After spending part of the offseason mulling his future, Sean McVay decided to continue as head coach for the Los Angeles Rams and has them in position to make some noise in the postseason.
McVay led the Rams to a 10-7 2023 season record, setting up arguably the best matchup on the Wild Card slate as they’ll take on the Detroit Lions.
It’s a reunion for several parties as Matthew Stafford heads back to Detroit, while Jared Goff faces off against his former team and McVay.
McVay and Goff may not have ended on the highest note, but the head coach has taken notice of the quarterback’s growth.
“Yeah, I think he played a really high level in the four years here with us but I think he, just like anybody, has just continued to mature,” McVay said.
“You can see he’s got great ownership of what they’re doing. He’s got a lot of responsibility at the line of scrimmage, getting in and out of the different packages. You can see that (Lions Offensive Coordinator) Ben (Johnson) and (Lions Head Coach) Dan (Campbell) give him a lot of leeway in terms of some of the audibles, but just a quarterback playing with a lot of confidence, has a great rapport with his skilled players. Even when you’re watching that Chargers game and you could see his ownership to be able to check into a run when they had a personnel grouping that they didn’t have and then it goes for a 75-yard touchdown. So just good ownership.
“All the things that you want to see from your quarterback and been really impressed. I’ve been watching just because I’m a fan of this game and then obviously you’re studying it through a different lens and it seems like we’ve crossed over with them a lot seeing their offense and it’s been one of the best and he’s leading the way.”
It’s rare that a trade works out so well for both sides, but the Rams and Lions can’t complain about their positions they’re in. Between McVay and Goff, it’ll be interesting to see which side moves on in the playoffs.
Rams’ Sean McVay says it’s ‘more normal’ to game plan for Jared Goff now
McVay has the unique challenge of trying to game plan against his former quarterback, but he said that the practice has gotten easier as time has gone by.
“I think the longer that you do it, it can become a little bit more normal. Like I said yesterday, I’m really happy and incredibly grateful for the four years of time that we did have together. I think the appreciation grows as I reflect back on it. We’re excited to try to figure out how the Rams can play the best game that we can against the Lions and it’s going to be tough to stop those guys.”
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