Free ride to Chargers puts extra heat on Rams coach McVay
PARTNERING with the San Diego Chargers on a stadium isn’t going well for the Los Angeles Rams, who must bear all cost overruns, now estimated at $2.5 billion, and saw the Chargers undercut them on ticket prices. The strain puts more stress on the Rams to win games.
In other words, can coach Sean McVay come to the rescue once again? The Rams had no winning seasons in the 13 years before McVay, as a rookie head coach, led the 2017 team to the NFC West title. A year later he became the NFL’s youngest head coach, at 33, to reach a Super Bowl.
McVay’s challenge this time is harder, believe it or not.
While the Rams aren’t without strengths coming out of a 9-7 season and an active offseason, the NFC West’s top team is clearly the San Francisco 49ers, whose lines are still both the division’s best and whose head coach, Kyle Shanahan, is more renowned than
McVay for his playcalling. In Seattle, Russell Wilson still gives the Seahawks the top quarterback in the division, if not also the whole NFC. An improved team, the Cardinals could challenge for .500.
Get a load of this, too: For the first time since the Chargers moved north, the Rams aren’t the most talented NFL team in Los Angeles. A loaded defence makes the Chargers equal in overall talent.
Don’t bet against McVay doing good work, but it’ll take a great year to lead the Rams to the West title.
For starters, the coach needs to get quarterback Jared back on track after a below-average 2019 season. Follow the dollars. Where Goff’s team-friendly rookie contract helped enable the Rams to build their Super Bowl roster - as the Seahawks had with Wilson and the Chiefs did with Patrick Mahomes - the four-year 134-million-dollar extension Goff got last September reduced the club’s ability load up on talent.
If McVay can’t get Goff to perform at a top-15 level, not his 20-25 range of last year, Goff’s contract will become a net negative. And the terms don’t allow the Rams a lowpain escape before 2023.
RAW RUNNING BACKS
With Todd Gurley having moved on, McVay is charged with getting two inexperienced running backs, sophomore Darrell Henderson and important rookie Cam Akers, up to speed this year.
The pass-catching group led by Robert Woods and Cooper Kupp is long on versatility and toughness, but the whole unit would benefit from McVay developing or finding a speedster who can put deep safeties on their heels.
Squeezing every drop of productivity from the offensive line ranks near first among McVay’s challenges.
After enjoying rare continuity in 2017 and 2018, the unit had a bad 2019 season. A flag-filled year from previously stellar left tackle Andrew Whitworth, now 38, was part of the decline. While the line won’t be as talented as in 2017-18, when Goff could count on a firm pocket and a robust ground game, McVay said that right tackle Rob Havenstein has rebounded from injuries that he played through last year and that Bobby Evans, 23, shows promise both at tackle and guard.
It’s a good sign that McVay isn’t content with merely being competitive this year. When asked Tuesday if the Rams are in retooling or reloading mode, he dropped a verbal hammer.
“I would never refer to it as that,” he said in a video chat with reporters. “That’s making excuses and running away from the expectations we have, which we’ll never do. We expect to win, we expect to prepare to win, we’ve got great people in this building - coaches, players alike.
PRIME OBJECTIVE
“Our goal and expectation is to prepare and win every single game,” he said. “I believe we go into it that way. We didn’t do what we needed to do last year. I own that, take full responsibility for it, but I couldn’t be more excited.” Asked what his deepdive study of last season turned up, McVay cited the offence’s poor results on first down.
Too often, a first-down run play produced no gain or a loss. Using an advanced stat - expected points added - Yahoo Sports found that the Rams tied with the Miami Dolphins for worst results on first-down runs.
Two more flashing red lights: Where the Rams averaged 4.2 and 5.1 yards on firstdown runs in 2017 and 2018, respectively, they fell to 3.7 yards last year.
No less troubling, Goff’s passing rate on first down plummeted from 106.4 in the team’s Super Bowl season to 80.4 last year.
“When you’re inefficient, now you’re putting yourself in a situation that the defense is in essence playing two third downs,” McVay said.