Sean McVay delivers best coaching performance of season as Rams beat Raiders, revive playoff hopes

LAS VEGAS — A week ago, Sean McVay was the biggest reason the Los Angeles Rams were sitting in last place in the NFC West, their Super Bowl aspirations disappearing faster than my chips at the blackjack table.

However, on Sunday afternoon at Allegiant Stadium, McVay delivered his best coaching performance of the season, and now he’s the biggest reason the Rams season is still alive.

After six weeks of questionable decisions, offensive stagnation and self-inflicted wounds, McVay delivered his finest coaching performance in the Rams’ 35-21 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders.

And it came at the perfect time.

The Rams entered Sunday’s OG showdown between two franchises that once called Los Angeles home with a 2-4 record, having lost four of their first six games, as a season that began with Super Bowl aspirations was rapidly turning into a nightmare.

McVay deserved plenty of blame for that record as well.

His disastrous travel arrangements contributed to the season-opening embarrassment in Australia. His conservative play-calling helped squander opportunities against Denver and Buffalo. His neglect of special teams has haunted him for the past two seasons.

And last week’s humiliating loss to the Arizona Cardinals? That was a coaching catastrophe.

McVay abandoned a productive running game, made baffling fourth-down decisions and watched his former assistant Mike LaFleur outcoach him in his own building.

We called him out for it.

So it’s only fair to give him his flowers when they’re due. And since we’re in Sin City, we’ll be frank like Sinatra: McVay got almost everything right on Sunday against the Raiders.

After a week in which the Rams lost Davante Adams, Poona Ford, Kobie Turner and Blake Grupe to significant injuries, with Trent McDuffie and Nate Landman also sidelined and Puka Nacua battling a calf injury, McVay could have spent his postgame press conference explaining why his depleted roster couldn’t compete.

For any other team decimated by injuries it would have been human nature to submit to the never-ending misfortunes and lay another egg in a hostile environment on the road. Heck, that’s what we thought would happen.

Instead, McVay spent his postgame presser explaining all the reasons why his team won.

One of the most glaring differences from previous losses was McVay finally ran the damn football.

Kyren Williams rushed for 99 yards and a touchdown. Blake Corum added 93 yards and another score. Behind an offensive line that rediscovered its nasty streak, the Rams piled up 199 rushing yards compared to Matthew Stafford’s 195 passing yards.

For once, McVay called more runs than passes: 38 to 29.

Imagine that.

A balanced offense that didn’t require Stafford to perform fourth-quarter miracles just to have a chance.

“We were able to balance the run and pass and come away with four touchdowns in the first half,” McVay said.

The results of that balanced attack were undeniable.

The Rams were a perfect 5-for-5 in the red zone, scoring five touchdowns without asking newly signed kicker Brandon McManus to attempt a single field goal.

After weeks of special teams disasters, McVay found the simplest solution imaginable: Keep scoring touchdowns.

Stafford threw three touchdown passes, including two to Davis Allen and a record-breaking strike to Nacua, becoming the Rams’ all-time leader in passing touchdowns.

Defensively, the Rams held Las Vegas to 1-for-5 in the red zone and 3-for-14 on third down. McVay even won a critical challenge on fourth down, helping extinguish a promising Raiders drive at a time when Las Vegas could have stolen all the momentum.

That’s coaching.

More importantly, that’s preparation.

“I think, honestly, the reason we were so successful was that we had our best week of practice this week,” safety Quentin Lake said.

In fairness, the Rams victory wasn’t without its flaws.

The Rams nearly turned a 28-6 halftime lead into another fourth-quarter disaster after turnovers by Williams and Stafford allowed the Raiders to claw back within 10 points. They once again had costly penalties at inopportune times, including one that negated a long Corum touchdown run, and another on a pass play to Nacua.

But unlike previous weeks, McVay didn’t freeze.

He trusted his offense, leaned on his running backs and watched Corum deliver the touchdown that finally put Las Vegas away.

“Things don’t go our way, we’ve got to be able to bounce back,” Williams said. “This is exactly who we are.”

Who they are is still a sub .500 football team that has not put together back-to-back wins all season. So now comes the difficult part.

At 3-4, the Rams have three winnable games against the Chargers, Commanders and Cardinals before their bye week.

They need to win all three.

One impressive afternoon doesn’t erase six weeks of mistakes, and beating the Raiders doesn’t suddenly make Los Angeles a Super Bowl contender again.

But Sunday proved McVay still knows how to push the right buttons when everything around him appears to be falling apart.

The coach who helped put the Rams in this hole finally showed that he can also dig them out of it.

Now he just has to do it again.

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