SoCal earthquake left Rams players and coaches rattled: ‘That’s not normal rain!’
Cornerback Derion Kendrick grew up in South Carolina, receiver Puka Nacua in Utah.
They, along with teammates and Rams coaches, were still buzzing Monday as they recounted a shared welcome to L.A. moment: Sunday’s 5.1 earthquake that rocked the Southland in the midst of a rare tropical storm.
The quake was centered near Ojai, located about 45 miles from the Rams’ Thousand Oaks practice facility.
Kendrick was at home watching TV when he heard “boom, boom, boom,” he said.
“I’m like ‘Damn, what the hell is going on?,” said Kendrick, who practiced for the first time since suffering a hamstring injury during training camp. “I looked outside, and it was raining — but that don’t sound like no damn thunder.
Stetson Bennett threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown during the Rams’ 34-17 preseason loss to the Las Vegas Raiders.
“It shook me a little bit, because I’m not really used to that where I’m from.”
Nacua said he felt shaking for five to six seconds.
“We’re like, ‘that’s not normal rain!’” he said. “I was shocked, I was scared, and luckily there were other people around.”
On Sunday, coach Sean McVay had said that his wife, Veronika, their dog and his neighbors felt the quake.
But not McVay, who was on the phone with offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur.
“It just shows you what an idiot I am,” McVay said Sunday. “I did not notice it, but everybody else around me did. So it just shows you I’m in outer space.”
Unlike McVay, LaFleur noted the shaking.
The photos circulating on social media looked dramatic, as if Dodger Stadium might be swallowed up by Hilary’s floodwaters. Sometimes looks can be deceiving.
“The pool had waves and stuff so I’m like, ‘Holy crap,’” LaFleur said.
But McVay kept on talking.
“He had no idea,” LaFleur said. “He was talking, and then my phone started doing that alarm, and I just thought it was just the fifth alarm of the tropical storm or whatever…
“And he’s like ‘I didn’t feel it.’ Veronika was in the background: ‘You didn’t feel that?!’
“We all felt it. My kids were scared s—less.”
Notes: Receiver Cooper Kupp practiced for the first time since suffering a hamstring injury early in training camp. McVay has said that Kendrick and Kupp would participate in joint practices with the Broncos in Denver on Wednesday and Thursday…. Defensive coordinator Raheem Morris was absent from practice because of a personal situation, a team spokesperson said.
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