Rams’ preparation for home game in Arizona anything but normal

TEMPE, Ariz. —  The sky was clear Saturday when the Rams went through drills in preparation for their NFC wild-card game against the Minnesota Vikings.

The conditions at the Arizona Cardinals’ training facility offered a stark contrast to what the Rams faced a few days earlier, when smoke from wildfires billowed during practice at their facility in Woodland Hills.

Because of safety concerns caused by the wildfires in Southern California, the NFL moved Monday night’s game from SoFi Stadium to State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.

“It was eerie,” defensive tackle Kobie Turner said of workouts earlier in the week, “but to be able to get out here, to get away from all those things, it feels like we’re back to normal a little bit.”

And what is normal?

“Normal is preparing for a game,” coach Sean McVay said. “Normal is enjoying the opportunity to prepare for a game when there’s 18 teams that don’t have the luxury of doing that.”

Veteran receiver Cooper Kupp, however, noted that the situation at home in the Southland and being transplanted to the Cardinals’ turf was not normal.

“There’s nothing normal about practicing at the Arizona Cardinals facility and all the implications that are going around,” he said. “You still feel that but … it is nice to be able to be out here with the guys and have something to work towards.”

Since the pandemic, the Rams have traveled the day before games. But they left for Phoenix on Friday with a traveling party of more than 400, including players, family members, coaches, staff and two dogs.

Cardinals owner Michael Bidwell made two planes available to help transport the Rams contingent, and they have been welcomed with open arms by their NFC West rivals.

The fires that forced McVay and other coaches and players to evacuate their homes, and the change of venue for the playoff game, were only the latest adverse situations the Rams have faced this season.

Coach Sean McVay has tried to keep a good face for the Rams, who are preparing for their playoff game in Arizona.

(Kyusung Gong / Associated Press)

They endured numerous injuries before and at the outset of the season, and started 1-4 before rebounding to finish 10-7 and win the NFC West.

When McVay addressed his team earlier this week, he displayed a paperweight emblazoned with the phrase “Built For This.”

“This group is built to be able to handle different forms of adversity and overcome, which they’ve done,” McVay said Saturday, “and we’re looking forward to doing that this week.”

Kupp, an eighth-year pro, said there was something powerful about being together in the Rams’ situation.

“Nothing close to things that are happening in the real world,” Kupp said, “but it is an opportunity for us to draw closer together and say ‘Let’s be able to respond from a little bit of hardship here and go out there and do something special.’”

Kupp was among the starters McVay rested in the season finale against the Seattle Seahawks so they would be refreshed and healthy for the playoffs. The Rams will go into Monday night’s game with no players out or questionable because of injuries.

Vikings linebacker Patrick Jones II is out because of a knee injury, and running back Cam Akers (illness) and defensive lineman Taki Taimani (ankle) are questionable.

The grass field will be painted with the Rams colors and logo, and other parts of State Farm Stadium will be outfitted to make it feel like a home game.

Despite the inconvenience of traveling, “it’s a playoff game, and you don’t get too many of these, and a home one,” Turner said.

McVay, in his eighth season as the Rams coach, has mostly enjoyed success against the Cardinals in the venue. So he requested that the Rams dress in the visitors locker room.

“We’re familiar with it,” he said.

Was his request granted?

“We better have,” he said. “It’s a home game, right?”