With Rams in control of NFC West, Sean McVay is focused on LA handling its own business

[theramswire.usatoday.com] With Rams in control of NFC West, Sean McVay is focused on LA handling its own business

Skyler Carlin
December 28, 2021 8:20 am PT

The Los Angeles Rams have positioned themselves well in the NFC playoff race in recent weeks amid their four-game winning streak, with them having clinched a playoff berth. After defeating the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, the Rams jumped to the No. 3 seed in the NFC and are now in first place in the NFC West.


With an 11-4 record, Los Angeles still has a chance to earn the first seed in the NFC, which is currently held by the Green Bay Packers at 12-3. As the Rams prepare to face the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers in the final two weeks of the regular season, Sean McVay revealed how motivating it is that Los Angeles can decide its fate moving forward.

“We do talk about the things that we can control. We’re aware of those circumstances and the situations. But in order for us to be able to have any of those things come to life and to fruition, we’ve got to handle our business,” McVay said. “So you said, ‘Do the guys know that if the Cowboys beat the Cardinals and we go handle our business against the Ravens that we win the division?’ Yeah. Those will be things that you talk about. But the main thing for us is, we’ve earned the right to not have to watch or count on anybody else. And that’s a real credit to our players. The way they’ve done that is by just focusing on the things that they can control, being where their feet are planted, handling the ebbs and flows and a lot of the different adversities that have come up like champions do. And I love this group. Love working with them.”

The Ravens won’t be an easy team to beat in Week 17, especially if Lamar Jackson returns from his ankle injury. And McVay knows John Harbaugh will have his players ready to go regardless, which is why the Rams’ sole focus is on beating Baltimore, not worrying about the Cowboys-Cardinals result.

“There has been a lot of chapters that have been really interesting in this book that these guys are writing right now, but for us, we want to try to do a great job of having a great week of preparation,” he continued. “There’s one thing that you know about a Coach Harbaugh-led Ravens team: they’re going to be tough. They’re going to be ready to go. They’re fighting for their playoff lives, so we better be ready to go. And we got to have a great week to go be able to try to accomplish our goal of getting our 12th win. What happens as a result, if we are able to do that, is a little bit out of our control, but those are good things that our guys have done the last month of December to give themselves an opportunity to really not have to look anywhere else other than just controlling what we can control.”

Earlier in the season, things looked bleak for the Rams to win the division or earn one of the top seeds in the NFC. Los Angeles had a three-game losing streak entering Week 13 and it almost seemed like a lock that they’d need plenty of help to climb the ranks in the conference.

However, with the Rams reeling off four consecutive wins — one of them being against the Arizona Cardinals — they’ve now allowed themselves to control their destiny. If Los Angeles wins their final two games, they will lock up the NFC West for the third time since McVay became the head coach in 2017.

It would help the Rams if the Cardinals lost to the Dallas Cowboys this week, making things easier on them down the stretch. But with how the team has performed over the past month, Los Angeles just needs to focus on winning games as they have full control of how their season will conclude.