McVay Regrets Mistakes In Championship Game Loss

[Coliseum Ram]

Brings up poor clock management before the Half on his part.

McVay regrets ‘mistakes’ in NFC Championship loss

Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay joins Mike Florio and Chris Simms to discuss how he could have handled the NFC Championship Game differently, his interest in Jimmy Garoppolo and Kirk Cousins and more.

www.nbcsports.com

 

[FrantikRam]

That was the one that bothered me as well. Biggest mistake he made in the game.

 

[Coliseum Ram]

That was the one that bothered me as well. Biggest mistake he made in the game.

And I got crushed here when I said he had bad clock management before the half and might of cost us the game. But that's neither here nor there....

If he knows it after the fact I just can't understand why he doesn't know it in the moment. Head coaches need to know these things in real time. It's one of the flaws in his skill set so far and no I'm not calling for his job whatsoever.

Sean McVay admits he still dwells on clock management mistake in NFC Championship Game

Two Rams incomplete passes late in the first half gave the Seahawks time to score a touchdown before halftime.

www.nbcsports.com

 

[blackbart]

Two of the great things he does is self evaluation and taking responsibility even to the extreme. He always shields the players even with something as obvious as the muffed punt.

 

[snackdaddy]

The way he talks it sounds like he plans to be around for the long haul. Thats a good thing. He's got a chance to be the winningest coach ever in years to come. I may not be around when he's in his 60's. I'd have to make it 90. But its nice to know we have a very good coach and organization. And we gotta enjoy having Stafford while we can. It also sounds like he's not going anywhere soon too. I would not be surprised if he sticks around another 3 or 4 years. I just don't like the uncertainty of the year to year thing.

 

[tklongball]

And I got crushed here when I said he had bad clock management before the half and might of cost us the game. But that's neither here nor there....

If he knows it after the fact I just can't understand why he doesn't know it in the moment. Head coaches need to know these things in real time. It's one of the flaws in his skill set so far and no I'm not calling for his job whatsoever.

Sean McVay admits he still dwells on clock management mistake in NFC Championship Game

Two Rams incomplete passes late in the first half gave the Seahawks time to score a touchdown before halftime.

www.nbcsports.com

I mean, in fairness, he is making real time split second decisions, while trying to balance "the book" with gut feeling. That is very different than knowing you made the wrong choice after the fact.

 

[Coliseum Ram]

I mean, in fairness, he is making real time split second decisions, while trying to balance "the book" with gut feeling. That is very different than knowing you made the wrong choice after the fact.

Love him. Should have been his priority to go into that Half up 13-10. Especially with them getting 2nd Half Kickoff. The only thing we couldn't afford was them "double dipping" which is exactly what happened. Down 24-13 early 3rd. Hopefully a live-and-learn moment for him. But we had a really crap defense and these Kansas City cornerbacks are going to make a huge difference this year , I reckon.

 

[tklongball]

Like GMs, coaches are going to make mistakes. It sucks, especially in big spots, like the NFCCG.

 

[RamDino]

I'm sure it's easy for McVay to second-guess himself regarding the pass plays he called which allowed Seattle to save their timeouts and gave them a quick three-and-out, but he has always put the ball in his playmaker's hands and in that case... it was Matthew Stafford. He probably figured that Stafford and/or Puka would make a play. Can't fault him for that IMO. Like every other play... if it's successful he looks like a genius. If not... it looks like a bad call.

He has led us to two super bowls and almost two more in the last 2 years. I'm not complaining.

 

[Allen2McVay]

The way he talks it sounds like he plans to be around for the long haul. That's a good thing.

That was exactly my thought listening and watching his interviews yesterday.

 

[NorthernRam]

I'm sure it's easy for McVay to second-guess himself regarding the pass plays he called which allowed Seattle to save their timeouts and gave them a quick three-and-out, but he has always put the ball in his playmaker's hands and in that case... it was Matthew Stafford. He probably figured that Stafford and/or Puka would make a play. Can't fault him for that IMO. Like every other play... if it's successful he looks like a genius. If not... it looks like a bad call.

He has led us to two super bowls and almost two more in the last 2 years. I'm not complaining.

No one is disputing that McVay is a top tier coach.

However - in all honesty - he has real clock/game management issues that crop up in many games, even wins.

In that championship game, in addition to the pre-halftime clock management problem, at the end of the game McVay also gambled on 4th down instead of taking a chip shot field goal that would have made it a one score game with less than 6 minutes left in the game.

Then he allowed too much time to run off the clock before calling time outs on defence, and so there was no time left to come back when we got the ball back.

McVay repeatedly gambled unnecessarily on 4th down instead of taking the field goal throughout the year, and ended up later regretting not taking the points.

Game management is a real problem for McVay and it has been for quite some time.

 

[VegasRam]

And I got crushed here when I said he had bad clock management before the half and might of cost us the game. But that's neither here nor there....

If he knows it after the fact I just can't understand why he doesn't know it in the moment. Head coaches need to know these things in real time. It's one of the flaws in his skill set so far and no I'm not calling for his job whatsoever.

Sean McVay admits he still dwells on clock management mistake in NFC Championship Game

Two Rams incomplete passes late in the first half gave the Seahawks time to score a touchdown before halftime.

www.nbcsports.com

I know right?

(Probably hanging out with Puka)

 

[Allen2McVay]

...

In that championship game, in addition to the pre-halftime clock management problem, at the end of the game McVay also gambled on 4th down instead of taking a chip shot field goal that would have made it a one score game with less than 6 minutes left in the game.

No ... It was already a one-score-game.

The score was 31-27 when the Rams went for it on 4th-and-four from the Seattle six yard-line.

And, there was just under five minutes left.

Then he allowed too much time to run off the clock before calling time outs on defense, and so there was no time left to come back when we got the ball back.

No ... the Rams' Defense could not get off-the-field.

Seattle gained FOUR first downs on an 11-play drive from its six into Rams' territory before needing to punt.

You can look this stuff up. Only takes a couple minutes.

 

[kmramsfan]

No ... It was already a one-score-game.

The score was 31-27 when the Rams went for it on 4th-and-four from the Seattle six yard-line.

And, there was just under five minutes left.


No ... the Rams' Defense could not get off-the-field.

Seattle gained FOUR first downs on an 11-play drive from its six into Rams' territory before needing to punt.

You can look this stuff up. Only takes a couple minutes.

That's been fixed.......except for the ST's.
McDuffy and Watson.

 

[Allen2McVay]

That's been fixed.......except for the ST's.
McDuffie and Watson.

Hope so.

Purpose of my response was to get a few facts correct.

 

[jrry32]

No ... It was already a one-score-game.

The score was 31-27 when the Rams went for it on 4th-and-four from the Seattle six yard-line.

And, there was just under five minutes left.


No ... the Rams' Defense could not get off-the-field.

Seattle gained FOUR first downs on an 11-play drive from its six into Rams' territory before needing to punt.

You can look this stuff up. Only takes a couple minutes.

Yup. Had McVay taken the points, we would have lost 31-30 instead of 31-27. The problem was the defense not getting a stop. Made total sense to give Staff a shot at punching it in.

 

[NorthernRam]

Yup. Had McVay taken the points, we would have lost 31-30 instead of 31-27. The problem was the defense not getting a stop. Made total sense to give Staff a shot at punching it in.

You're completely missing the point here.

If we had taken the field goal, we wouldn't necessarily have lost 31-30 at all because we would have only had to move into field goal range to win the game, as opposed to having to march all the way down the field for a TD.

Not to mention that 4th down and 4 is an unacceptably low percentage gamble, particularly for a team that has a poor percentage of converting on even 4th down and one or 2.

Also, being down by only one point would have changed the Seahawks' playcalling options in the last 5 minutes of the game and would have put them under more pressure.

There is no way that McVay shouldn't have taken the points in that situation inside of 6 minutes to go in an NFC championship game since it is so much easier to get into field goal range as opposed to marching for a game winning TD.

Frankly, objectively it was a dumb coaching decision.

 

[Ground Chuck]

That's been fixed.......except for the ST's.
McDuffy and Watson.

And I believe the Rams add another legit contributor on defense at each level: A high corner in the draft, an interior linebacker to compete with Speights, and another interior lineman run stuffer. Our defense should be top ten easily.

 

[Steve808]

No one is disputing that McVay is a top tier coach.

However - in all honesty - he has real clock/game management issues that crop up in many games, even wins.

In that championship game, in addition to the pre-halftime clock management problem, at the end of the game McVay also gambled on 4th down instead of taking a chip shot field goal that would have made it a one score game with less than 6 minutes left in the game.

Then he allowed too much time to run off the clock before calling time outs on defence, and so there was no time left to come back when we got the ball back.

McVay repeatedly gambled unnecessarily on 4th down instead of taking the field goal throughout the year, and ended up later regretting not taking the points.

Game management is a real problem for McVay and it has been for quite some time.

I thought the Rams hired someone specifically for that job? Clock management?

 

[jrry32]

You're completely missing the point here.

If we had taken the field goal, we wouldn't necessarily have lost 31-30 at all because we would have only had to move into field goal range to win the game, as opposed to having to march all the way down the field for a TD.

Not to mention that 4th down and 4 is an unacceptably low percentage gamble, particularly for a team that has a poor percentage of converting on even 4th down and one or 2.

Also, being down by only one point would have changed the Seahawks' playcalling options in the last 5 minutes of the game and would have put them under more pressure.

There is no way that McVay shouldn't have taken the points in that situation inside of 6 minutes to go in an NFC championship game since it is so much easier to get into field goal range as opposed to marching for a game winning TD.

Frankly, objectively it was a dumb coaching decision.

No, you're completely missing the point. Regardless of whether we kicked the FG or failed on fourth down, we needed to get a stop and get the ball back. We failed to do that. Seattle's game plan would have been the same. Convert first downs and run clock. By the time we got the ball back, we were stuck on our 7 yard line with no timeouts and only 25 seconds left. We had only moved the ball to the Seattle 49 yard line by the time the clock expired. If McVay kicks the FG, that's still a loss. Your alternate scenario relies on the fantasy of our defense getting a stop it failed to get in real life.

Oh, and by the way, if we had kicked the FG, Seattle almost certainly gets the ball somewhere between the 20 and the 35 yard line, instead of at their own 6 yard line. Given the fact that Seattle punted from our 45 yard line, that means the extra field position would have enabled them to kick a FG, extending their lead to 4. I'm glad McVay had the balls to go for the lead with how poorly our defense was playing. The defense vindicated that decision when they shat the bed.