Bad Coaching in the NFL

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Snaz

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Sean McVay and Bill Belichick say hello


We’ve reaching the point where Sean McVay and Bill Belichick have made it to C’mon Coach, and frankly, we’re both proud and disappointed.

The more time Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay has to think about an opponent, the dumber he gets.


McVay had 10 days to prepare for the New York Jets, who were coming off a 40-3 surrender to the Seattle Seahawks and are coached by a rabid stoat. So how well-prepared was the NFL’s answer to Elon Musk for what should have been the easiest win on his team’s schedule?

Well, the Rams went three-and-out on their first two possessions, allowing a 74-yard touchdown drive to a pea-shooter offense in between. Then they surrendered a blocked punt. Then an interception.

It was 20-3 in the third quarter by the time their dignity kicked in. But by then it was too late: the Jets won their first game of the season by a 23-20 score, and the Rams jeopardized their playoff hopes on an afternoon when they should have clinched a berth by halftime.

“That was very humbling,” McVay said after the game, per Adam Maya of NFL.com. Sure was.

Last season, the Rams came off their bye and lost 17-12 to the Mason Rudolph-led Pittsburgh Steelers. Given a 10-day layover after a Thursday night game last year, they lost 20-7 to the San Francisco 49ers.

The Rams beat the Seattle Seahawks off their bye this year, but they had nowhere to go but up after they were upset 28-17 in a four-turnover fiasco against the Miami Dolphins before the bye. And who can forget how the Rams looked in their 13-3 loss to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LIII?

It was as if McVay spent the two preparation weeks before the big game coming to grips with the fact he’s no Bill Belichick, but merely the nutty neighbor who keeps dropping by for dinner in the 2010s sitcom Jammin’ With the Shanahans.

McVay’s problem isn’t that he has too much time to think during bye weeks and mini-byes. It’s that he has never, ever come up with a Plan B in four seasons as a head coach.


If Jared Goff makes a few early mistakes, there’s a special teams snafu or defensive lapse, or if the patented McVay system just isn’t clicking, the Rams become a turtle on its back in a soup factory.

McVay doesn’t really do adjustments, and the Rams don’t do comebacks: Goff is credited with just one fourth-quarter comeback in the last two seasons. For comparison’s sake, Sam Darnold somehow has two.

The Rams had a chance to come back and win on Sunday. They trailed by three points with 4:05 to play when they reached the Jets 37-yard line.

On 3rd-and-4, McVay emptied the backfield and ordered a deep wheel route to rookie running back Cam Akers. Goff’s pass sailed over Akers’ head. On 4th-and-4, McVay emptied the backfield again and called a similar play concept up the opposite sideline to tight end Gerald Everett. That pass was broken up, essentially ending the game.

Two deep sideline shots? To a rookie running back and a tight end? On the fringe of game-tying field goal range? In four-down territory? When a shallow cross or even a swing pass could have netted a first down? Against the worst team in the Milky Way? With the playoffs on the line? Did McVay expect Gregg Williams to parachute onto the Jets sideline wearing a headset and call the ol’ Madden “Engage Eight” blitz?


“I’ve got to do a better job getting us ready to go,” McVay said. “And really it was in all three phases, it wasn’t good enough.”

Congratulations, Aging Boy Wunderkind. You just got outcoached by Adam Gase. As punishment, you should slam a car door shut on your own forehead over and over again until you lose consciousness.
 
Last edited:

Mackeyser

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I dunno about all that, but I am at the point where I like McVay on a short week better than after a bye/long week.

I just don't understand how THIS team craps the bed like we do so consistently with extra time.
 

jrry32

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McVay's teams don't do comebacks? Maybe not successfully, but we came back from down 28-3 against the Bills, down 20-3 against the Jets, down 35-14 to the Saints, and down 13-0 to the Saints. We lost three of those games, but it doesn't change the fact that we made the comeback and had a chance to win all four. But then again, this is Fansided, so I don't know why I'm even wasting my time taking it seriously.
 

gabriel18

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McVay's teams don't do comebacks? Maybe not successfully, but we came back from down 28-3 against the Bills, down 20-3 against the Jets, down 35-14 to the Saints, and down 13-0 to the Saints. We lost three of those games, but it doesn't change the fact that we made the comeback and had a chance to win all four. But then again, this is Fansided, so I don't know why I'm even wasting my time taking it seriously.

They always seem to make a desperation run and get close just to keep us watching and hoping. Then another let down.
I guess it’s better than Linehan , Spags , and Fisher years where there was no chance of a comeback. I still watched though
 

1maGoh

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McVay's teams don't do comebacks? Maybe not successfully, but we came back from down 28-3 against the Bills, down 20-3 against the Jets, down 35-14 to the Saints, and down 13-0 to the Saints. We lost three of those games, but it doesn't change the fact that we made the comeback and had a chance to win all four. But then again, this is Fansided, so I don't know why I'm even wasting my time taking it seriously.

It looks like Goff has several fourth quarter comebacks, including 2 last year and 1 this year. That's 3 in the last 2 years not 1. Was this guy (that wrote the article, not you; we like you) going off memory? Shitclowns. Shitclowns everywhere on the internet. You're correct about not wasting your time on the dude.
 

Corbin

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That was dumb fucking article Mike Tanier. Guess you got to get out some type of sludge to meet your quota of articles written before the end of the year.
 

gabriel18

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McVay is a good coach that’s young and still learning.
His brilliance has worn off a bit
The thing that drive me crazy is his use of the time outs.
Sometimes a 5 yard penalty is better than burning a TO.
No one has talked much about him calling the last TO with
2:15 left last week. That is a very poor decision and I knew it right away. It’s 3rd down and all he saved was 15 seconds. You have to save that TO in case you get the ball back. It takes more than 15 seconds to run a play and get up to the line and spike it. It also gives the Jets an opportunity to run or pass on 3rd down because the clock stops at 2:00. And sure as hell they pass it for the 1st down. If it’s incomplete, they punt with a couple seconds before the 2:00 warning. If McVay lets it run down to 2:00 , I’d bet the Jets run it and force the Rams to use the last TO.
Here’s another reason you don’t burn your last one to save 15 seconds. Jets got the 1st down with 2:00. Rams have no TO’s left so it’s 3 kneel downs. If he saves that TO the Rams get the ball back with 25 to 30 seconds left provided they actually make a stop and who knows.Ask the Raiders. He has to be smarter than that in those situations. Calling it at 2:15 is terrible situational awareness.
I might have yelled that at the TV last week. If a fan like me that watches football for 3 hours 16 days out of a year knew what to do , then someone who studies it 12 months sure as hell should be all over it.
 

Elmgrovegnome

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I don't like the stubbornness to stick to his offense when its not working and not having a contingency plan in place. I'm glad he's doing it now but it took too long and may have taken wins from the team in the past years. I get it that he's a young coach, lesson learned, but when an entire forum of fans here is asking why in his second season, and offering up schemes that work to counter it, then is it really that difficult a solution to come up with? Plus many ROD members were saying the solution to the 6 man fronts right after teams started using it against him. I don't think there are any former NFL coaches here at RoD.

That is when I began to realize that he's not an offensive genius. He's got his system that he likes and wants to stick with it. His strength is as a head coach running the whole show. Sure he likes to stay in the offense but he does everything else so well that maybe he should let his offensive coordinator do his job. And he's still learning, slowly.

McVay is still miles better than the last handful of coaches they had, but he looks less like the wonder boy than what he was first considered. I doubt I'll be yelling for his head anytime soon to possibly never.
 

badnews

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I could sit through 3 straight losing seasons under McVay and I would still bet on him figuring it out and turning us back into a good team again.

4 years with McVay and no losing seasons yet.
Does anybody remember how long we went between winning seasons before he came around?

He has my faith. He is young, there will be learning ups and downs etc but the guy will keep us in the conversation more years than not.
 

Snaz

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  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #11

It looks like Goff has several fourth quarter comebacks, including 2 last year and 1 this year. That's 3 in the last 2 years not 1. Was this guy (that wrote the article, not you; we like you) going off memory? Shitclowns. Shitclowns everywhere on the internet. You're correct about not wasting your time on the dude.


Article said "Goff is credited with just one fourth-quarter comeback in the last two seasons. " Which is correct.
 

Faceplant

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Meh, he's better than any other coach we have had in 15 or so years, so there's that. Hard to argue that he has consistency issues though. I feel like this team has a major identity crisis..... and I put that on a HC. I also have zero confidence in this offense at this point. I cringe every time Goff drops back.... and now Akers is out... maybe for rest of regular season. Yikes.
 

Ramstien

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I have to admit that I have lost some respect for McVay as a head coach this season. Two things in particular that drives me nuts: when he goes to the empty backfield, which allows the defense to totally disregard the run and his continued use of these jet sweeps which may be effective once out of fifteen attempts. McVay's stubbornness is madding and refuses to make the necessary adjustments during the game. I tell you this crap is getting old fast and a loss this Sunday will put him on my shit list. Your team should be peaking at the end of the season not stumbling into the playoffs. Coaching in the NFL is based on what have you done lately.
 

Merlin

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Not many coaches can do what he does. He is special. Getting 9 wins with that 2019 roster was impressive. Positioning us for a playoff run in a rebuild year is as well.

Experts wrote us off this season due to major talent losses. Guess what... Here the Rams are poised for the playoffs.

This team has serious roster flaws he won't be able to overcome. But as usual coach is gonna take them further than he should.

It's gonna be a sad day when he moves on. So I hope it is only after many more seasons and a few Super Bowls.
 

Angry Ram

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Blah blah blah.

This type of article doesn't exist a week ago.

Knee jerks. Knee jerks everywhere.
 

ramsince62

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Not many coaches can do what he does. He is special. Getting 9 wins with that 2019 roster was impressive. Positioning us for a playoff run in a rebuild year is as well.

Experts wrote us off this season due to major talent losses. Guess what... Here the Rams are poised for the playoffs.

This team has serious roster flaws he won't be able to overcome. But as usual coach is gonna take them further than he should.

It's gonna be a sad day when he moves on. So I hope it is only after many more seasons and a few Super Bowls.

It's not the roster, it's McVay's inability to adjust when what they do best is taken away...he has no answers.
 

CGI_Ram

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I feel like this team has a major identity crisis

It does seem that... if I were to try to describe something signature. I would certainly say the defense leads the identity.

I like when something jumps out.

use of the time outs.

@gabriel18 brings up time outs. Those are precious, so yeah if you burn one make it count. It seems to me, with no way to back it up factually, we don’t have a great success rate following the timeout investment.

Again, no data, but certainly doesn’t jump out as a strong suit, for sure.

Interesting it is having more time to think calling a play, if you look for tie to article in OP.

Opportunity none the less.

I could sit through 3 straight losing seasons under McVay and I would still bet on him figuring it out and turning us back into a good team again.

4 years with McVay and no losing seasons yet.

Does anybody remember how long we went between winning seasons before he came around?

He has my faith. He is young, there will be learning ups and downs etc but the guy will keep us in the conversation more years than not.

But, yeah I always come back to this ^

McVay is young, prideful, smart. He’s a long play HC. Think Mike Tomlin, year over year his guys are in the mix. Ride that ride.

Kroenke is a great fit here.
 

kurtfaulk

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McVay is a good coach that’s young and still learning.
His brilliance has worn off a bit
The thing that drive me crazy is his use of the time outs.
Sometimes a 5 yard penalty is better than burning a TO.
No one has talked much about him calling the last TO with
2:15 left last week. That is a very poor decision and I knew it right away. It’s 3rd down and all he saved was 15 seconds. You have to save that TO in case you get the ball back. It takes more than 15 seconds to run a play and get up to the line and spike it. It also gives the Jets an opportunity to run or pass on 3rd down because the clock stops at 2:00. And sure as hell they pass it for the 1st down. If it’s incomplete, they punt with a couple seconds before the 2:00 warning. If McVay lets it run down to 2:00 , I’d bet the Jets run it and force the Rams to use the last TO.
Here’s another reason you don’t burn your last one to save 15 seconds. Jets got the 1st down with 2:00. Rams have no TO’s left so it’s 3 kneel downs. If he saves that TO the Rams get the ball back with 25 to 30 seconds left provided they actually make a stop and who knows.Ask the Raiders. He has to be smarter than that in those situations. Calling it at 2:15 is terrible situational awareness.
I might have yelled that at the TV last week. If a fan like me that watches football for 3 hours 16 days out of a year knew what to do , then someone who studies it 12 months sure as hell should be all over it.

I'm pretty sure he thought the d would stop them no matter what they did. Alas, they totally whiffed on their assignment.

.
 

gabriel18

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I'm pretty sure he thought the d would stop them no matter what they did. Alas, they totally whiffed on their assignment.

.

I did too , but using your final timeout on 3rd down to save 15 seconds ahead of the 2 minute warning is a terrible decision. It allowed the Jets time to set up a play and the option to pass the ball. Poor use of a precious TO late in the game.