Hammond: Rams need O coordinator

Sean McVay and the Rams need to re-hire a full-time offensive coordinator

Rich Hammond

https://theathletic.com/1474640/2019/12/19/sean-mcvay-and-the-rams-need-to-re-hire-a-full-time-offensive-coordinator/?=twittered

Calif. — Even one of history’s greatest bands couldn’t get by without a little help from its friends. So there’s no shame in scrolling through your list of contacts, Sean McVay.

The Rams need an offensive coordinator. A full-time, full-fledged one. Not a run-game coordinator or a pass-game coordinator or whatever role that an “assistant coordinator/offense” fills. McVay can, and should, retain offensive play-calling duties in 2020, but he needs another voice — and a strong one.

McVay, the Rams’ offensive architect and play-caller, hasn’t employed a traditional coordinator since Matt LaFleur left almost two years ago. Over the past 12 months, it’s become increasingly clear that McVay could benefit from a little more help from a staffer who isn’t also a position coach, someone who can watch the game with more of a calm detachment and gently guide McVay in the right direction.

The Rams’ regression on offense this season — and, more notably, the lack of a consistent identity — make it clear that something needs to change. Is McVay prepared to make a proactive move?

“You’re always evaluating,” McVay said this week. “The one thing, for myself in this role, is you’re constantly evaluating all the elements that this role entails. You always want to continue to do it at a high level. The way you do get better is, you surround yourself with people that are better than you.”

Precisely. And that’s why someone — ideally a veteran coach — needs to be in McVay’s ear, not only during early-week strategy planning but also at halftime, or even in the middle of the first quarter, when in-game adjustments are imperative. McVay and the Rams aren’t far off here — this isn’t a disastrous offense, even though things sometimes look grim — but a little help can go a long way.

McVay is one of only three NFL head coaches who does not employ an offensive coordinator. That’s not necessarily a red flag. The other two are McVay’s fellow young-gun NFC West coaches, San Francisco’s Kyle Shanahan and Arizona’s Kliff Kingsbury, and the 49ers are enjoying a fantastic offensive season.

But the Rams are not. Independent of personnel issues — and there have been many — the offense has been inconsistent and slow to adjust. Opposing defenses, tired of getting steamrolled in 2017 and 2018, have flooded the Rams’ offense with different looks than they show on film and with multiple looks within games.

It’s lazy and inaccurate to say McVay has been “figured out.” Coaching requires constant adjustments, from season to season, week to week and even series to series. That’s not easy, and McVay has a lot on his plate. It’s not a failure to admit that he could benefit from some assistance.

For evidence, look no further than last Sunday’s dismal 44-21 loss at Dallas. The Rams’ first drive — which often is scripted before the game — was solid, with a mix of runs and play-action passes. The Rams ultimately punted from midfield but looked to have established some momentum. From there, though, they increasingly went away from the run and the types of roll-out plays that had helped quarterback Jared Goff get into a rhythm in previous games.

The Rams became more predictable and one-dimensional on offense. Todd Gurley had one rushing yard at halftime. (It’s also fair to re-raise the question of Gurley’s health status and how much McVay truly can use him, given that Gurley does not look dynamic even when he is fed the ball.)

Beyond all that, the point here is not to ridicule McVay, paint him as a bad coach or blame him entirely — or even primarily — for the Rams’ underachievement. In fact, there have been some clear positives.

At the start of this season, McVay got handed an offense that included a revamped, unproven offensive line and a running back with some type of load-management plan. More recently, McVay also engineered excellent plans for games against Chicago and Seattle and has been unwavering as a leader.

None of those things should be ignored. McVay’s offensive mind is sharp. He doesn’t turn 34 until next month, so it’s natural that there would be some growing pains in his head-coaching career. Everything remains in place for McVay to turn this around, assuming the Rams make some smart personnel moves. Plus, it’s not a nightmare. The Rams rank in the top half of the league in both points and yards.

It’s clearly not the same, though. The Rams have exceeded 30 points in only three of 14 games this season, even though, with some notable exceptions, the defense is improved. In 2017 and 2018, the Rams topped 30 points in 21 of their 32 regular-season games. So what has changed?

After his hiring in 2017, McVay brought in LaFleur as his offensive coordinator, and the Rams led the NFL with an average of 29.9 points per game. LaFleur left to become the Tennessee Titans’ coordinator, with a chance to call plays, which was a good, understandable move that helped LaFleur get hired as Green Bay’s head coach a year later (the Packers sit atop the NFC North in his first season).

Instead of hiring a new coordinator, McVay named tight ends coach Shane Waldron as his pass-game coordinator and offensive line coach Aaron Kromer as his run-game coordinator. By all accounts, things worked fine, as the Rams in 2018 totaled more points and yards than they did with LaFleur.

There were warning signs, though, particularly late in the season and in the Super Bowl, when opposing defenses enjoyed increasing success against the Rams. McVay stayed with his staff and elevated Jedd Fisch, who had assisted McVay with timeouts and clock management, to “assistant coordinator/offense.”

Early in the 2019 season, teams continued to give the Rams new and varied defensive looks. The Rams have been slow to adjust, and it’s hard to see how that isn’t complicated by the fact that McVay takes such ownership of the offense while also managing all other aspects of the team.

Yes, Kromer, Waldron and Fisch help, but they also have other responsibilities. It isn’t ridiculous to think the Rams would benefit from adding someone to assist offensive overview beyond Fisch’s analysis. Plus, Fisch might be on the move, as Bruce Feldman of The Athletic recently mentioned him as a candidate for the Florida Atlantic job.

“We’ve got a lot of good people here,” McVay said, “but I think it’s always continuing to find that good balance of, what does it look like structurally — really, for our organization in terms of that setup — and we want to be able to get the best people here. I think you’re always looking at those things, but I feel really good about what our group has done, if you’re asking about that.”

No, that’s not it. Kromer, Waldron and Fisch are not bad coaches. The suggestion is that they could be supplemented, not replaced. If 29 teams have a full-time coordinator, why can’t the Rams?

For some interesting perspective, McVay need only turn to his defensive coordinator.

Wade Phillips had three stints as an NFL head coach. In Denver in 1993-94, he employed Charlie Waters as defensive coordinator. In Buffalo from 1998 to 2000, he had Ted Cottrell. In 2007, when Phillips got hired in Dallas, he hired then-San Diego Chargers defensive backs coach Brian Stewart as his coordinator. Phillips, one of the great defensive minds in league history, clearly still ran the unit, but he had help.

The Cowboys fired Stewart after Phillips’ second season and did not replace him. Phillips ran the defense himself in 2009, and it thrived as Dallas allowed the second-fewest points in the league. But it didn’t last. In 2010, the Cowboys allowed an average of 29.0 points in their first eight games. Phillips got fired.

“I thought it was the right thing to do at the time. We did it,” Phillips said. “You’re involved on your side of the ball, no matter what. I mean, with Charlie and Ted and those guys, you set the game plan together and that kind of thing. You’re more involved on your side of the ball.”

Every situation is different, but McVay is very much in the minority when it comes to going it alone.

Of the 15 current head coaches who previously worked as an NFL offensive coordinator, only McVay and Shanahan do not have an offensive coordinator. Of the 15 current head coaches who call their team’s plays — it’s a different list — only McVay, Kingsbury and Shanahan do not have a coordinator.

Even the league’s most-veteran, play-calling coaches — such as Oakland’s Jon Gruden, New Orleans’ Sean Payton and Kansas City’s Andy Reid — have coordinators under them.

Minnesota recently took it a step further. Coach Mike Zimmer made staff changes after last season and not only promoted Kevin Stefanski to full-time offensive coordinator but also hired veteran coach Gary Kubiak as “assistant head coach and offensive advisor.” The Vikings are scoring an average of 4.5 points per game more than they did last season and have a top-five scoring offense.

There is always the risk of having too many cooks in the kitchen, or coaches in the office in this case. For that reason, McVay should remain the unquestioned leader of the offense and should retain play-calling duties. He enjoys doing that and, for most of his Rams tenure, he’s been good at it. He just might benefit from a little help, and McVay sounded open to anything, even the suggestion that he might one day hand off those play-calling duties.

“If I felt like there was a setup where we would be a better football team if that wasn’t the case, and it enables you to do some other things, I would never say never,” McVay said, “but those are always things you evaluate.

“Right now our focus is on the 49ers, doing a great job, and then when the offseason hits, whenever that is, there will be some time for us to really be able to look inward and figure out what’s going to be the best thing for the Rams moving forward.”