LA Rams witnessed Eagles collapse, know they must fix QB Goff’s play

Provoking parallels

Doug Pederson was hired by the Philadelphia Eagles in 2016. Sean McVay was hired by the LA Rams in 2017. Pederson took the 13-3 Eagles to Super Bowl 52 in 2017. McVay took the 13-3 Rams to Super Bowl 53 in 2018. Pederson took the Eagles to the playoffs in three of his first four seasons. McVay has taken the Rams to the playoffs in three of his first four seasons.  In his fifth season, the Philadelphia Eagles played to a 4-11-1 record, and Pederson was fired.

In 2020, Carson Wentz threw 251 of 437 passes for 2,620 yards, 16 touchdowns, and 15 interceptions. It was his worst NFL season. Even his accuracy plummeted from an estimated 64 percent completion rate, down to a paltry 57.4 percent completion rate.

Now Sean McVay faces his fifth season.  And quarterback Jared Goff has plateaued in the past two seasons, stuck with no progress even as the Rams offensive line and running game improved in 2020. For a head coach whose career is clearly just as much at risk over Goff’s performance as Pederson’s job depended on Wentz’s performance.

Is it merely a coincidence that both Pederson and McVay have had such an uncanny parallel career track? With a few minor differences, both have followed an in-step career path. They seem to be eerily linked. Now McVay must fight the trend and forge a trek independent of the Pederson/Wentz trajectory. And that may explain the recent turn of events.