Why Rams' Sean McVay is One of the Most Innovative Minds in the NFL

The Los Angeles Rams have one of the most well-respected offensive minds in the National Football League. He continues to show why.

Dec 12, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; Los Angeles Rams cornerback Darious Williams (24) reacts with safety Kamren Kinchens (26) after intercepting a pass against the San Francisco 49ers in the fourth quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images / Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images

Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay has proven his understanding of football more than a few times. McVay does not mind doing something new or revisiting a play that may not have worked if he feels it can help the team.

Such is the case with the very popular tunnel screen. McVay explain how the play works.

"Seattle has been running that a bunch this year, and they've done a heck of a job with that," McVay said. "They've run different iterations of that. I saw them doing it at Washington. It was a little bit easier to get away with it in Washington when you could have your lineman three yards down the field. They found a way to do it where those guys are legal, and they've had a bunch of big plays.

"They had hit [Seahawks WR Jaxon] Smith-Njigba on a good positive one in kind of the fringe area against the Niners. We stole that and kind of put our own little spin on it in terms of the presnap presentation. All coaches are also thieves, and I'm certainly not exempt from that.”

McVay explained why he believes the league has started to see more and more of these kinds of screens.

“I think because there's some relief on the offensive line, and in some instances, you don't take for granted how difficult some of the arm slot changes are for the quarterback," McVay said. "There's not as much mental toll. I think it has a lot of benefits to be able to slow the rush. You can make it look like a lot of different things depending upon what type of screen you're talking about. The ones that we had yesterday with Puka [Nacua], I thought were critical plays to be able to get good, efficient ones.

"Some of them are on early downs. The one that we're talking about was kind of in a second down and 10-plus situation. They're really important to be able to get that off. I think fully functional offenses have different parts of their pass game and run game that they can efficiently  activate based on what is needed within that game. I thought that was reflected yesterday with some good execution on a couple of those screens in particular.” 

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