In their Monday night win over the New York Giants, tight end Terrance Ferguson overcame some early issues, including a pair of drops on catchable targets, to put a cap on the evening with the final touchdown of the game.
Ferguson has been trying to get on the same page with quarterback Matthew Stafford, and at times, their connection looks promising. Other times, it seems like Ferguson is just missing the minute details of running routes in the Sean McVay offense, at least with the pace and timing that Stafford expects.
Despite those issues, Ferguson kept the faith, especially after an in-game conversation with McVay. On Tuesday, the head coach shared what he said to the young tight end after those letdowns.
“I was encouraging. I was more coaching
him up on some of those bang-bang types of plays," said McVay. "'Body it and prevent him from playing through you as opposed to using your hands.' There are some situations you actually want to body it where guys are in a position to be able to play aggressively through your hands and it's tough. But he's a stud. I'm not responsible for anything I say during games. I black out during games. But I was encouraging him and then I got a ton of confidence.
"I thought that was a good play by [Tyler] Nubin. He did a nice job. It was a good, competitive throw by Matthew there in a tight man coverage. What I like about games is there are going to be moments where you learn the most when you see like, 'Alright, what's the next right thing after a play that doesn't go down the way that we want?' We obviously want to stack good plays as consistently as possible, but I have a lot of belief in Terrence Ferguson. Hopefully he feels that. I know his teammates do as well. I thought he made a great catch when we ended up coming back to him and some other opportunities where he's just going to keep getting better and better."
McVay was specifically referencing a pass that Ferguson dropped on third down late in the game, which would've kept the drive alive and gotten the Rams closer to scoring.
"But that was one of those that you want to stay on the field in a third-down situation," he said. "I want our players to feel like I'm in it with them and then you're providing feedback that's solution-oriented. Not just, 'Oh, catch the ball,' or something like that. It's more along the lines of how you can help in terms of what we're trying to hunt up.”
Ferguson finished the game as the second-best pass catcher statistically for both sides, sitting behind Davante Adams, who put on an all-time display. Ferguson recorded six receptions for 54 yards and one touchdown on nine targets.
Through just two games, he's already six catches and three touchdowns away from eclipsing the personal marks he set as a rookie last season. It appears he's the TE2 of the offense moving forward, a sign that McVay really does have tremendous belief in him.
This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: Sean McVay shares what he told Terrance Ferguson after dropped pass
