Sean McVay and Kevin O’Connell labored intently on the Rams employees for 2 seasons, molding an offensive scheme that helped the 2021 staff make a playoff run that it capped with a victory in Tremendous Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium.
Now McVay and O’Connell, the third-year coach of the Minnesota Vikings, will face one another within the postseason for the primary time when the Rams play host to an NFC wild-card recreation on Monday evening at SoFi Stadium.
Does McVay see lots of the Rams’ offense in O’Connell’s Vikings?
“What I see is he’s done an excellent job of morphing it to his players,” McVay stated throughout a video convention with reporters. “I think that sometimes can get a little bit overemphasized.
“There’s a foundational philosophy that I think people carry offensively, but he’s put his own spin on it. … There’s some similarities of things that we’ve done together and then there’s been some things that they’ve kind of added that fits their group.”
Later throughout the convention, McVay once more tried to downplay the similarities and the McVay-O’Connell story line.
“There’s a familiarity with just kind of the rhythm and routines of how we all operate,” he stated, “but there’s an evolution and adaptations that occur season to season and week to week.
“It’s a fun narrative, but I think it gets a little overemphasized.”
The Rams are coming off a 30-25 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, a recreation through which McVay rested quarterback Matthew Stafford and different starters. The Rams completed 10-7, with an Oct. 24 victory over the Vikings at SoFi Stadium among the many key performances of their second-half turnaround.
The Vikings (14-3) ended the common season with a 31-9 loss to the Detroit Lions. The defeat dropped the Vikings from a possible No. 1 seed with a bye to the No. 5 seed and a matchup towards the Rams.
The Vikings function quarterback Sam Darnold and receiver Justin Jefferson, each of whom made the Professional Bowl Video games, receiver Jordan Addison, operating backs Aaron Jones and Cam Akers and tight finish T.J. Hockenson.
Rams coach Sean McVay, left, talks with offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell had been working facet by facet in 2021.
(Stacy Revere / Getty Photographs)
A protection coordinated by Brian Flores consists of Professional Bowl linebackers Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel, Professional Bowl cornerback Byron Murphy, linebacker Blake Cashman and security Harrison Smith.
In Week 8, Stafford handed for 4 touchdowns in a 30-20 Thursday evening victory over the Vikings. The Rams had been 4 days faraway from defeating the Las Vegas Raiders, and the Vikings had been 4 days faraway from a 31-29 loss to the Lions, who’ve left opponents beat up all through the season.
Each groups can have a full week of preparation for a Monday evening matchup that has some longtime Rams followers agonizingly harking to the late Sixties and ‘70s, when the Vikings beat the Rams in the divisional round or NFC championship game four times before the Rams broke through in 1978.
After their loss to the Rams this season, the Vikings won nine games in a row, a streak that ended against the Lions on Sunday night at Ford Field in Detroit.
“Sometimes you get hit in the mouth a little bit and you’ve received to reply,” O’Connell informed reporters afterward, “and I know we’ve built this thing in a way where we’re going to do that.”
O’Connell additionally referenced the Rams’ 2021 playoff run, which started after they misplaced to the San Francisco 49ers in additional time within the season finale.
“Was a part of a team in 2021 where we lost our last game and found a way to do what we needed to do to find a way to have a chance to play for a world championship,” he stated.
On Monday, on the Vikings coaching headquarters, O’Connell regarded forward.
“Part of the type of building and the type of world we’ve created here is, I think, we’re all looking inward,” he informed Minnesota reporters, “and let’s try to pull some things out of it to apply for what’s going to be clearly another home-field advantage for the Rams, an atmosphere, the moment, and let’s just focus on doing our jobs.”
Sounded an terrible lot like McVay.
And many others.
Rams proper sort out Rob Havenstein, who was sidelined the final two video games due to a shoulder damage, is anticipated to play towards the Vikings, McVay stated. … The Rams’ 2025 opponents are set. The Rams will play house video games towards the Arizona Cardinals, San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, Detroit Lions, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New Orleans Saints, Houston Texans and Indianapolis Colts. They’ll play street video games towards the Cardinals, 49ers, Seahawks, Carolina Panthers, Atlanta Falcons, Philadelphia Eagles, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tennessee Titans and Baltimore Ravens.
