Los Angeles – The offseason awards keep on coming in for the Los Angeles Rams. First year head coach Sean McVay has been named the Pro Football Writer’s of America NFL Coach of the Year.
Coming in as the youngest coach in NFL History, McVay took the Rams from a dismal 4-12 record a season ago and led them on an 11-5 run that included the franchise’s first playoff appearance in over a decade.
The former Washington Redskins offensive coordinator led the turnaround of what was the worst offense in the NFL over the last two seasons. The Rams put up 29.9 points per game, a 15.9 points per game increase from Jeff Fisher’s 2016. The plus 15.9 margin is the NFL’s largest improvement from one season to the next during the Super Bowl era.
Along with team success, McVay oversaw the turnarounds of Jared Goff and Todd Gurley. The former 2016 No. 1 overall pick went 0-7 in what was a historically bad rookie season. Goff responded by throwing for 3,804 yards, 28 touchdowns and seven interceptions, a 4:1 touchdown to interception ratio.
Meanwhile, Gurley diversified his game under McVay. He developed into more of a pass-catcher and got back to what fans saw in his rookie year. The former Georgia running back led the NFL in total touchdowns with 19 and yards from scrimmage with 2,093. His performance led to the PFWA naming Gurley the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year. He is just the fourth player in team history to be selected for the award.
The Rams’ 2017 turnaround will go down as one of the most drastic in NFL history. While not winning a playoff game, they set themselves up for future success with their “We Not Me” culture. A lot of that has to do with Sean McVay.
Kevin Demhoff and Les Snead took a risk when they hired a 31-year old head coach. However, that risk, at least by the early looks of it, seems to have paid off.
Blaine Grisak is a staff writer for Rams Talk. He currently works in athletic communications for the University of Pennsylvania. For more of his opinions, follow him on Twitter here.
