Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay says that a crucial clock management mistake in the NFC Championship game still lingers.
Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay is still dealing with the brutal loss to the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC Championship game, and has indicated that it's a teachable situation for him moving forward.
McVay admitted that he is still dwelling on a crucial clock management mistake that happened in the first half of the contest. With 1:13 left in the second quarter, McVay called two pass plays in a row, both of which were incomplete, and the clock stopped.
The Rams ultimately punted the ball back to the Seahawks with 1:03 left in the contest. Seattle had plenty of time left and timeouts to march down the field and go into the locker room at half with the lead. They did just that.
It took the Seahawks six plays and 34 seconds to go down 74 yards late in the second quarter. They received the ball with 54 seconds left and left 20 seconds on the clock.
The drive culminated with Sam Darnold connecting with Jaxon Smith-Njigba with a short pass for 14 yards to give Seattle a 17-13 lead.
The Rams got the ball back but only ran two plays. The first was a 12-yard completion down the middle to Tyler Higbee. Los Angeles called a timeout with eight seconds left. Their last play of the half was a 13-yard run by Matthew Stafford to give them a first down, but by then, the half was over.
"I try not to dwell on stuff that really doesn’t move me forward," McVay said. "Now, what I do dwell on is that NFC Championship Game. One thing you don’t do in a two-minute situation, don’t put the defense back out on the field. We run it on a first-and-10, and then you know what? Should have run it again," MaVay said.
While the NFC Championship may have gone differently for the Rams based on multiple plays, such as wide receiver Xavier Smith not muffing a punt, there is a lot to learn in the ways of clock management for McVay. In fact, his self-awareness of how things went down could lead to not repeating the same mistakes again in the future.
"What I would do differently is handle the end of the first half differently," McVay said. "Handle some things differently game management-wise."
The Rams were playing catch-up from then on as they failed to get the lead back.
Los Angeles scored two touchdowns in the second half and had the chance to take a late-game lead in the fourth quarter. However, the Rams failed to score off a 14-play, 84-yard drive. They turned it over on downs at Seattle's six-yard line.
The Rams second to last time with the ball lasted seven minutes and 24 seconds.
Seattle ran four minutes and 29 seconds off the clock before punting it back to the Rams with 31 seconds left. Los Angeles needed a miracle on their final drive, but they came up short.
There were a ton of things that didn't go the Rams' way in that contest. While one play does not determine an outcome, McVay looks back at the late first-half drive as the turning point.
The 40-year-old head coach will enter his 10th season at the helm for the Rams and search for his second Super Bowl title.