The Rams and Raiders got through much of their first joint practice without it becoming too chippy.
There were a couple of instances on the field with the Las Vegas offense and L.A. defense where things got heated — including a mini skirmish involving Raiders left guard Richie Incognito and Rams defensive tackle Sebastian Joseph-Day.
But toward the end of the session on the opposite field, Raiders safety Johnathan Abram laid an illegal hit on Rams receiver Robert Woods. Abram lowered his shoulder and hit Woods while he was in a defenseless position catching a pass from Matthew Stafford, which would have resulted in a clear 15-yard penalty had it occurred in a game.
The hit was dangerous and frankly shouldn’t happen at any time, but especially in a practice.
After the session, McVay didn’t name the play or the player. And there were other elements at play, like some of Las Vegas’ defenders slowing things down during an up-tempo period. But it was clear McVay was frustrated by what had happened, particularly on that play.
“I didn’t like how sloppy it felt overall. There was a lot of breaks in the action because of unnecessary stuff,” McVay said. “And it wasn’t exclusive to one side or the other, but for us to get the work that I know coach Gruden and his group wants and for us and our group, we’ve got to clean up some of the mechanics. And I’ve got to do a better job of managing some of the things as well. But there’s going to be a lot of good things that we can learn from.
“But it just didn’t feel good the way it ended based on a lot of unnecessary things that took away from football. There’s still some things I know we can take away and be able to learn from it. But it was a lot of unnecessary things that I know both of us want to be able to eliminate to try to get better. And we’ll figure out what that looks like for tomorrow.”
The Rams didn’t have their best practice anyway, which was clear from quarterback Matthew Stafford’s three interceptions. But McVay noted he’d like to see things cleaned up from that standpoint for the second practice between the two teams on Thursday.
“All of us have the same intentions. And I don’t believe there was any sort of malicious intent from their guys,” McVay said. “But just that practice etiquette and getting that work that we want. These are two teams trying to get ready for the upcoming season, trying to shape one another and we want to make sure we structure the practice in a way that’s beneficial for both of us.”