Sean McVay refused to let a productive opening drive that started on the Los Angeles Rams’ 5-yard line end on a sour note.
Instead of settling for a field goal, McVay kept the Rams’ offense on the field for a fourth-and-goal play from the New Orleans Saints’ 2-yard line. Puka Nacua, the star of Thursday’s victory, capped the 14-play, 95-yard drive with a two-yard touchdown reception.
The bold play helped the Rams maintain their offensive rhythm from the past month, while addressing a few red-zone concerns. Los Angeles has struggled at times this season to finish drives with touchdowns, most memorably during the loss to the Baltimore Ravens a few weeks back.
“I didn’t want you guys criticizing me for the opening drive,” McVay jokingly told reporters about the decision to go for it. “Freaking red zone. So, now you can’t ask me those questions anymore, can you? I’m just kidding!”
McVay and Stafford were in sync in propelling the Rams to a 30–22 win over the Saints.
Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP
It was a near perfect outing for McVay’s red-hot offense, one that got prime-time attention for the first time since the Rams (8–7) overcame a 3–6 record coming out of their bye week. Even Saints coach Dennis Allen admitted that he was confused by the Rams’ aggressiveness, specifically how they utilized presnap motions.
“I thought there was too many times where we talked a lot about eye candy early in the week and I thought it affected us on some plays,” Allen said about the Rams’ offense.
McVay has done a terrific job getting his many playmakers in positions to succeed, along with keeping defenses guessing on where the ball is going. Matthew Stafford is distributing the ball to Nacua, Cooper Kupp and Demarcus Robinson. He’s also received stellar offensive line protection and has a balanced ground game thanks to running back Kyren Williams. The Rams are surging offensively, with McVay making many of the right decisions from the sidelines.
Here’s what else we liked from Week 16 in the NFL, along with a few coaching decisions we didn’t like so much.
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Calls we liked
Stefanski says no to Cooper breaking Cleveland Browns record: Some didn’t like that coach Kevin Stefanski declined to allow Amari Cooper back in the game to break the single-game franchise record for receiving yards.
It was the right call because you don’t want to risk injury to one of your best players in a blowout victory a few weeks before the postseason. Also, the Browns (10–5) still need to win a game or two to clinch a playoff spot. But it all worked out in the end, because the Houston Texans made it interesting, adding late touchdowns after trailing 36–7. Cooper returned to the game for a 13-yard reception, giving him a career-high 265 yards to break Josh Gordon’s record in 2013 (261 yards).
Ravens set the tone with fourth-and-goal touchdown: After an ugly start, the Ravens got going after John Harbaugh kept his offense on the field for a fourth-and-goal play from the San Francisco 49ers’ 1-yard line.
Gus Edwards punched it in to give the Ravens a 10–5 lead with 9:35 left in the second quarter. That set the tone for Baltimore’s dominant 33–19 victory.
Calls we questioned
Saints’ aggressiveness backfires: Allen failed on three fourth-down plays and had a questionable onside kick attempt during the loss to the Rams.
The Saints kept trying to make up for their in-game losses, which started with Derek Carr taking a sack on fourth-and-5 from the Rams’ 39-yard line early in the second quarter. Instead of New Orleans attempting field goals, the Rams converted the three failed fourth-down attempts into 13 points.
With an eight-point deficit, Allen opted for an onside kick with 3:53 left in regulation, immediately putting the Rams in Saints’ territory after Nacua’s recovery. Los Angeles didn’t need to score on the final drive because the Saints were called for an offsides penalty on third down to kill the clock, a fitting ending for New Orleans’s mistake-filled game.
Kansas City Chiefs get too cute near their own end zone: Andy Reid made the head-scratching decision to call a second direct snap to running back Isiah Pacheco a few minutes after running a similar play on the previous drive against the Las Vegas Raiders.
The first one worked because it was unexpected and inside the red zone—a 12-yard touchdown run to give the Chiefs a 7–3 advantage in the second quarter.
But on the Chiefs’ next offensive play, Pacheco took the snap and seemed confused about whether to hand it off to Patrick Mahomes. The mishap led to a fumble and an eight-yard scoop-and-score touchdown from defensive tackle Bilal Nichols to give the Raiders a 9–7 lead. That sparked 17 unanswered points for Las Vegas to ignite the upset victory in Kansas City.
