In the NFL, the youngest head coach in the league is teaching a lesson that everyone can learn from. He is taking a concept that many in business, entertainment, athletics and other fields identify as a priority, but few properly execute. His name is Sean McVay and he is teaching a master’s class in how to get the most production out of your personnel.
Coach McVay is in his second season as head coach of the LA Rams and over that short time he has managed to make them the most effective offense in the league over that short time. On the surface it might seem like you would have to come up with a revolutionary scheme to have this much offensive production. A philosophy with many aspects that overpower and outsmart opponents. However, the opposite is largely true, and McVay boils his philosophy down to this simple statement, “put the ball in the hands of your best players in favorable situations.” It seems basic and somewhat inherent common sense, but this embodies the extreme simplicity that has made McVay revolutionary.
What this means from a football perspective is that McVay has studied what defenses typically do in the situations that arise during a football game. He then uses this information to call plays that get his offense into favorable positions that take advantage of the weaknesses in the typical opposing defenses they face. Many coaches intentionally run plays that might not work to set up the defense for exposure later. The Rams avoid doing this by already knowing what the defense is susceptible to and therefore they have failing plays at a much lower rate than the rest of the league.
Now that we understand how the players get good match-ups, how exactly is the personnel maximized within these situations? They use a personnel group known in pro-style offense terminology as 11 personnel. This means the vast majority of their plays are run with 1 RB 1 TE and 3 WRs. They then run basically two to three main run plays with all of their pass plays based off of those. This means they run a few things with the same players that all do the same thing, but look very different. This extreme simplicity disguised as complexity makes the team thrive.
For an extended look at the Rams’ offense a link is attached below:
Sean McVay is changing coaching in the NFL. I saw a video of him yesterday listening off all of the starters on the Bears defense and their strengths without any difficulty. He really cares about his team and revolutionizing the game.
Sean McVay is a game changer. He is redefining what it means to be an NFL coach. He is not only raising the standards, but changing the way the game should be played forever.