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https://www.usatoday.com/story/spor...ms-sean-mcvay-super-bowl-hangover/1949600001/
Opinion: Sean McVay gives LA Rams reason to believe 'new norm' of success is on horizon
NAPA, Calif. — Sean McVay had just recently broken into the NFL coaching ranks and badly wanted to learn everything about the keys to long-term success. So, the young offensive assistant turned to his grandfather, John McVay, the one-time architect of five Super Bowl-winning teams with the San Francisco 49ers.
The younger McVay understood that most NFL teams had never come close to even sniffing the kind of success that the 49ers enjoyed in the 1980s and '90s. So, he wanted to know his grandfather’s secret.
How, he asked, had San Francisco managed to do it again, and again? How did they avoid falling prey to complacency?
John McVay looked at his grandson and told him, “When our best players were the best example of what it looked like to do right, everybody fell in line.”
Sean McVay filed that lesson away in the back of his photographic memory along with all of the other nuggets of knowledge that he has gleaned from mentors along his coaching journey.
Now years later, as he enters his third season as an NFL head coach, McVay finds himself reflecting on those lessons from his grandfather as he tries to position his Los Angeles Rams in unique company.
In February, McVay and the Rams suffered a gutting loss to the Patriots in the Super Bowl, and now they’re back to work hoping to avoid the curse of the Super Bowl loser.
Now, the supposed hex doesn't always hold, but historically, teams that lose in the Super Bowl often find it hard to make it back to the big game the following year, and many have failed to make the playoffs all together. Since 1994, when the Buffalo Bills made their fourth and final consecutive unsuccessful trip to the Super Bowl, no runner-up had even made it back to the title game until New England did so last season.
There’s no concrete reason for the demises. But the Rams coaches and players want to do everything in their power to avoid it.
It’s true that some prohibitive factors — such as injury — are beyond human control. But complacency or a mental hangover of sorts will not prevent the Rams from orchestrating another march to the Super Bowl if McVay and Co. can help it. As he stands in front of his players, looks in the eyes of the locker room leaders and watches them operate, he believes the Rams have team pillars similar to those that the 49ers built around during his grandfather’s tenure.
“I think that’s what we have here,” McVay told USA TODAY Sports following Wednesday’s joint practice with the Oakland Raiders. “Our guys that have demonstrated the most production — that are our guys that we’re relying on — are our examples of what it looks like to do right. Then that becomes the new standard and their standard that they set every day becomes the new norm, and we can’t let it slip.”
McVay rattled off a lengthy list when asked who he views as those tone-setting franchise pillars. He named guys like quarterback Jared Goff, running back Todd Gurley, left tackle Andrew Whitworth, tight end Tyler Higbee, starting wide receivers Brandin Cooks and Robert Woods, defensive linemen Aaron Donald and Michael Brockers and cornerback Aqib Talib. And the coach said he expects veteran newcomers Eric Weddle and Clay Matthews to bring a similar mindset and standard of excellence that players in their position groups will feed off of.
Ever since he came to the team, McVay has preached consistency and accountability, and that message helped produce back-to-back division titles and last year’s Super Bowl run.
The Rams’ sudden turnaround from mediocre to excellent and that winning mindset all began with McVay, as well as the aggressive roster reconstruction led by general manager Les Snead. But the coach continually credits his players for setting the standard.
“It’s our job to collaborate together and make sure we keep that increased urgency,” is one way McVay chose to put it. And in so doing, his message fuels a sense of ownership among players and inspires them to uphold such standards rather than letting the coaches demand excellence alone.
McVay has used an old mantra to push his players: “You either get better, or you get worse. You never stay the same.” And just as he and his coaches continue to look for ways to improve their instruction, the expectation is that the players will carry themselves with the same quest for growth.
“The biggest thing is making sure it’s one day on top of another,” he said. “We’ve talked about it before, consistency is the truest measure of performance and we’ve got to consistently do right, day in and day out and hopefully those incremental gains will be the big results when we really tee off.”
Around the same time that McVay uttered these principles, players like Gurley and Goff addressed the media, and discussed their training camp play, and littered throughout their press conferences were familiar buzz words and phrases that they’ve learned from their coach in the last two-plus seasons.
This certainly sounds like the “new norm” for the Rams.
And based on the results that McVay's approach has produced the last two years, there's good reason to believe that maybe the on-field product of the last two seasons can become the new norm for the Rams as well.
Follow USA TODAY Sports' Mike Jones on Twitter @ByMikeJones.
Opinion: Sean McVay gives LA Rams reason to believe 'new norm' of success is on horizon
NAPA, Calif. — Sean McVay had just recently broken into the NFL coaching ranks and badly wanted to learn everything about the keys to long-term success. So, the young offensive assistant turned to his grandfather, John McVay, the one-time architect of five Super Bowl-winning teams with the San Francisco 49ers.
The younger McVay understood that most NFL teams had never come close to even sniffing the kind of success that the 49ers enjoyed in the 1980s and '90s. So, he wanted to know his grandfather’s secret.
How, he asked, had San Francisco managed to do it again, and again? How did they avoid falling prey to complacency?
John McVay looked at his grandson and told him, “When our best players were the best example of what it looked like to do right, everybody fell in line.”
Sean McVay filed that lesson away in the back of his photographic memory along with all of the other nuggets of knowledge that he has gleaned from mentors along his coaching journey.
Now years later, as he enters his third season as an NFL head coach, McVay finds himself reflecting on those lessons from his grandfather as he tries to position his Los Angeles Rams in unique company.
In February, McVay and the Rams suffered a gutting loss to the Patriots in the Super Bowl, and now they’re back to work hoping to avoid the curse of the Super Bowl loser.
Now, the supposed hex doesn't always hold, but historically, teams that lose in the Super Bowl often find it hard to make it back to the big game the following year, and many have failed to make the playoffs all together. Since 1994, when the Buffalo Bills made their fourth and final consecutive unsuccessful trip to the Super Bowl, no runner-up had even made it back to the title game until New England did so last season.
There’s no concrete reason for the demises. But the Rams coaches and players want to do everything in their power to avoid it.
It’s true that some prohibitive factors — such as injury — are beyond human control. But complacency or a mental hangover of sorts will not prevent the Rams from orchestrating another march to the Super Bowl if McVay and Co. can help it. As he stands in front of his players, looks in the eyes of the locker room leaders and watches them operate, he believes the Rams have team pillars similar to those that the 49ers built around during his grandfather’s tenure.
“I think that’s what we have here,” McVay told USA TODAY Sports following Wednesday’s joint practice with the Oakland Raiders. “Our guys that have demonstrated the most production — that are our guys that we’re relying on — are our examples of what it looks like to do right. Then that becomes the new standard and their standard that they set every day becomes the new norm, and we can’t let it slip.”
McVay rattled off a lengthy list when asked who he views as those tone-setting franchise pillars. He named guys like quarterback Jared Goff, running back Todd Gurley, left tackle Andrew Whitworth, tight end Tyler Higbee, starting wide receivers Brandin Cooks and Robert Woods, defensive linemen Aaron Donald and Michael Brockers and cornerback Aqib Talib. And the coach said he expects veteran newcomers Eric Weddle and Clay Matthews to bring a similar mindset and standard of excellence that players in their position groups will feed off of.
Ever since he came to the team, McVay has preached consistency and accountability, and that message helped produce back-to-back division titles and last year’s Super Bowl run.
The Rams’ sudden turnaround from mediocre to excellent and that winning mindset all began with McVay, as well as the aggressive roster reconstruction led by general manager Les Snead. But the coach continually credits his players for setting the standard.
“It’s our job to collaborate together and make sure we keep that increased urgency,” is one way McVay chose to put it. And in so doing, his message fuels a sense of ownership among players and inspires them to uphold such standards rather than letting the coaches demand excellence alone.
McVay has used an old mantra to push his players: “You either get better, or you get worse. You never stay the same.” And just as he and his coaches continue to look for ways to improve their instruction, the expectation is that the players will carry themselves with the same quest for growth.
“The biggest thing is making sure it’s one day on top of another,” he said. “We’ve talked about it before, consistency is the truest measure of performance and we’ve got to consistently do right, day in and day out and hopefully those incremental gains will be the big results when we really tee off.”
Around the same time that McVay uttered these principles, players like Gurley and Goff addressed the media, and discussed their training camp play, and littered throughout their press conferences were familiar buzz words and phrases that they’ve learned from their coach in the last two-plus seasons.
This certainly sounds like the “new norm” for the Rams.
And based on the results that McVay's approach has produced the last two years, there's good reason to believe that maybe the on-field product of the last two seasons can become the new norm for the Rams as well.
Follow USA TODAY Sports' Mike Jones on Twitter @ByMikeJones.
