How Jaguars Lost to Sean McVay's Unprecedented Move

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- When Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen and his squad met mentor Sean McVay and the Los Angeles Rams in London in Week 7, the chance of McVay pulling something out of his bag of tricksalways seemed high.

McVay did just that in the Jaguars' 35-7 loss, with Coen's former boss overseeing the Jaguars' worst defeat of the year. Matthew Stafford threw five touchdowns and wasn't sacked once, and the source of the Jaguars' failures vs. the Rams can trace back to this unprecedented move.

McVay's Move

With the Rams missing star wide receiver Puka Nacua due to an ankle injury, the Jaguars saw the Rams lean on three-tight end sets at a race that has not been seen in the NFL in the past decade.

"Added context, via Next Gen Stats: The Rams utilized 13 personnel (1 RB, 3 TEs) on 38.7% of their offensive plays in Week 7, the highest usage rate by an offense in the Next Gen Stats era (since 2016)," said Rams' senior writer Stu Jackson.

Added context, via Next Gen Stats: The Rams utilized 13 personnel (1 RB, 3 TEs) on 38.7% of their offensive plays in Week 7, the highest usage rate by an offense in the Next Gen Stats era (since 2016). https://t.co/KW5jdLObjv
— Stu Jackson (@StuJRams) October 20, 2025

Rams tight ends caught eight passes for 101 yards and a touchdown on the day, with the group catching over half of Stafford's total yardage. This included a fourth-quarter touchdown where rookie tight end Terrance Ferguson beat the Jaguars deep.

Coen discussed the Rams' usage of 13 personnel and how the Ferguson play followed a trend teams have been using against the Jaguars' defense on Monday. As Coen noted, the Jaguars prepared more so for 12 personnel, with McVay catching them by surprise.

Oct 19, 2025; London, United Kingdom; Los Angeles Rams tight end Terrance Ferguson (18) makes a catch against Jacksonville Jaguars safety Andrew Wingard (42) during the second half of an NFL International Series game at Wembley Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

"They played a lot more 13 personnel the other day than we expected and anticipated. We expected some more 12 with Puka [Rams WR Puka Nacua] being out, didn't necessarily envision or see a ton of 13 show up and that was what they hit that play out of as well, so they were able to max-pro it and get Ferguson on the lean post and runaway," Coen said.

"So yeah, that was definitely a brutal one. And then that's exactly what we're looking at. In these situations, in these personnel groupings, exactly what are our best calls and priority calls that we can put these guys in?”

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