November 26, 2025 • 10 mins
Ejiro Evero speaks to the media after Wednesday's practice.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ho Pun for the review.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Good afternoon. So, yeah, this is an exciting week Thanksgiving
obviously my favorite holiday of the year, and uh, obviously
we have a big game this weekend, and it's exciting
to play this time of the year with everything in
front of us and the magnitude of all of these
games as we move forward, and so looking forward to
this challenge. We know this is a great opponent, facing
(00:28):
a great organization and a team that I worked for
for five years and just have so much respect for
all the people there, you know, starting with Kevin, Kevin
devm off less, need you know, their coaching staff, Sean McVeigh,
some good friends of mine, Chris Shula, Aubrey Pleasant, just
so many wonderful people at that organization that I have
really close ties to. But that being said, we are
(00:50):
strolling up on Sunday with the one thing in mind.
And so I'll take questions. Were on that team and
didn't have to face you face him in practice? All
the touch Stafford?
Speaker 3 (00:58):
What makes him boy who he is?
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Yeah? I mean, just when you think about all the
traits that you want from an elite quarterback, Intelligent, he's
got a great arm, he's got the experience now obviously,
and I think he's probably the strongest trade is that
the guy doesn't flinch under pressure, under pressure, and so
he's gonna take the stand in there, he's gonna take
the hits, he's gonna deliver the ball and so, yeah,
(01:22):
immense amount of respect.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
For him before he got the Rams, but he had
a team that was more played around.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Him and he did well.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
What's what's the lesson from that for quarterbacks that are
struggling early?
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Well, I don't know if I would say he struggled early.
We played him lots of times before he got to the Rams,
and he was still hell to deal with. But yeah,
you know, I just think coach McVay does a great job.
And when you just look at the offense, the balance
between the run and the past game and marrying everything
up and everything starts off looking the same and then
it could get to a bunch of different concepts and
I just think that's it's a really good design by them.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
I need to kind of engage in this chest man
with Sean. What's that going to be like? I mean,
you know him, well, he knows you well, what what
give us some insights into that?
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Yeah? No, it's gonna be fun. And but you know,
so much of what's gonna happen is gonna be the
players on the field as well. But yeah, you're certainly right, though.
I need to be on top of it schematically, because
he's going to be good with the tendencies. As much
as any head coach I've been around, he really understands
the defensive side of the football, and so he knows
your rules, he knows how to beat him, and so
we're gonna have to be on top of all those
(02:30):
little things. And then at the end of the day,
we'll have a great week of preparation and the guys
have to go out there and next que are.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
On the field and Art in this case, maybe the
guys who aren't on the field because we get the
secondary and Jac. We don't know about Draamon No, right,
How concerning is that, especially given what staff or twenty
second streets.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Yeah, yeah, look, he's this is a great offense. Regardless
of who we have out there. This is going to
be a hard team to defend. I just always look
at the opportunity that it creates for other players if
Jac can go and some of these other things. But
like at the end of the day, it's like, there's
no excuses. We got to go out there with who
we have and will be more than capable and ready.
Speaker 5 (03:17):
When you're in this situation, do you almost and talk
about that chess match? Are there almost like they try
to give you false teals, like they try to bait
you into something, and you have to be aware that, Okay,
he's thinking that, I'm thinking this much, how much madness
goes on your mind and trying to kind of predict
what he might be thinking.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Gripping games, Yeah, no, there certainly is. It's funny because
it's like going back and watching you know, games back
in twenty twenty two, you know, and I'm just you're
trying to just make sure you cross all the t's
and dot all the i's, and you want to make
sure that all your rules and game plan adjustments are
sound and that the players can execute them. But at
the end of the day, it's like you trust your preparation.
(03:58):
You know that they're a very good teams, they're very
good offense, they're going to make plays. But if we
can continue to just play down in and down out
and be sound, we'll give ourselves a chance.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
It's kind of been the guy who's gotten down the
field and then Adams seems to get that sound pass right.
How do you how do you be key on that
knowing that maybe that's been sort of their their their moo.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
This season or how can you Yeah, no, you can't
deny that they're both great out on the field.
Speaker 6 (04:26):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
And then certainly they've seen the feature Devonte more in
the red zone and so we'll certainly be aware of that.
But like you know, they got a lot of weapons
all over the field or tight ends are very good,
they can run the ball very well, and so when
you have all those things working, it makes you very
tough in the red zone.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
You still look at their defense, I mean, if they're
really playing at a high level, but I know you're
studying at the offense level. When you look at that
defense and the evolution of it over the years, what
do you see and why it was so good?
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Yeah, I think coach Chula does a great job of
you know, like we try to do is just putting
their players positions where they can use their strengths to
their to the maximum. And uh, and certainly have they
have done that. But it's cool that you brought up
that question because it's like, uh, you know, we started
at the same spot, and it's kind of cool to
see like where our offense, our defense went, where he's
(05:14):
taken their defense, even when Joe Berry was in Miami,
where he took the defense, you know, and so just
where what Brandon Staley's doing now in the uh in
New Orleans, And so you can see all the little
like different nuances and changes within it while still maintaining
the key components.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
AJ, how do you surprise a seventeen.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
Year bed.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
I don't know if we're gonna surprise him much so uh,
you know, well, uh, we'll do the best we can. Uh.
But at the end of the day, this is going
to be an execution game. I think we're not going
to be able to just go out there and uh
and trick them. You know, We're gonna have to go
out there and beat them.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Have to rely on some guys that are going to
be plug and play guys. How will that perhaps limit you?
Speaker 2 (05:56):
I don't think it wild limit us. Uh. You know,
if we have certain guys that can't play because of injury,
we'll just it's always our motto, the next man's up,
and you know, I always preach to the players like, hey,
if you're not preparing to be in the game, then
you're doing yourself a disservice because at any moment, you
can be in there and you can either put yourself
in a position to go show out and create an
(06:19):
opportunity in terms of more playing time or money for yourself,
or you go out there and not be ready and
lose that opportunity and never get it again. So it's
going into the game thinking you won't have JC or
we'll see it's hard to tell right now. So we
got to be ready for both both ends of that.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Guys like Rochelle and Walong, who's been with you, You've
got a couple of those here.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Where does that show up in terms of how does that.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Benefit what area?
Speaker 2 (06:46):
It makes it It makes it onboarding a lot easier.
So they come in and you know it's there's I'm
sure there's some subtle differences from last time we were
with them, but at the end of the day, they
know the key words, they know a big bulk of
the playbook. They're probably gonna learned the little changes that
we've made over the years. But it certainly makes getting
him ready on a short week a lot easier.
Speaker 6 (07:07):
He is having a career year. From from a ball
hawking perspective, I think it's you know, obviously he has
the size and in the IQ. Is it really just
a matter of him getting opportunities or is he like
really also growing as a guy who can read and
react to.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
I think it's both. He's he's certainly grown. You know,
our first year was with him was challenging, just because
you know, there's so many games missed and you know,
at that position in our defense, you really have to
play a lot to to kind of learn all the
nuances and how we're going to feature him and all that.
And so he's certainly grown into our scheme. And then
(07:46):
I think just him being on the field and if
people want to test him, you know, there's a good
chance he's going to make a play back there. And
so it was cool he made one interception in man
coverage where he just did a hell of a job
on the basic and then the other was in zone coverage,
you know, and so kind of showing both of his
traits the ability to cover man to man and then
the zone awareness.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
A second interception, I mean, because he was over at
party never saw him and you kind of just broke.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Out he saw.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Yeah, it was great because it was something we talked
about in the week. He identified the formation, the call
that we were in and putting it all together, understanding
the concept that we might potentially get on the back
side of that, and yeah, that's always going to be
a hard play for the quarterback to see. And so
I just thought it was an incredible just awareness by him.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
That Super Bowl season with the Rams, when you were there,
you guys went a month without winning a game.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
Do you remember a trigger.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
In that moment that you could kind of tell.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
When something ship well? I thought, you know, like coach
mcveig always does, he did a great job of kind
of keeping us focused even when things weren't going well
and we just try to stay one week at a time.
But I would say the biggest turn in the season
was actually the last regular season game of the year
when we lost to the forty nine ers And we
(08:59):
had them at that point five times in a row,
and uh, you know, we were both very good teams
over the course of those years, and uh so we
play him the last regular season game, it's for the
we need to win the game to guarantee we win
the division. They need to win the game to get
into the playoffs. And so we go up I think
seventeen zip and we ended up losing a game in
(09:20):
a two minute drill at the end, and uh, we're
disappointed and everybody's dejected. At six in a row, we lost,
we probably lost the division. And then we come off
the field and we found out we won the division
with Arizona losing that that year, and so that was
a great shift for us because we actually got beat
up pretty well in that game. We had a lot
(09:40):
of injuries and we had to go get Eric Eric
Weddle off the street to come play for us, and
uh but it's almost like we gavel nized around that
the whole team did, and uh we started playing really
well in defense. Matthew did what he did down to
stretch and uh so, yeah, that was a great turning
point for us. All Right, thank you guys.
Speaker 4 (10:02):
Foll
Ho Pun for the review.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Good afternoon. So, yeah, this is an exciting week Thanksgiving
obviously my favorite holiday of the year, and uh, obviously
we have a big game this weekend, and it's exciting
to play this time of the year with everything in
front of us and the magnitude of all of these
games as we move forward, and so looking forward to
this challenge. We know this is a great opponent, facing
(00:28):
a great organization and a team that I worked for
for five years and just have so much respect for
all the people there, you know, starting with Kevin, Kevin
devm off less, need you know, their coaching staff, Sean McVeigh,
some good friends of mine, Chris Shula, Aubrey Pleasant, just
so many wonderful people at that organization that I have
really close ties to. But that being said, we are
(00:50):
strolling up on Sunday with the one thing in mind.
And so I'll take questions. Were on that team and
didn't have to face you face him in practice? All
the touch Stafford?
Speaker 3 (00:58):
What makes him boy who he is?
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Yeah? I mean, just when you think about all the
traits that you want from an elite quarterback, Intelligent, he's
got a great arm, he's got the experience now obviously,
and I think he's probably the strongest trade is that
the guy doesn't flinch under pressure, under pressure, and so
he's gonna take the stand in there, he's gonna take
the hits, he's gonna deliver the ball and so, yeah,
(01:22):
immense amount of respect.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
For him before he got the Rams, but he had
a team that was more played around.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Him and he did well.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
What's what's the lesson from that for quarterbacks that are
struggling early?
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Well, I don't know if I would say he struggled early.
We played him lots of times before he got to the Rams,
and he was still hell to deal with. But yeah,
you know, I just think coach McVay does a great job.
And when you just look at the offense, the balance
between the run and the past game and marrying everything
up and everything starts off looking the same and then
it could get to a bunch of different concepts and
I just think that's it's a really good design by them.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
I need to kind of engage in this chest man
with Sean. What's that going to be like? I mean,
you know him, well, he knows you well, what what
give us some insights into that?
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Yeah? No, it's gonna be fun. And but you know,
so much of what's gonna happen is gonna be the
players on the field as well. But yeah, you're certainly right, though.
I need to be on top of it schematically, because
he's going to be good with the tendencies. As much
as any head coach I've been around, he really understands
the defensive side of the football, and so he knows
your rules, he knows how to beat him, and so
we're gonna have to be on top of all those
(02:30):
little things. And then at the end of the day,
we'll have a great week of preparation and the guys
have to go out there and next que are.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
On the field and Art in this case, maybe the
guys who aren't on the field because we get the
secondary and Jac. We don't know about Draamon No, right,
How concerning is that, especially given what staff or twenty
second streets.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Yeah, yeah, look, he's this is a great offense. Regardless
of who we have out there. This is going to
be a hard team to defend. I just always look
at the opportunity that it creates for other players if
Jac can go and some of these other things. But
like at the end of the day, it's like, there's
no excuses. We got to go out there with who
we have and will be more than capable and ready.
Speaker 5 (03:17):
When you're in this situation, do you almost and talk
about that chess match? Are there almost like they try
to give you false teals, like they try to bait
you into something, and you have to be aware that, Okay,
he's thinking that, I'm thinking this much, how much madness
goes on your mind and trying to kind of predict
what he might be thinking.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Gripping games, Yeah, no, there certainly is. It's funny because
it's like going back and watching you know, games back
in twenty twenty two, you know, and I'm just you're
trying to just make sure you cross all the t's
and dot all the i's, and you want to make
sure that all your rules and game plan adjustments are
sound and that the players can execute them. But at
the end of the day, it's like you trust your preparation.
(03:58):
You know that they're a very good teams, they're very
good offense, they're going to make plays. But if we
can continue to just play down in and down out
and be sound, we'll give ourselves a chance.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
It's kind of been the guy who's gotten down the
field and then Adams seems to get that sound pass right.
How do you how do you be key on that
knowing that maybe that's been sort of their their their moo.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
This season or how can you Yeah, no, you can't
deny that they're both great out on the field.
Speaker 6 (04:26):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
And then certainly they've seen the feature Devonte more in
the red zone and so we'll certainly be aware of that.
But like you know, they got a lot of weapons
all over the field or tight ends are very good,
they can run the ball very well, and so when
you have all those things working, it makes you very
tough in the red zone.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
You still look at their defense, I mean, if they're
really playing at a high level, but I know you're
studying at the offense level. When you look at that
defense and the evolution of it over the years, what
do you see and why it was so good?
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Yeah, I think coach Chula does a great job of
you know, like we try to do is just putting
their players positions where they can use their strengths to
their to the maximum. And uh, and certainly have they
have done that. But it's cool that you brought up
that question because it's like, uh, you know, we started
at the same spot, and it's kind of cool to
see like where our offense, our defense went, where he's
(05:14):
taken their defense, even when Joe Berry was in Miami,
where he took the defense, you know, and so just
where what Brandon Staley's doing now in the uh in
New Orleans, And so you can see all the little
like different nuances and changes within it while still maintaining
the key components.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
AJ, how do you surprise a seventeen.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
Year bed.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
I don't know if we're gonna surprise him much so uh,
you know, well, uh, we'll do the best we can. Uh.
But at the end of the day, this is going
to be an execution game. I think we're not going
to be able to just go out there and uh
and trick them. You know, We're gonna have to go
out there and beat them.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Have to rely on some guys that are going to
be plug and play guys. How will that perhaps limit you?
Speaker 2 (05:56):
I don't think it wild limit us. Uh. You know,
if we have certain guys that can't play because of injury,
we'll just it's always our motto, the next man's up,
and you know, I always preach to the players like, hey,
if you're not preparing to be in the game, then
you're doing yourself a disservice because at any moment, you
can be in there and you can either put yourself
in a position to go show out and create an
(06:19):
opportunity in terms of more playing time or money for yourself,
or you go out there and not be ready and
lose that opportunity and never get it again. So it's
going into the game thinking you won't have JC or
we'll see it's hard to tell right now. So we
got to be ready for both both ends of that.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Guys like Rochelle and Walong, who's been with you, You've
got a couple of those here.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Where does that show up in terms of how does that.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Benefit what area?
Speaker 2 (06:46):
It makes it It makes it onboarding a lot easier.
So they come in and you know it's there's I'm
sure there's some subtle differences from last time we were
with them, but at the end of the day, they
know the key words, they know a big bulk of
the playbook. They're probably gonna learned the little changes that
we've made over the years. But it certainly makes getting
him ready on a short week a lot easier.
Speaker 6 (07:07):
He is having a career year. From from a ball
hawking perspective, I think it's you know, obviously he has
the size and in the IQ. Is it really just
a matter of him getting opportunities or is he like
really also growing as a guy who can read and
react to.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
I think it's both. He's he's certainly grown. You know,
our first year was with him was challenging, just because
you know, there's so many games missed and you know,
at that position in our defense, you really have to
play a lot to to kind of learn all the
nuances and how we're going to feature him and all that.
And so he's certainly grown into our scheme. And then
(07:46):
I think just him being on the field and if
people want to test him, you know, there's a good
chance he's going to make a play back there. And
so it was cool he made one interception in man
coverage where he just did a hell of a job
on the basic and then the other was in zone coverage,
you know, and so kind of showing both of his
traits the ability to cover man to man and then
the zone awareness.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
A second interception, I mean, because he was over at
party never saw him and you kind of just broke.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Out he saw.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Yeah, it was great because it was something we talked
about in the week. He identified the formation, the call
that we were in and putting it all together, understanding
the concept that we might potentially get on the back
side of that, and yeah, that's always going to be
a hard play for the quarterback to see. And so
I just thought it was an incredible just awareness by him.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
That Super Bowl season with the Rams, when you were there,
you guys went a month without winning a game.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
Do you remember a trigger.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
In that moment that you could kind of tell.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
When something ship well? I thought, you know, like coach
mcveig always does, he did a great job of kind
of keeping us focused even when things weren't going well
and we just try to stay one week at a time.
But I would say the biggest turn in the season
was actually the last regular season game of the year
when we lost to the forty nine ers And we
(08:59):
had them at that point five times in a row,
and uh, you know, we were both very good teams
over the course of those years, and uh so we
play him the last regular season game, it's for the
we need to win the game to guarantee we win
the division. They need to win the game to get
into the playoffs. And so we go up I think
seventeen zip and we ended up losing a game in
(09:20):
a two minute drill at the end, and uh, we're
disappointed and everybody's dejected. At six in a row, we lost,
we probably lost the division. And then we come off
the field and we found out we won the division
with Arizona losing that that year, and so that was
a great shift for us because we actually got beat
up pretty well in that game. We had a lot
(09:40):
of injuries and we had to go get Eric Eric
Weddle off the street to come play for us, and
uh but it's almost like we gavel nized around that
the whole team did, and uh we started playing really
well in defense. Matthew did what he did down to
stretch and uh so, yeah, that was a great turning
point for us. All Right, thank you guys.
Speaker 4 (10:02):
Foll
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