Sean McVay Shares Significant Blame for Rams' Disappointing 2-3 Start

The Los Angeles Rams haven’t started the season in the way that many have expected. Very few would have predicted the Rams to start the season 2-3. If you were to ask anybody what the reasons are for that start, most would point to special teams. While special teams have certainly played a large role, it may be time to look deeper and start pointing a finger at the head coach, Sean McVay.

Now, this isn’t to say that McVay should be on the hot seat or that the Rams should consider firing him. Let’s make that abundantly clear. For whatever role that McVay has had in the Rams’ 2-3 start, he’s still one of the best head coaches in the NFL. The Rams would not be able to do better than McVay.

At the same time, McVay has played a much larger role in the Rams’ 2-3 start than some would like to believe. For once, when McVay points the finger at himself in press conferences, he might actually be right.

Sean McVay's Australia Travel Decision Backfired

Coming into the season, the Rams were scheduled to play Week 1 in Melbourne, Australia against the San Francisco 49ers. Leading up to the game, the Rams sent players and team personnel to Australia before deciding to arrive just over 24 hours before kickoff.

The Rams were criticized for this decision by the media, especially as the 49ers arrived almost a week before the game. While I didn’t have the same resources as the Rams, the data that I gathered from traveling to Australia showed how much of a negative impact that can have on the body. My sleep efficiency in the early days of arriving in Australia dropped almost 30 percentage points.

Yes, it was the same plan that the Rams had taken the previous year when they went to London. However, the Rams spent that week in Baltimore and took a seven-hour flight to London the day before. That’s almost the equivalent of the Rams going from the West Coast to the East Coast. A flight from Los Angeles to Melbourne is almost double what their trip from Baltimore to London was.

The Rams came out sluggish against the 49ers and crashed out by the second half. They allowed 20 unanswered points on their way to a 27-7 loss. Throughout the week and after the game, McVay was adamant that it wasn’t because of the travel plans. With that said, it was clear throughout the game that the Rams were out of sync and lacked cohesiveness.

Following the win over the Giants a week later, McVay finally seemed to admit the mistake. “Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn. Sometimes you have a dumb ass coach that makes travel plans that put you in a bad spot,” said McVay.

McVay's Game Management Contributed to the Rams' Collapse in Denver

After beating the New York Giants, the Rams headed to Denver to take on a vulnerable Broncos team. The Rams came out hot and took a 16-0 lead into the half. Despite the Rams leading that game by multiple scores, Matthew Stafford came out of it with 55 passing attempts.

McVay seemed to lose control of the game-script. While McVay is typically great with second-half adjustments, he was getting outcoached by adjustments that the Broncos had made. Neither of the Rams’ offensive drives in the third quarter lasted more than five plays. The Rams had minus-six net yards in the third quarter as the Broncos tied the game.

Against the Broncos, the Rams averaged 0.13 EPA per rush with a 47.8 percent success rate and still threw the ball over 50 times as if they had been trailing, not leading by more than 10 points for much of the game. The Rams had a +9.3 pass rate over expected.

The only teams ahead of them were the Bengals, Seahawks, and Packers. The Bengals trailed the Steelers for much of their game while the Seahawks and Packers trailed by double digits in their losses. Despite having a lead, McVay let the game-script get away from him.

McVay's Conservative Play-Calling Cost the Rams Against Buffalo

After a relatively quiet first half against the Bills, the Rams’ offense went into full-on attack mode in the second half, scoring touchdowns on four of their five possessions, including their last three. The Rams trailed by a touchdown late, needing to go 63 yards in just over 1:30 with one timeout. It took 1:29 and the Rams didn’t even use their timeout before they were in the end zone.

When the defense got a turnover in overtime, it seemed like almost a guarantee that the Rams would win the game given how the offense had moved the ball. Early in the drive, they did just that. With 21-yard completions to Davis Allen and Puka Nacua, the Rams were at the 35-yard line.

That’s when McVay got conservative. The Rams threw an incomplete pass from under center before McVay called a screen pass to Nacua and then a run on 3rd-and-5. It was as if he was content with a 48-yard field goal despite having a kicker that had struggled from range. Inside of 45 yards, Mevis had been solid. It was beyond 45 yards where he became more inconsistent.

For the Rams to feel comfortable about a field goal, they likely needed another 10-15 yards. Instead, McVay called a run on 3rd-and-5 that picked up zero yards. Mevis was called on for a field goal that would be blocked.

While it was Mevis who got cut on Tuesday morning, McVay deserves just as much of the blame for that sequence. McVay took the ball out of his MVP quarterback’s hands and instead put the game in the hands of his special teams unit that has consistently come up short this season. After the game, McVay was disgusted with the play call to run on third down.

“I wish I would have had a better play call and gone forward, got it a lot tighter. I'm sick right now with myself,” said McVay. “I'll be regretting kicking that and not having a better call to be able to go forward on third down and go to fourth or whatever it was. That's on me.”

Going into the game, Mevis had been 4-for-6 in his career from beyond 45 yards. He was just 1-for-3 from 48 yards out. By comparison, he had been 19-for-20 from inside of 45 yards. Everything in that moment said that the Rams needed to get closer. On Tuesday, McVay further explained his thought process behind calling a run in that spot.

“I had a thought of something on a third down and five. Then we had a little bit of time to think about it. Didn't want to leave us susceptible to maybe getting a penalty that moved us back,” McVay explained. “I certainly felt like that was the right decision based on some different things. Maybe it wouldn't have been the same call if I didn't have time to, if you want to say, overthink or have a couple of different things that talk to you out of it.”

It’s understandable that McVay wouldn’t want to take a penalty or a negative play in that spot. However, McVay treated the game as if it was over, when it wasn’t. Had the Rams had the ball at the 20-yard line instead of the 30, a run may have made more sense. Running into the middle of the Bills’ defensive line when the offense had a 39.1 percent rushing success rate was a questionable decision.

The Rams' Lack of Discipline Falls on Sean McVay

For much of the McVay era, the Rams have been one of the more disciplined teams in the NFL. In 2016 under Jeff Fisher, the Rams were the fifth-most penalized team. When McVay took over in 2017, they were the 13th-most penalized team. By 2020, the Rams were the third-least penalized team in the league. Last year, they were also the third-least penalized team.

There is a lot of room for interpretation for whistles that happen between the snaps. However, pre-snap penalties are a reflection of mental and coaching discipline. In 2016 under Fisher, the Rams had the seventh-most pre-snap penalties. That improved to 13th in 2017 and in 2018, they were the 12th-least penalized team pre-snap. For the most part, that’s where they’ve been under McVay.

Over the last three years, the Rams have been among the five least-penalized teams in the NFL when it comes to pre-snap penalties. They already have 13 pre-snap penalties this season and are the seventh-most penalized team in the NFL. Between 2021-2025, the Rams were penalized 10 or more times a total of two times. They’ve had 10 or more penalties in two of the last three games.

“The things that I'm surprised with are some of the procedural things pre snap. We can't have four false starts from four different players,” said McVay. “We have to figure it out and we have to be able to overcome those types of things. I did think that there were some instances where we were able to do that. Talk is cheap. I've talked to you guys about it. We'll keep emphasizing it. Ultimately, it's a get it done type of thing.”

It’s those timely penalties that have cost the Rams at times this season. On the opening drive, a holding penalty on Tyler Higbee wiped out a run that would have gone for a first down from Kyren Williams. The Rams ended up having to settle for a 50-yard field goal that was missed. Later in the half, the Rams had promising field position at their own 43-yard line. That was immediately taken away with a false start penalty on Warren McClendon.

Against the Broncos, the Rams went 1-for-4 in the red zone. On the first red zone drive, a hold on Steve Avila on third down wiped out a five-yard gain from Blake Corum that would have given the Rams a first down. Later in the half, the Rams had a delay of game in the red zone before Davante Adams was called for offensive pass interference that nullified another first down after having 1st-and-15.

That’s two potential drives that could have resulted in touchdowns that ended in field goals because timely penalties put the Rams behind the sticks. That also doesn’t mention defensive penalties in the red zone that have given opponents a new set of downs and more chances to score. The Rams need to be more disciplined in important moments.

Sean McVay Must Be Part of the Solution

If there is one coach that can turn this around, it is Sean McVay. Again, this isn’t to say that McVay should be fired or even on the hot seat. The pressure is certainly bigger in Los Angeles, but the Rams would be hard-pressed to find a coach better than the one they currently have.

This is only to say that McVay has contributed to the Rams losing games this season. He's usually a big reason why the Rams win games. Through five weeks, however, some of his decisions have contributed to their losses. The mistakes listed above don’t even mention his role in the special teams mistakes.

If the Rams are going to turn their season around, it starts with McVay. He's been the driving force behind much of the team's success over the last decade. Now, he needs to be just as instrumental in correcting the mistakes that have put the Rams in this position.

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