who has taken a team to the Super Bowl. “Thursdays have really been our big day of work, and we have a lot of work, and because of where we are with the game plan, that allowed us to go more to work in the positions in a series instead of just working on the third try”.
McVay said the red zone all in one sequence and therefore had to be trained.
“You do it like a ball movement, and I thought that was good because that’s how you play a game, and it forced our players to think a little more than we’re used to,” he analyzed.
McVay defined the work done by the whole team as a training full of “energy”.
“It was a good way to start competing,” McVay said. “We want to go fast, and that’s going to be important in this game, and that’s what we worked on the second day of training.”
The Rams trained covered with T-shirts and long pants although some did with shorts and helmets.
“Last Thursday we did it with protection,” McVay said.
“But the way our boys have done it, showed us that they know how to do it so as not to hurt themselves and also to comply with the work plan of what we want to achieve,” McVay said. “The main reason why we sometimes end up using pads is because it prevents some of the shoulder injuries and collisions, but at the right time, we take them out and do a good job.”
The kicker Greg Zuerlein did not work and hopes to do it on Friday to protect his left foot, something hurt.
“The whole plan has been for Zuerlein to kick tomorrow,” McVay said. “We’re on the right track, he’ll kick tomorrow and I talked to him today, it feels good, that’s been the plan from the beginning, so we’re on the right path where we want to be.”
