A McVay related excerpt from MMQB edited by Elvis...

Here’s the related McVay portion edited by Elvis...

[www.si.com]

Despite the Super Bowl loss, McVay will be just fine. He’s still one of the best coaches in the sport, and I’m pretty confident he’ll grow from what happened against New England.

If you really need evidence, I did talk to some of his assistant coaches about what’s made him a force of nature over the last two years in Los Angeles. I asked those guys a simple question: When did you figure out McVay was a little different? Each answer, I think, will inform you on why the arrow is still very much pointing up on the 33-year old.

Fassel: “It was one of our first veteran OTAs which, because we were a new staff, had to be mid-April, before the draft. We just had a couple workouts, and the big thing before was the offense and defense didn’t quite connect together. They were two separate entities. And right at the end of practice, Aaron Donald and Michael Thomas, the receiver, got in a fight over something that was insignificant. And he basically halted practice right there, and talked about the importance of being connected, and that the offense can affect the defense and the defense can affect the offense. It’s not two separate contractors trying to win a game, we have to be a team. And that was impressive because it was two pretty strong personalities going at it. … That was literally one of our first practices. That was kind of the end. What happened in the fight, in that practice had bled over from before, and that was kind of the end of anything like that ever happening again.”

Run game coordinator Aaron Kromer: “He’s the first offensive coordinator/head coach who wanted to know what the blocking calls were—‘If you double team this guy what’s it called? If you double team on a gap play as compared to a zone play, how’s that work?’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, that’s great, he’s gonna know what’s involved.’ That’s when I first got here. And then there’s some minor calls that you add to that double team call that helps a guy know what word to use. And I didn’t tell him about that. … And he was like, ‘What was that call?’ And I said that just tells him he steps with this foot instead of that foot. And then there this is, he steps with that foot instead of this foot. They’re all double-teaming the same guy. And he’s like, I gotta know, I need full ownership in this. And that’s how he is with every position, offensive line, quarterback, defensive line, corner, punter, he wants to know exactly and he remembers for life whatever that is.”

Assistant head coach Joe Barry: “(We were at a) symposium in Philadelphia. I got sent to it by the Chargers, and it’s fun, you kind of grind and you meet during the day. But at night they have dinners for you and you get to socialize and meet people. I met Sean there. And at the time, shoot, man, he was a 26- or 27-year-old tight ends coach that the Redskins had sent. And that was the very first time I’d ever met him. The very first time I’d ever spent time any time with him. I knew within five minutes – this dude is unbelievable. And people always say, ‘What was it?’ It’s it. He has the it factor. Fast forward a couple years later, I left San Diego and got the coordinator job in Washington, and he was the offensive coordinator, then really, working with him, being around him every single day, and no disrespect to anyone who’s tried to find and hire the next Sean McVay, there is not another Sean McVay.”

So in three different answers, you get conflict resolution, football knowhow and charisma. And, I think, a head coach who’s pretty well equipped to handle the daunting challenge in front of him.