McVay sees signs of turnaround after Rams’ recent losses

THOUSAND OAKS >> Losing consecutive games for the first time as coach of the Rams hasn’t dampened Sean McVay’s sense of humor.

McVay joked he hasn’t paid attention to the media coverage of Sunday night’s 30-23 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles “because I don’t want you guys to hurt my feelings.”

Instead, McVay is concerned with getting the Rams out of their first prolonged slump in his two seasons.

“You know you have a say in that this story is not finalized,” McVay said Monday night. “They don’t end the season after 14 games. And we know for sure that we have got two left in this regular season and one playoff game. What we don’t know is when that playoff game is going to be. We do know it’s going to be at the Coliseum, and that’s all we’re guaranteed right now.”

McVay believes the Rams (11-3) showed signs of a turnaround by giving themselves a chance to tie the game on the final play, an incomplete pass by Jared Goff for Josh Reynolds. Goff was 17 of 23 passing for 179 yards in the fourth quarter against the Eagles after going 55 of 108 for 547 yards with one touchdown and seven interceptions over the previous 11 quarters.

What bogged down the offense as the Eagles built a 17-point lead, McVay said, were breakdowns and penalties that put the Rams in difficult down-and-distance situations. The 32-year-old coach was pleased his team still had a chance to win in spite of those issues.

“You could feel that momentum and, really, that clock ran out on us at the end of the game,” McVay said. “But in spite of all the different things that we went through, you can’t say these guys didn’t continue to fight, scratch and claw to put ourselves in a position to try to win a game. Credit to the Eagles for being able to get it done, but we’re going to learn from this and we’re not going to allow it to define our season. I do believe that and I know that.”

Another confidencebooster for McVay is the health of Todd Gurley, who sustained a knee injury against Philadelphia that did not turn out to be serious. McVay said Gurley is dealing with inflammation and will be day-to-day going into the game at Arizona on Sunday.