LA Rams HC Sean McVay still ‘got it’, and he’ll prove it in 2021

The LA Rams have not had a losing season since hiring Sean McVay to serve as the team’s head coach in 2017. Of course, he has only known an offense led by quarterback Jared Goff. That will be much different in 2021 when he will be running the high octane offense through a new quarterback, Matthew Stafford.

Let’s end the debate before it even starts. Stafford was, is, and will be the handpicked quarterback by McVay to run the Rams’ offense. There were multiple occasions where the deal for Stafford risked falling through. But it was McVay’s passion, endless bird-dogging of the transactions needed to make it happen, and his unquenchable ability to lobby team president Stan Kroenke that won the day.

McVay designs offensive plays. He’s the ‘big thinker’ of the Rams offense, and for good reason. He can whip out an offensive play that attacks an NFL defense from sideline to sideline, and from the line of scrimmage to the endzone. That is a lot of real estate to defend with just 11 players. And that’s the idea.

But recently, the dynamics between McVay and his former quarterback has pulled McVay away from what he loves best – designing offensive plays – to a more cumbersome and less enjoyable task of customizing plays to work for the quarterback. Based on the results: a rapidly declining offense and the eventual trade of the starting quarterback, it wasn’t working out very well.

Back to what he loves best

So now McVay has Matthew Stafford. Many have already voiced skepticism over this new pairing, and you are right to do so. Nothing is as frustrating as the euphoric nonsense of claiming a Super Bowl victory over one trade. This is not the case for the Rams.

But it does right some wrongs. Stafford improvises. He can extend plays, find the deep receiver, throw off-schedule and off-balance. In essence, he can deliver those things that the Rams wanted from the quarterback position over the past two years. So there’s that.

But let’s pause a moment and give credit where credit is due.  LA Rams head coach Sean McVay is a task-master, but he delivers the goods. In a recent analysis using DVOA – or Defense-adjusted Value Over Average, Sean McVay is the highest-rated active coach, and the third highest-rated head coach past or present.

McVay is a big thinker on offense. He needs a quarterback to handle the minutia, the play-by-play details. Adding offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell was intended to help out in that area.  It helped during the early part of the season, yes. But old habits returned, and that made it imperative for the Rams to rethink what the quarterback position needed to be in 2021.

What to do about DVOA?

Okay, so what is DVOA? In laymen’s terms, it’s an analytical attempt to determine the success of the play by what it was intended to do.  For example, normal statistics view a six-yard run on third and ten much more favorably than a two-yard run on third and one. But the second play achieved its goal, while the first play fell short.

Football Outsiders does an incredible job of explaining this in fine detail. I recommend that you check it out if you want to learn more. But for our purposes, the objective of assessing McVay’s offensive proficiency is accomplished. He’s not just a good offensive-minded head coach. He’s damned good.

Balance is not talked about much, but it can topple impenetrable towers, or stymie the strongest athletes.  The balance in the LA Rams offense was off these past two years. The head coach wanted to be aggressive, stay on the attack, put up points and let the defense mop up. But the offense wanted to retreat, control the clock, play the long game of field position and win a close game.  The dichotomy failed, neutralizing a potent offense and costing a young quarterback his job at running the show.

So now it’s back to McVay. That’s a good thing. If he becomes confident that Stafford can run the play by play, he can return to the laboratory where the mad scientist does his best at creating new offensive plays. Of course, this is not yet a fact, but signs point in this direction. And the LA Rams head coach is a very driven man right now.