Wednesday Media Transcript: Head Coach Ben McAdoo

Head Coach Ben McAdoo

November 1, 2017

Opening Statement: Great opportunity to face the red-hot Rams. They’re 4-0 away from LA this season and they’re 5-2 coming off a bye. They have the NFC’s top-scoring offense, eight different starters from the unit we saw last year in London. They’re balanced – 30-plus rushes per ball game. (Todd) Gurley is a complete back. He has size. He has speed. He has power and vision. (Jared) Goff is gaining confidence heading into his 15th NFL start. He has a variety of playmakers he can distribute the ball to in (Tavon) Austin, (Sammy) Watkins, (Robert) Woods and (Cooper) Kupp. They have two young, athletic tight ends – (Tyler) Higbee and (Gerald) Everett and a rebuilt offensive line with three new starters.

Defensively, their transition from a 4-3 to a 3-4 under Wade Phillips. They have an aggressive, attacking style and they have a lot of speed in all three levels of the defense. They returned 7 of 11 starters from last season and their front is highly disruptive with (Aaron) Donald, (Michael) Brockers and (Robert) Quinn. (Alec) Ogletree and (Mark) Barron are fast, instinctive players and they rarely come off the field. Their secondary is very good in man coverage and they have three strong corners. (Trumaine) Johnson, (Kayvon) Webster and (Nickell) Robey-Coleman. (Lamarcus) Joyner and (John) Johnson are also versatile playmaking safeties for them on the back end.

Special teams – facing their special teams unit is always a challenge. They’re very creative. (Johnny) Hekker can throw like a quarterback. (Greg) Zuerlein is among the league-leading scorers and they have three returners that can all put a lump in your throat in the return game. With that, we’ll open it up.

Q: How do you explain your comments about CB Janoris Jenkins on Monday compared to what actually ended up happening?

A: Until I had all the information, I was going to err on the high side of trusting the player, protecting the player.

Q: How can you say it was an excused absence if you hadn’t spoken to him?

A: Just like I said.

Q: Do you regret trusting the player in that situation?

A: No. Until I had all the information, I’m going to play the high side of trusting the player.

Q: What do you make of having to suspend two guys in a three-week span?

A: That’s not something that going into the season I’d ever thought I’d have to do. But the decision was made and it had to be done.

Q: Why do you think it’s getting to this point?

A: We like to handle all of our discipline in-house as much as possible and I felt that in these two cases it wasn’t possible.

Q: What was CB Janoris Jenkins’ reason for not showing up and not calling?

A: We’re going to leave the personal conversations personal.

Q: Is that why he was suspended?

A: I’m going to leave our personal conversations personal.

Q: How is this reflective of the head coach with the suspension issues?

A: Well, I mean, it’s my responsibility to take action and when you have discipline that needs to be taken care of, you have to handle it. If you don’t handle it, that’s a poor reflection. I think for the best of the program, the decision had to be made.

Q: Do you think this hurts your credibility at all that you didn’t tell the truth on Monday?

A: Again, until I have all the facts, I need to protect the players.

Q: You said CB Eli Apple and RB Paul Perkins were excused on Monday. Had you heard from them at that point?

A: I had had communication with Paul and Eli at that point, yes.

Q: Were those travel-related issues?

A: Travel related for Eli and Perkins. Yes.

Q: What was CB Janoris Jenkins reason for not being here Monday?

A: I’m going to leave the personal conversations personal.

Q: Are travel-related issues an excuse?

A: The players had five days off. I communicated to the players in our team meeting today – I didn’t have to give them five days off. I chose to give the players five days off because I felt we needed to get away from it. That’s important at this time of year at the midpoint and the bye week. With that, I expected all the players to be here ready to go Monday morning. No excuses.

Q: Is it safe to say that the players will be punished, even those who called you?

A: We’ll handle all of those in-house unless we can’t.

Q: If there are no excuses, why were CB Eli Apple and RB Paul Perkins not suspended?

A: There was communication prior to the fact.

Q: A lot of these guys are in the defensive back room. Is there a common thread there and is there something going on in that room that concerns you?

A: No.

Q: What would you say about the perception that you’re losing the locker room?

A: I’m not concerned about perception. I’m concerned about reality. To turn your cheek to something that needs to be handled for disciplinary reasons because you’re worried about perception isn’t a smart thing to do. So I’m not concerned about perception.

Q: Do you sense that the guys are still playing for each other and that they’re showing enough that they care about playing for the guys around them?

A: Yeah. I mean, all you had to do was watch our practice today. We had a spirited practice. Guys were flying around. We got better out here today and, you know, when Janoris gets back, we’ll welcome him back with open arms. There’ll be no grudges and he’s one of us. He’s one of our teammates.

Q: How much do you view players not being here for practice on Monday and not communicating to you at all a lack of respect towards you personally?

A: I don’t take it personal.

Q: Isn’t it more of a perception about the fact that players are behaving this way rather than the fact that you punished them?

A: You can’t take things personally in this business. You have to take them on a case-by-case basis.

Q: Is this a one week suspension for CB Janoris Jenkins?

A: It’s indefinite.

Q: What would be your argument for why you haven’t lost the defensive back room?

A: Just watching practice today. We had a good day of practice. We got better here at practice today and that’s what I base it on.

Q: You don’t feel that these incidents are bleeding into other areas of the roster?

A: I don’t even understand that question. What do you mean?

Q: Do you feel that what CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie did and what CB Janoris Jenkins did as far as not showing up and not respecting your rules…

A: Isolated incidents.

Q: Do you think some of this is a product of losing?

A: I feel that when things aren’t going the way you want them to from a record standpoint, things get blown out of proportion at times. But, again, we’re getting ready to play a ball game this week. Let’s talk about the ball game.

Q: You said that when a team faces adversity a man learns about himself. Have you learned some things about your team in the past few weeks that disturb you?

A: Yeah, I don’t think we blink. I don’t think we flinch. We show up. We had a good practice today and that’s encouraging.

Q: You suspended your top cornerback and I’m sure that’s not an easy decision. What does that do to the rest of the guys in the locker room heading into the game without a primary player?

A: It provides opportunity to the other players in the locker room and we have to go in with the players that we have.

Q: Did you have to talk to your entire team about this?

A: I addressed it with the team this morning.

Q: Would you like to share your message?

A: Pretty much what I told you. The standards are the standards. The win-loss record doesn’t change it. Your feelings don’t change it. Travel plans don’t change it. The standards are the standards and they’re going to stay high and we’re going to hold each other accountable.

Q: Do you regret not punishing some players for incidents last year or early this year the way that you’re now punishing these guys?

A: No.