WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. – The Los Angeles area has been devastated by wildfires during the week preceding the Rams' home Wild Card game against the Vikings, scheduled for Monday at 5 p.m. pacific time. The NFL moved the game to State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., as conditions have worsened in the areas surrounding SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif. over the past few days.

On Thursday, head coach Sean McVay and quarterback Matthew Stafford spoke with the media about the affect of the wildfires and their preparation ahead of a rematch with Minnesota on Wild Card weekend. Offensive lineman Rob Havenstein, safety Quentin Lake, tight end Tyler Higbee and outside linebacker Michael Hoecht spoke with the media on Friday before heading to Arizona.

Here are the most significant quotes and talking points from those press conferences:

"It's one of those deals that almost doesn't feel real, but it certainly is real to the people that are affected. It's one of those deals that gives you perspective. And so hopefully (we) get this stuff under control. It's been a unique week. Fortunately for us, there's been some people that have been affected in regards to outages, recommended evacuation. A couple of our staff members did have their homes affected. But fortunately, to my knowledge, nobody has been injured, and for that we are grateful." - McVay

McVay said it's important to acknowledge how the community has been affected by the wildfires, adding that "this is bigger than football." The Rams' staff has been helpful in making sure players and coaches are able to take care of their personal safety before anything else, that way they can focus on preparing for Minnesota when they get into the facility.

The Rams were operating as if the game will be played at SoFi Stadium, McVay said, and they would like it to be as long as conditions permit. Still, he said they will be ready for any scenario and "you realize the perspective and you hate for situations like this to arise." McVay said "players' health and safety is at the forefront of our concerns."

Later in the day Thursday, McVay was among the many Rams staffers that had to evacuate their home, some of which came to the facility for safety as an interim measure, including McVay's family. On Friday, he added that as soon as he saw that his wife and young son were in good shape, "I was good as well." It was a sigh of relief. He addressed the team yesterday and today as best he could by making sure people could take care of "priority number one, which is people's health and safety," focusing on football.

In terms of preparing for the Vikings, McVay said "(Vikings defensive coordinator Brian) Flores does an excellent job of presenting a variety of issues," and it will come down to proper execution against that complicated defensive scheme. The Rams' 30-20 win in Week 8 "has nothing to do with" this matchup, McVay said, as both teams have adapted their approaches significantly since then, as is expected during the course of an NFL season.

"While we're here, it's full focus, 100% on the Vikings and the challenges that they present, but we're also human beings and care for the people of our community... I think every time we suit up, we're the Los Angeles Rams. We play for the people in this community, the people that support us, and this week will be another example of that, obviously." - Stafford

Stafford lost power in his home for a few days, but said he feels lucky that has been the worst of his families' problems. He added that he was hopeful the game will be played at SoFi Stadium still in front of the home crowd (which didn't come to fruition) and hopes it will be "a great escape for people who have been going through a lot of tough times here the last couple days."

Regardless of where the game is played, Flores always presents "a bunch of different coverages, different pressures, all those kind of things that you've got to get ready for and be able to adjust to on the fly in the game." Week 8 was one of Stafford's best games of the season, as he threw for 279 yards and four touchdowns, but like McVay, he knows how much both teams have changed since then.

Last game was "high-level football in a lot of areas," Stafford said, and he will have to rely on his preparation and pre-snap reads once again to ensure everyone on offense is on the same page.

"Similar to 2018 where you're standing out in the practice field and all of a sudden someone's (like), 'look at that,' and you look up there, and you're like, 'oh man, another one. And then you're like, wait a second, I live over there.'" - Havenstein

Havenstein doesn't get service at his house, so when he saw the fires yesterday and couldn't get through to his family, he started calling his friends and heading that way. The tracking on "find my friends" also wasn't working. Eventually, he was able to reach his wife, who confirmed his families' safety, and then came back to the facility.

It was "just something I couldn't leave to chance," Havenstein said. "... It was a very serious situation."

Havenstein said they need to "take care of the first thing first, make sure everyone's safe." Then, once they've done that and achieved a "quieted mind that everyone is safe," they can be where their feet are planted and focus on preparing for Minnesota.

"Fortunately, we're open up north, and we had power, and allowed some of the people who had to evacuate to just come by the house and relax, told them they could stay if they wanted to, and try to help out any way we can." - Higbee

Higbee emphasized that "as much chaos as this has caused all of us, in the end, we're still fortunate," Higbee said. They are preparing for a playoff game while "so many people have lost their homes and their entire livelihoods." After they're back from Arizona, Higbee said he'd like to find ways to help out the community further.

The Rams are allowing players and coaches to bring their families along to Arizona, which Higbee said "allows everyone to have a little bit of a peace of mind, knowing that they're safe." He said that will help everyone be able to "focus on ball" ahead of their playoff matchup with Minnesota.

Higbee said the Rams' operations team has been amazing with their commitment to getting players, coaches and staff members' families (and pets) to Arizona quickly, adding "I made a joke earlier that we got Noah's Ark going over to Arizona today."

"My girlfriend and I, we organized going to buy a bunch. To LAFD t-shirts, hoodies and everything. So when we get down to the plane, we're going to distribute those as many people as possible, all those proceeds go to help the fire department. Any way that we can give back, any way that we can help, any way that we can provide." - Hoecht

Hoecht and his family are in a safe spot, he said, so they haven't needed to evacuate, but are monitoring the situation closely. In terms of moving the game to Arizona, Hoecht said "we were kind of figuring out at the same time everybody else was" after practice yesterday.

McVay "had the message that were built for this as a team," Hoecht said. "And my thoughts on it are situations like this kind of bring people together." The team had a zoom call late last night to figure out the travel arrangements and talk through any questions people had. With over 300 people leaving for Arizona tonight, Hoecht said it feels like they are "rolling in there as a family," and many will have theirs with them.

Hoecht said the Palisades is a place where many players go during the offseason to relax and go to the beach. He also talked about the immense football history in Pasadena, saying "it's tough to see some of those historical landmarks get burned."

"It's really bigger than just a game for us now, obviously, since we're dealing with the fires and the tragic incidents that are going on, we're playing really for our community. We always play for our community. We play for the logo on the front and the logo on our helmet, but to see the community impacted, for us to go out there and play well will give the city hope." - Lake

Lake was at UCLA during the 2018 fires and said "it kind of looked like hell on earth, honestly." He said that these ones are even more tragic because of the infrastructure that's gone down and the communities that have been devastated by the multiple wildfires burning simultaneously.

Like Hoecht, Lake said they were finding out the details of their updated plans and travel details on the fly last night and "there's a lot of layers to it that some people may not see," Lake said. "I'm going to do my best to make sure that I'm helping the community by being a role model."

He's hoping to find outlets to support in whatever way he can, whether that's donations, supplies, shelters or just putting on for the city of L.A. during this trying time.