Los Angeles Rams should feel extra motivation in Week 6 for Wade Phillips

Wade Phillips gets the chance to face his former team this weekend when the Los Angeles Rams take on the Denver Broncos.

Back during the 2017 season when the Los Angeles Rams made the bold decision to hire Sean McVay as the youngest head coach in NFL history, one of the first moves that was made right away was the decision to bring Wade Phillips as the new defensive coordinator.

After the Denver Broncos went through some head coaching changes of their own following the retirement of Gary Kubiak, Phillips found himself in search of a new coaching gig. And when looking at how great of a job he did over the years in helping the Broncos’ defense always rank near the top of the league, hiring Phillips seemed like a no brainer for the Rams.

Throughout his career, Phillips has earned the respect of being a defensive mastermind at times, and seeing him quickly make an impact in Los Angeles right away last season shows hiring him was the right move.

Even more exciting, the Rams’ defense figured out a way to improve from last year by bringing on some top talent ranging from Ndamukong Suh joining the defensive line with Aaron Donald to a new duo at cornerback in Marcus Peters and Aqib Talib.

In other words, Los Angeles did a phenomenal job in putting Phillips in the best position possible to succeed on defense, and while the unit has struggled at times in recent weeks, it’s the overall picture that matters the most.

With a 5-0 record heading into Week 6 with a key game on the road against the Broncos, all eyes will be on Phillips to see if the defensive coordinator sees an extra spark from his players on defense to help take down his former team.

Former coaches facing their former team will sometimes bring out the best in players along with coaches, and even though there wasn’t any bad blood when he left after the 2016 season, this doesn’t mean Phillips won’t be looking for a revenge win.

Take this into consideration along with the fact that Los Angeles will be seeing a familiar face on the opposite side of the football in Case Keenum, the defense has plenty of reasons to make sure they come through with a stellar performance.

But most importantly, if the Rams display a strong enough outing on both sides of the football while improving to 6-0, this will make all of this even more bittersweet for Phillips and company.