Sean McVay and Brandon Staley highlighted among NFL's best play-callers
[
theramswire.usatoday.com]
Cameron DaSilva
When the Los Angeles Rams announced they would not be retaining Wade Phillips this offseason, it came as a surprise. After three mostly solid seasons running the defense, Phillips was suddenly on the outside looking in, being replaced by a coach who had never been a defensive coordinator before.
Sean McVay indicated that he wanted to take a more hands-on approach with the defense, and by hiring 37-year-old Brandon Staley, he’s able to do just that. In fact, Staley has been referred to as the “Sean McVay of the defense,” bringing creative schemes and a brilliant football mind to that side of the ball.
Both McVay and Staley were recognized for their play calling recently at Touchdown Wire, with each coach being selected as one of the best play-callers on their respective side of the ball.
Take a look at some of what Mark Schofield wrote about McVay’s calls, highlighting the job he’s done in the running game.
Sean McVay certainly deserves credit for what he does in the passing game, but I want to take a moment to highlight what he does on the ground. McVay is tremendous at manipulating numbers in the running game, as well as creating advantageous angles for his blockers up front.
Don’t sleep on what McVay is doing on the ground. His designs do a great job of, as Bill Walsh termed it, reducing the variables.
As for Staley, he’s completely changed the Rams defense. L.A. uses light boxes (six or fewer defenders in the box) more than any other team in the NFL. They don’t often have two inside linebackers on the field together, relying on nickel and dime packages throughout each game.
That wasn’t the case with Phillips’ scheme from 2017-2019, and while Staley has had a full year of Jalen Ramsey and Aaron Donald together, you could argue Phillips’ defenses had more talent overall.
Here’s part of what Doug Farrar wrote about Staley.
When Sean McVay decided to replace Wade Phillips with Staley after the 2019 season, you could understand why it caused some consternation — Phillips is one of the greatest defensive coaches of his era, and outside of coaching circles, few people knew who Staley was. But McVay knew well who Staley was — as Vic Fangio’s outside linebackers coach in Chicago in 2017 and 2018, and in Denver in 2019, Staley was one of the architects of McVay’s worst day as an offensive play-designer — a 15-6 loss to the Bears in which quarterback Jared Goff threw four interceptions and no touchdowns, and the Rams gained just 214 total yards.
The Rams are clearly in good hands with McVay leading the offense and Staley in control of the defense. Their relationship has developed quickly, too, working in lockstep to give the Rams the best possible chance to win a championship thanks to their schemes and play designs.
The biggest concern with Staley is how long Los Angeles will be able to keep him because he’s rapidly becoming a hot candidate to ascend to a head coaching gig sometime in the near future.
