Eagles Secondary Prepares For Sean McVay's Illusion

No one runs more pre-snap motion than the Los Angeles Rams and the Eagles know it's coming.

Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay watches from the sideline during the second half against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium. / Eric Canha-Imagn Images

PHILADELPHIA - Welcome to Sean McVay’s “illusion of complexity.”

It’s pre-snap motion week for the surging Philadelphia Eagles (8-2), who will visit the standard for the movement that has become all the rage with fans. 

No one moves more than the Rams, who are at 75-plus percent when it comes to eye candy.

And it’s meaningful for the Rams who are unlike many other teams who employ a more performative aspect of motion designed to placate outsiders who foolishly believe movement is a synonym for creativity. 

McVay is purposeful with his designs.

"We like to say 'we don't motion just to motion because it looks cool,'" Rams offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur said earlier this month. "We're always trying to gather information, whether it's leverages, whether it's schematic, whatever (it is)."

A good example of what the Rams do can be found here with receiver Puka Nacua betting released through the B gap in-line to get loose for a big play:

The way Sean McVay weaponizes pre-snap movement, formations, and alignments is easily up there with the best I’ve seen of any system in the NFL. He may manufacture more separation for his route runners schematically than anyone, and it’s really all just based on understanding… pic.twitter.com/o5QDUUa00P

— Honest NFL (@TheHonestNFL) November 20, 2024

"I think we motion for multiple different reasons," quarterback Matthew Stafford told the Rams’ official website. "Whether it's to try to created leverage, create communication from the defense, matchups, whatever it is, each play kind of has its own reasoning as to why we do it, but it is definitely something that we take pride in and doing it well and doing it crisp and sharp and all that kind of stuff to use it for our advantage."

The Eagles understand what’s coming.

“We’re going to get motion. We know that,” safety Reed Blankenship said. “At the end of the day, we gotta play smart, play with our eyes. We don’t need to overthink stuff. 

“I feel like, with what we’re doing, we need to keep it the same … When you start overthinking, that’s when you get lost in all the motion. Just be confident in what you see, and play football.”

Star rookie Cooper DeJean is going to be in the deep end of the Rams’ provlivities as the slot cornerback.

“These guys motion a lot. Not only one motion per play, sometimes there’s two,” DeJean said. “So you have to be able to understand the call and understand when to run with motion, when not to run with motion. 

“That’ll be a big challenge for us.”

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