Sean McVay on risky 4th-down call vs. Seahawks: 'We don't fear failure'
Cameron DaSilva
[
theramswire.usatoday.com]
After cruising to wins of at least seven points in each of their first four games, the Los Angeles Rams were in legitimate danger of suffering a loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday. They needed a comeback win and a game-winning 39-yard field goal by Cairo Santos in the fourth quarter to escape CenturyLink Field victorious, but the game essentially came down to one play.
With 1:39 left in the game and the Rams facing a fourth-and-inches from their own 42-yard line, Sean McVay called on his punt unit. After a timeout by Seattle – Pete Carroll’s last of the game – McVay had a change of heart and sent the offense back on the field to convert the short-yardage situation.
Jared Goff snuck it up the middle, picked up 2 yards and put the game on ice, getting into victory formation for a pair of kneel-downs. Had the Rams failed, the Seahawks would’ve been just outside of field goal range with more than 1:30 left in the game.
It was the gutsiest call of the year by a coach and McVay explained his logic to Peter King of NBC Sports afterward.
“I think the biggest thing was this: Our offensive linemen had the confidence to be able to get those six inches. I thought Jared [Goff] did an excellent job of mixing up his cadence a little bit, and I felt like he could catch them off guard,” McVay said. “We attack success. We don’t fear failure. We want to go for the win in that situation. Getting six inches to close it out was something that we felt the percentages were in our favor.”
Did you hear that, Jason Garrett? McVay doesn’t fear failure. He attacks success. Garrett went gutless with the Cowboys on Sunday night, opting to punt in a far less risky situation with the ball on fourth-and-1 from the Texans’ 43-yard line in overtime. A touchdown on that opening drive wins the game, and a field goal puts pressure on Houston to score.
McVay isn’t in danger of being favored the way Garrett is, and it’s partly because of decisions like this one. The Rams are one of the most innovative and aggressive teams in the NFL and that comes down to McVay’s willingness to take chances.
This was a big risk, but it paid off in an even bigger way.
