Sean McVay has a massive regret in Rams' playoff loss to Lions
Winning NFL playoff games come down to making the right decision in the small moments. The Los Angeles Rams had their share of near-perfect moments, but they proved insufficient in a 24-23 loss to the Detroit Lions in a wild-card matchup. One of the small moments Sean McVay wishes he could have back is the […]
Winning NFL playoff games come down to making the right decision in the small moments.
The Los Angeles Rams had their share of near-perfect moments, but they proved insufficient in a 24-23 loss to the Detroit Lions in a wild-card matchup.
One of the small moments Sean McVay wishes he could have back is the Rams' decision to punt on fourth-and-14 at the Lions’ 44-yard line with four minutes left in the game. McVay liked how his defense was playing at the time, but the failure to get a stop makes that decision a blunder in hindsight, and McVay knows it.
"With four minutes left, we had talked about it. Still having a timeout, with four minutes, we were hoping to get a stop," McVay said after the game. "Hindsight is 20/20. Certainly regret that decision now."
The decision to punt the ball to Detroit came after Matthew Stafford's third-down pass was incomplete.
McVay believed the Rams' defense could turn around a quick stop and give the offense one more chance to shock the Lions in Detroit.
Instead, Detroit put together a seven-play, 23-yard drive that bled the clock out, and the Rams watched as Jared Goff got the last laugh over the team that thought it couldn't win with him.
McVay's decision to punt was especially weak when put into the context of NFL history.
"LAR decided to punt to DET from the DET 44 on 4th & 14 with 4:15 remaining in the 4th while losing 23 to 24," Surrender Index, an account to track cowardly punts, writes on X.
"With a Surrender Index of 29.05, this punt ranks at the 99.2nd percentile of cowardly punts of the 2023 season and the 98th percentile of all punts since 1999."
McVay missed the ball on clock management Sunday. After the game, he knew so. If everything had gone to plan, the Rams would have got the ball back with a minute or so remaining in the game.
With Puka Nacua playing at a record-breaking level and Stafford matching his effort, anything was in the realm of possibility.
Still, it didn't happen the way McVay intended, and now the Rams are at home watching the Lions advance to the Divisional round.
Details and clock management matter. As good as Mcvay is at coaching, he missed that lesson against the Lions.
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