NFC Notes: Falcons, Rams, Jared Goff, Seahawks

Falcons

Falcons TE Kyle Pitts spoke about his “welcome to the NFL” moment getting locked up by then-Panthers CB Stephon Gilmore.

“I’m going to have to go with Stephon Gilmore,” Pitts said via D. Orlando Ledbetter of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “That was the most savvy, slowest, fast man that I ever went against. He was slow, but mentally he beat me the whole game. That was the first time, I was like, you don’t have to run a 4.3 to lock somebody up. There are people that are older than you who are mentally faster. He got me good. Then after that, he went crazy the rest of the year. Yeah, that was my wake-up call.”

Rams

Rams HC Sean McVay regrets the way he handled the trade involving former QB Jared Goff. McVay said he wishes he communicated better with Goff regarding the team’s plans to explore trade options and upgrades at the position.

“That was a hard thing for me because the thing that’s more important than anything is being a good communicator — clear, open, and honest. Making sure people aren’t caught off guard and really having respect for the players and the coaches for what they have to do. And I wish that there had been better in-person communication,” McVay said, via PFT. “The one thing that hurt me is that I would never want anything to be misunderstood about my appreciation, my respect for Jared. Was it a tough decision? Yes. Were there some things that I could’ve handled better in terms of the clarity provided for him? No doubt. If I had it over again, what I would do is, before I had even gone to Cabo, when there was a possibility of, alright, if Matthew Stafford’s available, if there’s other quarterbacks available, that would be something that we would explore — you sit down with him, you look him in the eye, you tell him that instead of calling him and setting up a meeting where that was my intention when I got back from Cabo.”

McVay said that he wished that he had the time to sit down with Goff, adding that he didn’t think the process to acquire QB Matthew Stafford would’ve moved that quickly.

“When it got public that we were interested in Matthew, what we thought was going to be a week’s worth of time ended up happening in about 24 to 36 hours,” McVay said. “So all in all, biggest thing I regret, [not] being able to sit down, look him in the eye and be able to communicate kind of where we are, what we were going to try to do moving forward. And for that, I regret it, I’ll not make those same mistakes again. But, I care about Jared. He sure as hell did a lot of good things. And I think the thing that shows what a stud, what a class act he really is, is one of the best text messages I got after the Super Bowl was from Jared Goff. And so, I think the further we get away, the more appreciation that we’ll have for the great four years that we did have together — because there were a lot of really good times. … But all in all, just the better communication, better clarity is what I would’ve wanted. And I didn’t like the outside narrative, but I think he knows where my heart was. And I was glad we were able to connect, sit down, be honest with each other, and I think we both have a lot of respect for each other. And I wish I’d handled it better as a leader for him.”

Seahawks

Seahawks DB Quandre Diggs is excited about the team’s ability to disguise coverages and explains that opposing offenses won’t be able to key solely on DB Jamal Adams next year.

“I think it’s going to help both of us,” Diggs said, via Seahawks Wire. “I think guys can’t automatically tag [Adams] and say he’s in the box and he’s blitzing and slide his way. I’ve always learned from the different quarterbacks that I play with. They always watch the backside safety. And now with the backside safety just showing something different or kind of sitting there … you don’t know what we are in. You don’t know what checks we have. So I think that’s going to be dope.”