The Los Angeles Rams built their training camp around joint practices this summer, but Sean McVay revealed the team fell short of its original plan. The Rams had hoped to schedule a third joint session, possibly with the Minnesota Vikings or Cleveland Browns, but logistical hurdles kept it from happening.
“I did. It didn’t fit for them,” McVay said of the Vikings. “We were supposed to go to Minnesota and practice against them in the third week. There were some logistics (issues) with regards to the NFC having two home games and one away and the AFC flipping that because of the nine and eight schedule now and the way that’s set up. … When the schedule was released and we’re playing the Browns in the third preseason game, I think Kevin [Stefanski] and his group already had some other stuff set up. It didn’t necessarily fit.”
Rams Failed To Set Up Critical Joint Practice
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For the Rams, that lost opportunity is more than a scheduling footnote. McVay has long treated joint practices as the closest simulation of game speed, especially since Los Angeles does not played starters or key backups in preseason games. This summer’s joint practices with the Cowboys and Saints offered the team its only chance to measure starters against unfamiliar competition before Week 1.
The Rams have ramped up their in-house practices, executing more team drills than in the past.
“Oh, we’ve done way more. That’s the only thing we do at practice now and that’s been consistent since we put pads on,” McVay said. “I think it’s a good way to be able to create that good stress. … That’s why I love getting those joint practices. It changes up the monotony of sometimes what practice can feel like.”
The missed third practice is significant because the Rams are installing wrinkles to McVay’s evolving scheme and working to tighten timing between the quarterback and his skill players. Against another defense, those reps would have tested execution and cohesion in ways a controlled scrimmage at Woodland Hills cannot fully replicate.
Instead, McVay is leaning on heightened competition in camp to make up the gap. “Growth demands discomfort,” he said, underscoring the philosophy that internal stress can help fill the void. Still, for a Rams team betting on joint practices as their preseason proving ground, one less session is a meaningful loss.
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