On Sunday the student will face the teacher, as Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay faces his former team, the Washington Redskins and head coach Jay Gruden.
McVay has a reputation of taking quarterbacks from the embryonic stage to full term, and the expectation is high for not only Jared Goff but his head coach. McVay developed the fourth round quarterback in Kirk Cousins who sat behind quarterback Robert Griffin III for three years, to a certified starter.
Once Washington decided to move on from Griffin, Cousins was next in line to lead Washington into brighter days. Ironically, McVay and Cousins grew together, as both were promoted in 2015, one as a starter and the other as an offensive coordinator.
Goff was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft and got off to a rough start with the Rams last season. Void of offensive tutorship under former defensive-minded head coach Jeff Fisher, Goff struggled under center in seven starts.
However, once McVay was named head coach for Los Angeles, the attitude and energy changed, which was exactly what Goff needed. Someone who could not only relate to him on the field, but had experience in developing quarterbacks.
Goff not only had a superb game against the Indianapolis Colts last Sunday, he went 21-of-29 for 306 yards, with a touchdown pass and zero interceptions. In addition to the stats, Goff looked more comfortable and focused than we had seen him last season.
His confidence level had risen and with each completed pass, the more the Rams looked like a true McVay-coached team. The same was said once Cousins emerged on the scene, proving skeptics wrong with each pass and victory that Washington acquired with Cousins at the helm.
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"When he [Kirk Cousins] got his opportunities to play in games, he certainly always flashed great things. There's a reason why everybody that's been around him believes that he's the guy that's capable of doing what he's done the last handful of years," McVay explained. "It just so happened that the opportunity that [Washington Head] Coach [Jay] Gruden gave me as an offensive coordinator to start calling plays kind of coincided with his opportunity and really where he earned the chance to start." Interesting enough there may be some similarities between Cousins and Goff. How do the two quarterbacks stack up against each other?
"As far as comparing him to Jared [Goff], I think the way that I would say this is that they are both very good quarterbacks," McVay said. "I really think extremely highly of Jared. As I continue to get to know him, the more that you like him. The most important thing, is making sure that we think about the quarterback first and foremost — what he likes is really what we like as a coaching staff and that's something that something that we're continuing to figure and navigate through as the season progresses with Jared."
Understandably, this is a big test for McVay and the Rams, not just playing his former team, but having an opportunity to stay undefeated in front of the home crowd at the L.A. Coliseum. McVay is obviously amped up along with the players, yet how well will they maintain their poise throughout a game of this magnitude?
"I think that the biggest thing is, if you preach to be able to be poised, even-keeled throughout the course of it as a coach, you better make sure that, to the players I'm saying, you better make sure you do it as a coach as well," McVay said. "I think being able to just take it one snap at a time and know that that's how this game is."
In order to chart McVay's true success, it will depend on not just the outcome of the game against Washington, but how well his current quarterback responds in the next couple of seasons.
McVay is very thorough, sharp, and has been deemed a great communicator by many, his experience with Cousins could turn out to be the best teacher for Goff every week.
