Kris Richard vs Sean McVay: Take 3...

Kris Richard vs Sean McVay, Take 3: Inside their 2017 matchups

K.D. Drummond

[cowboyswire.usatoday.com]

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.

Ok, it was the autumn of hope and the winter of despair, but the point remains this coming third act between Rams head coach Sean McVay and Cowboys’ defensive guru Kris Richard is a narrative worth exploring.

Richard is the Cowboys’ de facto defensive coordinator. Yes, good ol’ Rod Marinelli holds the official title, but since signing the former Seattle Seahawks defensive coordinator back in January 2018, it’s been Richard’s show in Dallas. Richard calls all the plays, is the passing game coordinator when the coaches meet with each other and the team switched to using his defensive terminology in practices over the offseason.

It’s his gig.

Even though the titles may not say so, Marinelli seems to serve more as the assistant head coach in charge of the defense, with Richard being the DC. His contributions to the development of Seattle’s Legion of Boom are well chronicled, and in that role, he had a unique role that should factor into Dallas’ game planning this week ahead of the divisional round game in Los Angeles.

He’s faced the vaunted Sean McVay offense not once, but twice. In those two meetings, he experienced drastically different results.

Week 5: Meeting No. 1, aka Richard’s Salvo


McVay’s Rams took no prisoners to start his career. Taking over for Jeff Fisher, his ingenuity showed right away, as the Rams came out the game with two 40+ performances in their first three games before hanging 35 points on Marinelli’s Cowboys defense (more on that later in the week).

He left the first quarter of the season averaging 35.5 points a game; more than three points higher than the next closest team.

Next the Rams hosted Seattle and Richards defense . . . and scored a lowly 10 points.

The Rams controlled the action early, but safety Earl Thomas forced a Todd Gurley fumble at Seattle’s 12-yard line to keep the game scoreless early. On the Rams’ next possession, Gurley was stuffed on third-and-1 to force a three-and-out punt, but Russell Wilson gave them the ball back on the next possession with an interception.

Los Angeles’ next drive spanned the first and second quarter, and two plays in Tavon Austin, yes that Tavon Austin, took a handoff and raced 27 yards for the Rams first score.

A second Wilson interception, nicely returned for 69 yards set the Rams up inside the red zone, but Richard’s defense forced a three-and-out and a field goal pushed the lead to 10-0.

That was it.


Richard’s defense kept Los Angeles off the scoreboard for the rest of the game. It should be noted, Richard wasn’t able to keep Los Angeles from moving the ball, just from scoring points.

The opening drive of the third quarter made it back to the red zone, but a missed field goal kept L.A. at 10 points. On the next drive the Rams drove to Seattle’s 25 before Goff overthrew Gurley on a screen and DT Sheldon Richardson intercepted the tip drill.

In the fourth quarter, the Seahawks forced a three-and-out and then got two more turnovers from Goff, a second interception thrown from midfield and then a strip sack from the Rams’ 43. Still just down six points with one minute remaining, a big completion moved L.A. from their 25 to Seattle’s 40 in just one play.

Two plays later they were at Seattle’s 20, but a spike was followed by three straight incompletions and Seattle escaped with a 16-10 victory.

Goff finished with 288 passing yards, but no touchdowns and two interceptions, along with his lost fumble. Gurley also lost a fumble, as did Austin, who actually fumbled twice in the game, both on punt returns.

Richard’s defense forced four turnovers and four three-and-outs.

Week 15: Meeting No. 2, aka The Rams’ Revenge


The Rams bounced right back and averaged 36 points in their next four games, including a 51-point outburst against the Giants and 27 points against the then vaunted Jacksonville group. Richards’ defense absolutely stood out among his peers. 35.75 points in the eight contests surrounding the Rams-Seahawks matchup, 10 in that game.

10 weeks later though, the narrative got flipped on it’s shiny bald head.

In this game, it wasn’t the Rams who were constantly turning the ball over, it was the Seahawks and McVay’s troops capitalized in a way Seattle could only dream of. Before anyone could blink it was 13-0 L.A., and before the halftime whistle blew it was an absolute blowout, 34-0 at the break.

What went wrong for Richard’s defense? Absolutely nothing at first, and then everything at once.

Some unknown Seahawks receiver named Tanner McEvoy fumbled on the opening possession, giving the Rams the ball at Seattle’s 40, but Richard’s defense held them to a field goal. Strong start.

A three-and-out gave L.A. the ball back at midfield, but again Richard’s guys held L.A. to just a field goal for a 6-0 lead.

On Seattle’s next possession, they had their third straight three-and-out. This time, the punt was returned by Pharoah Cooper (having replaced Austin as their primary returner) all the way to the goal line. Gurley punched it in from 1-yard out for the 13-0 lead.

After another Seattle punt, L.A. drove the ball inside the Seahawks’ 25-yard line before Goff was intercepted.

For those keeping score at home, that’s three wins in three possessions for Richard’s defense, and a fourth near-impossible situation.

The Seahawks did nothing on offense, yet again, and punted the ball back to Cooper, who once again set L.A. up perfectly with a 26-yard return, back into Seattle territory. From their 36, Richard’s defense finally relented to the constant onslaught of pressure, giving up the yardage before Gurley’s second, 1-yard score and a 20-0 Rams’ lead.


A Wilson fumble set up the Rams in Seattle territory once again, and from the Seahawks’ 39-yard line, a drive culminated in Goff finding Robert Woods for a one-yard score and a 27-0 lead.

Would anyone believe the Seahawks failed to gain 10 yards and then idiotically punted to Cooper again? The result was another 26-yard return which set up the Rams on Seattle’s side of the field once again.

Richard’s defense wouldn’t give in, sacking Goff and forcing a fumble but Rams’ tackle Rob Havenstein recovered it to maintain possession. On the very next play, Gurley raced through the defense for a 57-yard score and the contest was over before each team retreated to their locker room for a breather.

When it was all said and done, the Rams were 42-7 victors with Gurley having four total touchdowns, three in the first half. While the score indicates there was nothing but misery for Richard’s defense, the tale of the game shows a completely different story.

Seattle’s offense and special teams did nothing but put Richard’s squad in unmanageable situations and they eventually cratered.

Moral of the Story

If anything can be taken away from the two meetings between McVay and Richard it’s that Richard’s teams have been able to force numerous turnovers by the high-powered attack. If the Cowboys’ offensive and special team’s braintrust is able to maintain possession and avoid giving the Rams short fields to work with, they have a chance at avoiding the onslaught.

The offense also has to do much more damage than the Seahawks’ offense did last year, scoring just 23 points combined in the two games. Wasting forced turnovers cannot happen for Dallas should they earn extra possessions if they expect to win.

Richard seemingly has the ability to construct a winning gameplan against McVay, but he can’t win the game by himself.