National Football League

Why Sean McVay’s Rams are the most dangerous team in the postseason

Published Jan. 10, 2024 12:43 p.m. ET

As the NFC's No. 6 seed, the Los Angeles Rams could pose a serious threat to ruin a higher seed's deep playoff run this postseason.

Just ask 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan, who owns a 10-5 overall record (including playoffs) against his good friend Sean McVay.

"We could see how good they could be in Week 2," Shannahan recently told reporters about the Rams. "Any time that you have a quarterback like Matt Stafford, who is as good as anyone that I've ever studied, you always have a chance. He's always that guy.

"But where they've improved the most is how much their run game's going. It's as good as any run game in this league. You put those together with that type of quarterback. … When you have a generational player out there with Aaron Donald, with what they're doing on the other side, that gives them a chance to be just as dangerous as anyone in this league."

The Rams have won seven of their last eight games heading into the playoffs, losing only to the team with the best record in the NFL in the Baltimore Ravens, and that was in overtime on a fluky punt return for a score.

And L.A. beat the best team in the NFC, the 49ers, on the road in the final game of the regular season, though San Francisco sat some of its frontline players. Still, the Rams played the Niners tough in a loss at SoFi Stadium in Week 2 and should prove a tough out in the playoffs, starting with an NFC wild-card matchup on the road against the Detroit Lions on Sunday.

"There's a mental and a physical toughness," McVay said when asked about his team's identity. "I think there's an enjoyment for competing together. I see a connected team. I see a team that supports one another. I see a team that responds to adversity better, and then I see a team that has a whole hell of a lot of fun just going out and cutting it loose. And I think that's when we're at our best."

Simply put, McVay's Rams have nothing to lose, and therefore they are playing free. Few expected them to be in the postseason after experiencing a Super Bowl hangover and finishing 5-12 last season.

McVay even contemplated retiring last offseason and moving into the TV booth. Instead, the Rams let go of several experienced players in cost-cutting moves due to cap restraints and moved forward with one of the youngest rosters in the league that included a league-high 14 draft picks.

Fortunately for GM Les Snead and McVay, the Rams hit on a handful of those picks, including second-round offensive lineman Steven Avila, third-rounders in nose tackle Kobie Turner and defensive end Byron Young, and fifth-round receiver Puka Nacua.

How Sean McVay and the Rams are finding success with late draft picks

Turner and Nacua are in the conversation for Defensive and Offensive Rookie of the Year, respectively. Avila has helped to solidify an offensive line that's keeping the 35-year-old Stafford clean. Young has eight sacks on the year.

Along with those rookies playing well, the Rams still have veterans with Super Bowl experience in receiver Cooper Kupp, linebacker Ernest Jones, right tackle Rob Havenstein, Stafford and Donald. That should help when the lights get brighter in the postseason, particularly in a charged environment such as Ford Field.

In McVay, the Rams have an experienced coach who has had success in the postseason, including two Super Bowl appearances and a Lombardi Trophy to his credit. McVay is 7-3 in the playoffs, and the Rams are 5-4 on the road this season.

Don't forget that L.A.'s coaching staff is intimately familiar with Detroit's starting quarterback. McVay, of course, traded Jared Goff in a blockbuster deal, giving up two first-round picks, a third-rounder and Goff for Stafford. McVay made the decision to move on from Goff during the 2021 offseason when he felt that the Cal product had reached his ceiling in L.A.'s offense.

The deal certainly worked out for McVay, as Stafford led the Rams to a magical Super Bowl run in his first season in L.A.

Goff has been solid for the Lions, posting a 24-23-1 overall record and a playoff appearance this season. But he has been pretty much the same player statistically since joining the Lions, which is not a bad thing. His passer rating is a little higher with Detroit (96.5 with Lions vs. 91.5 with Rams) and his interception rate is lower with the Lions (1.6% with Detroit vs. 2.3% with the Rams).

However, Goff can give the ball to the other team. He has turned it over a league-high 106 times since 2017.

McVay, defensive line coach Eric Henderson, linebackers coach Chris Shula and secondary coach Aubrey Pleasant are all familiar with Goff's tendencies and will devise pass rush and coverage plans to stress him. Donald, safety John Johnson III and Jordan Fuller also should have an edge after facing Goff every day in practice when he was with the Rams.

"He played at a really high level in the four years here with us," McVay said. "But I think he, just like anybody, has just continued to mature. You can see he's got great ownership of what they're doing.

"He's got a lot of responsibility at the line of scrimmage, getting in and out of the different packages. You can see that [Lions OC] Ben [Johnson] and [head coach] Dan [Campbell] give him a lot of leeway in terms of some of the audibles. But he's just a quarterback playing with a lot of confidence and has a great rapport with his skilled players."

If the Rams are to move on to ruin another higher seed's playoff run, it will start with getting Goff to turn the ball over.

Eric D. Williams has reported on the NFL for more than a decade, covering the Los Angeles Rams for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Chargers for ESPN and the Seattle Seahawks for the Tacoma News Tribune. Follow him on Twitter at @eric_d_williams.