How does LA Rams coach Sean McVay keep winning?

[ramblinfan.com]

by Bret Stuter

LA Rams coach Sean McVay has never had a losing season over the past five seasons. In fact, the closest to a losing record that he has come in his tenure with the LA Rams is the season opener, when the Rams lost to the visiting Buffalo Bills to fall to a 0-1 record to start the 2022 NFL season. Even during the 2019 NFL season, the only year that the LA Rams missed the playoffs with a 9-7 record, never found the team below .500.

That’s quite a feat, particularly after these same LA Rams played to a 4-12 record in 2016.

But the question is, these LA Rams fell to a 0-1 record, but have now bounced back to the winning side once more. At 2-1, and with two NFC Conference wins and one NFC West Division victory, how does he continue to plop W’s in the win column?

If you look at the Rams roster this season, you will observe tremendous upheaval. The Rams have two players who have been suspended, six players currently on the injured reserve, one player on the PUP/Reserve list, one player on the NFL/Reserve list, and four players who were out for their Week 3 game due to injuries.

That totals 14 players, not counting the number of players who were released earlier with an injury settlement. Despite all this, the Rams are one of the top teams in the NFC Conference and a Top-3 team in the NFL. Of course, that’s all relative. The Rams have only competed in three games, and the toughest part of the schedule is yet to come. Still, the LA Rams have already faced two 2021 playoff teams, and are finding modest success.

How does Coach McVay do it?

The LA Rams are not stuck in a rut. In fact, this team has been one of the most willing NFL organizations to reinvent themselves. For four seasons, the Rams were committed to quarterback Jared Goff. But in 2021, the Rams traded Goff and a trio of valuable draft picks to acquire veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford. The result? The team blew through the Divisional Round of the NFL Playoffs to win SB LVI.

But the team reinvents itself via the playbook too. The Rams had leaned heavily on two tight ends on offense in the past, but when the team went exclusively 11 personnel to disastrous results in Week 1, the team went back to the drawing board and repurposed WR Ben Skowronek to a hybrid FB/WR role. Not only did that jumpstart the Rams’ rushing offense, but it has amplified his ability to block at the line of scrimmage while playing the role of a wide receiver.

Better yet, the LA Rams front office, led by GM Les Snead, has been uncannily effective in finding and signing the right players who fit what the LA Rams want to do on both offense and defense. That success rate makes the job of the coaching staff that much easier because the team does not run short of vital talent and position depth in key games in the season.

How does Coach McVay keep winning? He has a strong NFL organization around him, and he gets by with a little help from his friends.