COLUMN: Rams Week 3 Loss Rests on Sean McVay's Shoulders

McVay had his foot firmly placed on the Eagles' neck and his decision to punt gave them the relief they needed to win this game. Had McVay gone for it and lost, it would've been bad, but to allow a giant back to their feet willingly? That's pedestrian, that's tactically unsound, and that's not Rams football.

The Next Drive

McVay had third and one at the Philadelphia 46. This is where you play bully ball, reset the chains, and open up the playbook. McVay didn't, went to the air, hoping to freeze the defense, and the play was incomplete. The Eagles keyed in on the run on fourth down, knowing it was coming because everyone in America knew it was coming and was stopped.

I don't have a problem with the play calls except they were reversed. You call play action on fourth down because the Eagles are bailing out against the run. The run on third would set up the pass on fourth down. It's these tendencies that lost the game.

Field Goals

When's the last time a team got field goals blocked on back-to-back occasions? I remember for me it was 2017. I was a senior in high school, and my teammate blocked multiple kicks to win on homecoming. No one on that field was over the age of 18, and no one was a paid professional. How does that happen in the NFL?

The Offense

The play sequencing, the tempo, the execution. Everything was off, and for a veteran head coach, to allow his defense to be exposed that often, to play that many snaps, there wasn't a single thing Shula could call that the Eagles didn't see during the game because he already ran it.

Shula was so desperate for a stop, he was dialing up pressure with Byron Young and Jared Verse dropping into coverage just to give Jalen Hurts a different look.

I have tremendous respect for Sean McVay, his staff, the team and their work but there has to be a feeling that this was all for nothing because McVay didn't understand the landscape, the situations, or the opponent he faced on the gridiron this Sunday.

Somewhere along the way, McVay lost the touch that made him special, and while he's still one of the best head coaches in the NFL, that one advantage he had, the advantage of being an offensive mastermind...it's gone.

His red zone operation is inefficient, his performance managing the game wasn't great, and let's not mince words, since last season, the defense has been masking a lot of these issues.

However, failure is not fatal nor is it final, and this is just week three. I don't know what he needs, but something needs to happen so that peak McVay returns. The young, cutthroat killer who didn't earn respect, he simply took the pressure to the opponent, looked them in the eyes, and said he would not be the first man to yield the battlefield. That killer needs to come back, and he needs to come back right now.