Sean McVay Calls 2023 the Most Rewarding Season of His Career with Los Angeles Rams

Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay joined the Green Light podcast and host Chris Long asked him about the run the team made after their Bye Week in 2023. Going into that week they were 3-6 having just lost a game to the Green Bay Packers, a game Matthew Stafford missed due to injury.

Long specifically wanted to know about what changed within the team that allowed them to win seven of their last eight games, resulting in a wild-card playoff berth.

Sean McVay: “The process was consistent. Guys were mentally tough.”

“I would say this, the best part about last year is that there was real adversity,” McVay said, “I think that’s when you find out about people. It’s like when you’re in the storm, ‘how the hell do you handle that stuff.’ I wouldn’t say there was a change [from] when we were 3 and 6. There was some opportunities to execute at a higher level, we missed Stafford for a game and a half which was obviously a big, but we played some good teams we came up short.

‘”The guys kept improving and when we went 7 and 1 down the stretch I didn’t think there was really a lot different [in thier] approach it was, ‘we happened to get the results.’ But the process was consistent. Guys were mentally tough they established the resilience in the midst of some of the adversity we faced early on.

Though we’ve had some other seasons that that we might have gone further, [this is] probably my most rewarding season as a coach.

Sean McVay on Leaving Coaching, Then and Now

Coach McVay then pivoted to how 2023 reinvigorated his desire to coach football and contrasted it with how he was feeling after the Rams 2022 season.

In the wake of winning Super Bowl LVI, the Rams went 5-12 in what was an injury-riddled season. Their offense, McVay’s bread and butter, finished the season dead last in yards and 27th in points. It was his first losing season of his head coaching career.

“Last year reminded me of why I love this sh*t so much. It’s because of those players. I think it was a great balance of youthful energy and exuberance. These guys, they just came out, they f__cking competed. They loved it. Then we had some veteran guys that kind of steered the ship the in the right way.”

“But I’m a lot better off and from that 2022 season, where you’re actually thinking about not coaching anymore. What the hell is wrong with you? But those were real things because you lost your purpose and perspective in the midst of you know the good stuff occurring.”

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