Getty Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay
Sean McVay is a better head coach than Doug Pederson, in some strange alternate universe. Eagles fans didn’t take kindly to that far-off galaxy.
A little-known writer for CBS Sports compiled a list of the “Top 10 Coaches for the 2020 Season” and oddly ranked the Eagles sideline leader a bit too low for most people’s likings. Pederson came in at a shocking ninth place, with two guys without Super Bowl rings (McVay and Kyle Shanahan) deemed better coaches. Bill Belichick and Andy Reid locked down the two top spots.
It was an odd list, to say the least. The writer — Sean Wagner-McGough (3,378 followers) — was immediately lambasted on Twitter, mainly for putting McVay above Pederson. To his credit, he owned it and explained his stance. He cited winning percentage and less losing seasons as his main arguments. Still, Pederson owns a career 2-0 record against McVay plus he did what the Rams coach couldn’t do: win a Super Bowl title against the greatest coach of all-time.
More impressively, Pederson beat Belichick’s Patriots with a backup quarterback and a team decimated by injuries. The ultimate insult was running the exact same trick play that Tom Brady failed to execute to perfection and scoring a touchdown on a crucial fourth down late in the first half.
Haven't we learned anything from CBS Sports hot takes? Meaningless. Remember the Cowboys fan who kept Darius Slay off his Top 10? Joe Haden at 3? Embarrassing. Doug Pederson at least 5 on this list. Pete Carroll higher than 8. McVay wouldn't crack my Top 10. #Eagles #FlyEaglesFly https://t.co/n4tejETA52
— Michael Greger (@mike_greger) June 30, 2020
Eagles safety Jalen Mills chimed in on the debate, too. He wrote: “Doug Pederson won a SB his 2nd year in the league with everybody saying he wasn’t going to be a good head coach and a injured roster…y’all trippin.”
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Belichick Exposed the ‘Boy Wonder’ in Super Bowl LIII
It can be argued that McVay was exposed as a play-caller in Super Bowl LIII when the Patriots’ defense held the Rams without a touchdown and won the game, 13-3. Belichick devised a genius method to combat McVay’s controversial coach-to-quarterback communication advantage. As Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer pointed out in 2019:
The idea on defense, through what Flores and Belichick planned, was to force Jared Goff to think on the fly. It’s well-documented that McVay uses to the coach-to-quarterback communication to adjust calls based on what the defense is showing, up to the point where that communication cuts off, with 15 seconds left on the play clock.
The Patriots wanted to negate that creative advantage, so they essentially sent in two calls on every play. One was what they’d show before the snap. The other was what they’d switch into post-snap. And if you want to see how it worked, go back and watch how Goff held the ball, and doubted what he was looking at, over and over and over.
The Super Bowl was lost before the game started
•Belichick’s game plan modified his defense to counter LA’s strength (more zone)
•McVay didn’t adjust his offense to attack NE weaknesses
It was frustrating to watch but even more devastating to review the film & analyze. Thread:
“Coach Belichick did an outstanding job. There is really no other way to put it,” McVay told reporters in 2019, via the New York Post. “I’m pretty numb right now, but definitely, I got out-coached. I didn’t do nearly good enough for our football team.”
Belichick outsmarted the “Boy Wonder” and the Rams haven’t been the same since. They went 9-7 last year and missed the playoffs, while Pederson led the Eagles to their second NFC East title in three years.
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