Too soon to mention LA Rams HC Sean McVay for NFL COY?

The signs for a huge 2020 season were there if anyone bothered to look

Even with so many things going wrong for the Rams, the team finished 2019 at 9-7. That is head coach Sean McVay’s third NFL season as the helm of the LA Rams. It’s also the third winning season for the team. That success came despite 20 team injuries. It arrived despite the team struggling with the 31st-ranked offensive line. Success happened despite the offense running the ball as the 26th-ranked running game.

If there was ever a point to be confident in the team, 2019 was reason enough. The Rams kept scrapping. Despite blowout losses that would have sapped the spirit from a lesser team, the LA Rams never gave up, never stopped competing. Now, after three games in the 2020 season, the Rams are proving that they are most definitely for real.

Stay the course, after plotting a new one

The Rams stayed confident in their offensive line. So much so that the team re-signed all offensive linemen from 2019. The Rams allowed free agents Cory Littleton and Dante Fowler Jr. to get paid handsomely, elsewhere. The team did bring back Michael Brockers and Morgan Fox. The team trusted that seldom-used running backs Malcolm Brown and Darrell Henderson could actively contribute to the teams running game in 2020.

And then, 2020 unleashed COVID-19, and the NFL was forced to adapt to rules that changed on an almost daily basis. All the while, head coach Sean McVay kept it together. Not only did the Rams maintain a status quo, but he hired three new coordinators, created a plan to improve in all aspects of the game, and executed the plan in the midst of a pandemic crisis.  Of course, three games is too little data to work with. But the job of the Rams head coach Sean McVay needs to be noticed. This was a team everyone had pooh-poohed as a bad team, led by an “average” quarterback and a one-and-done gimmicky head coach.

Too soon?

NFL Coach of the Year nominations does not happen organically. They are limited to a shortlist of coaches and the names are shuffled and a new one is drawn.  So we’re getting a jump on it now. The Rams could have a great season this year, and it would be a shame for the powers-that-be to recognize just how good the Rams are after-the-fact.

Is it too soon to mention LA Rams head coach Sean McVay’s name as a candidate to watch for NFL Coach of the Year? Yes. But things come at you fast in the NFL. If the Rams get to the bye week with six or more wins, then it could be too late.  So why not?   Nobody thought that the LA Rams would make much noise this year.  And nobody will think that the LA Rams head coach deserves NFL Coach of the Year when this publishes.

But we’re witnessing just how wrong some people can be. So let’s get this out there before the opportunity passes and it’s too late.