USA Today - 09.08.2019

SPORTS USA TODAY z FRIDAY, AUGUST 9, 2019 z 5C

NAPA, Calif. — Sean McVay had just
recently broken into the NFL coaching
ranks and badly wanted to learn every-
thing about the keys to long-term suc-
cess. So, the young offensive assistant
turned to his grandfather, John McVay,
the one-time architect of five Super
Bowl-winning teams with the San Fran-
cisco 49ers.
The younger McVay understood that
most NFL teams had never come close
to even sniffing the kind of success that
the 49ers enjoyed in the 1980s and ‘90s.
So, he wanted to know his grandfather’s
secret.
How, he asked, had San Francisco
managed to do it again, and again? How
did they avoid falling prey to compla-
cency?
John McVay looked at his grandson
and told him, “When our best players
were the best example of what it looked
like to do right, everybody fell in line.”
Sean McVay filed that lesson away in
the back of his photographic memory
along with all of the other nuggets of
knowledge that he has gleaned from
mentors along his coaching journey.
Now years later, as he enters his third
season as an NFL head coach, McVay
finds himself reflecting on those lessons
from his grandfather as he tries to posi-
tion his Los Angeles Rams in unique
company.
In February, McVay and the Rams
suffered a gutting loss to the Patriots in
the Super Bowl, and now they’re back to
work hoping to avoid the curse of the
Super Bowl loser.
Now, the supposed hex doesn’t al-
ways hold, but historically, teams that
lose in the Super Bowl often find it hard
to make it back to the big game the fol-
lowing year, and many have failed to
make the playoffs all together. Since
1994, when the Buffalo Bills made their
fourth and final consecutive unsuccess-
ful trip to the Super Bowl, no runner-up
had even made it back to the title game
until New England did so last season.
There’s no concrete reason for the
demises. But the Rams coaches and

players want to do everything in their

power to avoid it.

It’s true that some prohibitive factors

— such as injury — are beyond human

control. But complacency or a mental

hangover of sorts will not prevent the

Rams from orchestrating another

march to the Super Bowl if McVay and

Co. can help it. As he stands in front of

his players, looks in the eyes of the lock-

er room leaders and watches them oper-

ate, he believes the Rams have team pil-

lars similar to those that the 49ers built

around during his grandfather’s tenure.

“I think that’s what we have here,”

McVay told USA TODAY Sports follow-

ing Wednesday’s joint practice with the

Oakland Raiders. “Our guys that have

demonstrated the most production —

that are our guys that we’re relying on —

are our examples of what it looks like to

do right. Then that becomes the new

standard and their standard that they

set every day becomes the new norm,

and we can’t let it slip.”

McVay rattled off a lengthy list when

asked who he views as those tone-set-

ting franchise pillars. He named guys

like quarterback Jared Goff, running

back Todd Gurley, left tackle Andrew

Whitworth, tight end Tyler Higbee,

starting wide receivers Brandin Cooks

and Robert Woods, defensive linemen

Aaron Donald and Michael Brockers and

cornerback Aqib Talib. And the coach

said he expects veteran newcomers Eric

Weddle and Clay Matthews to bring a

similar mindset and standard of excel-

lence that players in their position

groups will feed off of.

Ever since he came to the team,

McVay has preached consistency and

accountability, and that message

helped produce back-to-back division

titles and last year’s Super Bowl run.

The Rams’ sudden turnaround from

mediocre to excellent and that winning

mindset all began with McVay, as well as

the aggressive roster reconstruction led

by general manager Les Snead. But the

coach continually credits his players for

setting the standard.

“It’s our job to collaborate together

and make sure we keep that increased

urgency,” is one way McVay chose to put

it. And in so doing, his message fuels a

sense of ownership among players and

inspires them to uphold such standards

rather than letting the coaches demand

excellence alone.

McVay has used an old mantra to

push his players: “You either get better,

or you get worse. You never stay the

same.” And just as he and his coaches

continue to look for ways to improve

their instruction, the expectation is that

the players will carry themselves with

the same quest for growth.

“The biggest thing is making sure it’s

one day on top of another,” he said.

“We’ve talked about it before, consis-

tency is the truest measure of perfor-

mance and we’ve got to consistently do

right, day in and day out and hopefully

those incremental gains will be the big

results when we really tee off.”

Around the same time that McVay ut-

tered these principles, players like Gur-

ley and Goff addressed the media, and

discussed their training camp play, and

littered throughout their press confer-

ences were familiar buzz words and

phrases that they’ve learned from their

coach in the last two-plus seasons.

Continued growth. Getting better ev-

ery day. Raising our intensity.

This certainly sounds like the “new

norm” for the Rams.

And based on the results that

McVay’s approach has produced the last

two years, there’s good reason to believe

that maybe the on-field product of the

last two seasons can become the new

norm for the Rams as well.

McVay doesn’t see drop-off for Rams

Mike Jones

Columnist

USA TODAY

Rams coach Sean McVay talks with cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman (23)

during training camp at UC-Irvine.KIRBY LEE/USA TODAY SPORTS

DAVIE, Fla. — The dreaded wall sta-
tioned in a corner of the Miami Dolphins
practice labeled TNT – as in Takes No
Talent – is pretty much the alter ego of
rookie coach Brian Flores. Maybe you’d
expect that a guy who went to college in
Boston would bring his own version of
the Green Monster.
So, there it is. Jump offsides. Grab a
fistful of jersey. Bungle the snap. Run to
the wall.
Sometimes an entire unit runs, all
paying a price for one player’s mistake.
Other times an individual goes solo. But
by now, nearly two weeks into Flores’
debut camp, the players all know the
wall intimately. It’s now a symbol of the
team’s culture.
“Yeah, that’s like the longest jog of
my life, every time I’ve had to touch the
wall,” rookie defensive tackle Christian
Wilkins, the team’s first-round pick,
told USA TODAY Sports as he dripped
sweat following a muggy practice ses-
sion this week.
How many times has it been?
Wilkins stopped himself from di-
vulging a number.
“More than enough,” he said. “One
time is too many.”
The message of the wall resonates.
Flores, 38, wants what pretty much ev-
ery coach wants — a tough, disciplined
and well-conditioned team that doesn’t
kill itself with mental errors.
“We’re not talking about height,
weight, speed, vertical leap, weight-
room numbers,” Flores, sitting in his of-
fice before a meeting, told USA TODAY
Sports. “We’re talking about things that
take no talent. It’s really in the details
that give you the opportunity to play the
way you want to play. That’s why it’s
there.”
Hey, sometimes the packaging mat-
ters in getting the message across. Flo-
res’ coaching mentor, Bill Belichick,

surely has had no shame in having New

England Patriots players run penalty

laps or sprints up the hill during prac-

tice. He has six Super Bowl rings to

vouch for an approach you might expect

to see on the high school and college lev-

el. Now Flores, who called the defensive

plays for the defending champs last sea-

son as linebackers coach, has instituted

some of that Patriot Way as he seeks to

make a name for himself.

“I like it,” veteran wideout Kenny

Stills told USA TODAY Sports. “It’s ac-

countability, and that’s how you build

trust. Accountability and trust go hand

in hand.”

Stills acknowledges that the new

wall has a nostalgic feel in his case.

“I played for a Marine all up until high

school,” Stills said. “I know all about up

and downs, touching the wall, running a

lap. I know every type of discipline.”

Flores indeed seems to have the at-

tention of his players. But for all of jaun-

ts to the wall – and the post-practice

sprints – his team went out in its intra-

squad scrimmage last weekend and

committed 18 penalties. Imagine how

many flags they would have had without

the wall.

“I wasn’t happy,” Flores reflected on

the scrimmage. “It was a good example

about why I talk about those things so

much. As mad as I was, it reinforced my

message.”

An opportunity to improve on the

mental error meter comes Thursday

night, when the Dolphins host the At-

lanta Falcons in their preseason opener.

The mishaps in the scrimmage also

reinforced the monumental challenge

that Flores has as one of the NFL’s six

new first-time head coaches. Since Mi-

ami won its last playoff game under

Dave Wannstedt during the 2000 sea-

son, the franchise has had six new

coaches and three interim coaches. And

it plays in a division ruled by the Patri-

ots for two decades.

To succeed, Flores will need his play-

ers to run through some walls, so to

speak. The Dolphins hope they’ve se-

cured a rising star at the right time, but

surely they are stepping out on faith.

Flores has never been a head coach on

any level and started with the Patriots in

the personnel department as a Scott

Pioli hire. The Boston College product

originally wanted to be a general man-

ager, which is what several others he

worked with – Thomas Dimitroff, Jason

Licht, Jon Robinson and Bob Quinn –

became for NFL teams. He switched to a

coaching track because he wanted to be

closer to the action, and Belichick grad-

ually gave him responsibilities.

“I felt like I could make more of an im-

pact in coaching,” he said. “Being able to

get to players, help them grow as people,

on and off the field, help them go beyond

what they even thought they could do,

it’s a powerful thing. It’s something I’m

chasing on a daily basis.”

Obviously, there are no Belichick

clones. Flores won’t and shouldn’t apol-

ogize for adopting Patriots principles.

His level of success will undoubtedly

hinge on him putting his own stamp on

the program.

“He has a presence,” new Dolphins

GM Chris Grier told USA TODAY Sports.

“He coaches the players hard, but he can

also put his arm around them. He’s hard

on them, but he tells them why.”

Flores’ style comes against the back-

drop of the difficulties that many of Bel-

ichick’s former assistants have had in

running their own programs. So, he’ll

have to buck a trend. And he won’t have

Tom Brady to lean on.

The quarterback competition has

been a huge story line in Dolphins camp.

Veteran journeyman Ryan Fitzpatrick is

in line to start the preseason opener, but

Miami traded this spring for second-

year pro Josh Rosen, a first-round pick

of the Arizona Cardinals last season.

That Flores considers the situation fluid

speaks to a certain degree of uncertain-

ty, at least for the moment, at the game’s

most important position.

Both quarterbacks looked spotty dur-

ing stretches of practices this week.

“There’s constant competition at ev-

ery position, and a constant evaluation

that’s going on,” Flores said. “Somebody

will be the Game 1 starter. After that,

we’ll see how well they are playing and

is it best for the team.”

It’s no wonder that Grier likens the

team’s progress to “baby steps” as the

new GM-coach duo lay their founda-

tion.

“Patience is a part of coaching,” Flo-

res said. Then he gets back to harping on

how he won’t tolerate sloppiness. “I

can’t have too much patience. We’ve got

to produce on the field.”

If not, people will be running past

that TNT wall.

Can ex-Patriots assistant buck Belichick trend?

Jarrett Bell

Columnist

USA TODAY

Dolphins head coach Brian Flores

watches players run drills at training

camp Aug. 1 in Davie, Florida.

WILFREDO LEE/AP

NFL