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New York Times
12 hours ago
- Health
- New York Times
How a phone call from a college football legend reset Sean McVay's coaching career
Sean McVay still has the voicemail from two years ago. He hasn't listened to it since, but plays it now as he lays his iPhone flat on the desk beside him. 'Sean, this is Chris Petersen calling. I am the former head coach at Boise State and the University of Washington … ' Petersen's voice is warm and earnest. 'I've just been thinkin' about ya. I know you're going through some hard times … ' Advertisement As he listens, McVay is the picture of control, from his hair slicked into its signature shark fin to his matching athleisure set and spotless sneakers. But then his eyes fill with tears, and he doesn't swipe them away. Petersen called McVay in January 2023 after seeing clips of him following the Los Angeles Rams' disastrous 2022 season, when McVay admitted he was contemplating leaving coaching just one year after becoming the NFL's youngest Super Bowl-winning head coach. When Petersen saw McVay's hollow-eyed expression and heard his hoarse voice, he knew there was more at work than a dismal season record and professional fatigue. 'Oh my stars, I know this guy,' Petersen said to himself. 'I know this story.' So he picked up his phone. That voicemail was an outstretched hand to a broken man. Petersen, who in 2019 suddenly stepped away from his career as one of the most successful coaches in college football history, has become a mentor, confidant, friend and adviser to McVay as the young coach worked his way out of what he calls the hardest year of his life. 'You're in the middle of a storm. It's real gray; things are cloudy,' McVay said. 'He saw that press conference. I was crying out for help, I just didn't realize I was.' More than two years after their first conversation, McVay, 39, credits Petersen's support as a significant part of his long-term recommitment to coaching. 'He has helped me see this game and this profession in (such) a totally different lens that the idea of not coaching feels so laughable,' said McVay. 'I get so much more joy out of things that I just didn't give a s— about before.' The head coach of Boise State from 2006-13 and Washington from 2014-19, the 60-year-old Petersen is a college football legend. His teams were energetic, creative and daring — the stuff of sports fairy tales. Petersen helped Boise State take down touchdown-plus favorite Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl as a first-year head coach, earning national fascination for his audacious use of trick plays in key situations that he called into the headset with an icy stare. The Broncos went undefeated that year, and from 2008-11 became the first FBS team to reach 50 wins over four years. The first two-time winner of the Paul 'Bear' Bryant Coach of the Year award, Petersen became well-known in coaching circles for the quality of the culture built for his staff and players. Advertisement When Jimmy Lake arrived to coach defensive backs in 2012, he said he 'wanted to know what the whole 'Boise State mystique' was all about.' It took him about a month. Petersen's staff meetings often wouldn't cover football at all. Instead, 'it was all about life and life lessons,' Lake said. 'It would really pour into our staff and it helped me become a better father, a better husband, a better friend. The way that it was presented, it was really all-encompassing of life. Of course, you could also then use those examples to help you in coaching your players.' To Lake, the energy at Petersen's program felt very different than his previous five years as an NFL assistant. The staff spent time together instead of shut away in their respective offices. People said 'good morning' to each other. During summer practices, Petersen held drills and games where groups of players from different positions teamed up to compete. Lake noticed deep into the season that players outside of their respective position groups hung out with each other. He realized that everything Petersen built into their daily routine included some method of bringing them all closer. 'Anywhere else I'd been, we're locked in our meeting rooms, and we're trying to get the X's and O's right, we're trying to get the technique and fundamentals of football right,' Lake said. 'First and foremost for Chris Petersen, it was making sure the culture and the connections were right. That said a lot. Then all the X's and O's fell into place. 'That's where you could feel it — the vibe and the energy in being around people (was) what the difference was.' To those inside the program, it felt like Petersen's methods would last, like maybe they had found a new model for building a team and a culture. But looking back, all the warnings of an incoming crash are now clear to Petersen. They just hid under his success. Petersen went 92-12 in eight seasons in Boise but said he started to feel himself 'sliding backwards.' 'I wasn't as good of a coach, wasn't as good of a leader, probably wasn't as good of a person as I could be,' he said. 'I felt myself becoming cynical, frustrated, short.' Advertisement Peterson's wife, Barbara, suggested counseling, maybe even a new occupation. He was skeptical that any person outside of his world could make sense of the stresses that came with it. He tried to ignore how he felt. Then, in 2014, Washington offered Petersen its vacant head coaching job. Petersen had turned down chances at bigger-name programs for years — he twice interviewed at USC but withdrew his candidacy each time. Now he was ready to make a move. 'I laugh when I say this to you now, but I'm thinking, Well, maybe I just need a new set of problems,' he said. 'There were some really appealing things about Washington, don't get me wrong. But what I was going through, I'm thinking, OK, maybe if I throw away my problems and take on a new set of problems, that will solve my problem.' Petersen threw himself into overhauling the Huskies program with so much energy that he now calls the process 'numbing.' Then came the winning. After his first season at Washington, he became the fastest FBS coach to reach 100 wins, which he did in just 117 games. In his third season, Washington won 12 games before losing to Alabama in the College Football Playoff and finishing the year ranked No. 4. But winning couldn't stave off the old feelings. Despite consecutive 10-win seasons in 2017 and 2018, Petersen started sliding again and believed he was dragging his team down. He loved his job, loved his staff and his players, but he didn't understand himself. On Dec. 2 2019, he resigned. Lake, then Petersen's defensive coordinator and soon to be his successor as Washington's head coach, said the decision came as a total shock. He was that good at hiding his struggle. Petersen wanted to visit other programs to see if they had some secret to handling pressure and managing the job he hadn't yet found. But a few months into his break, the COVID-19 pandemic shut down travel and in-person contact, and Petersen was forced to spend a lot of time alone with himself and his thoughts. 'Had (I been) able to travel, I would have been going and chasing all of the wrong answers,' he said. He knew he would have gravitated toward schematic or structural developments, 'and not really thinking about, how do I get better?' Advertisement Petersen began to study his own psychology and the uniquely competitive and public space that football coaches occupy, which he calls 'the arena.' 'The arena can squeeze you and narrow you so quickly to certainly a lesser version — or the worst version — of yourself extremely easily,' he said. 'You have to have a plan. You have to be almost counter-culture. Like, you have to work against everything society is telling you and rewarding you for.' Two years into Petersen's learnings, he saw McVay on television and reached for his phone. Each offseason during his first six years as the head coach of the Rams, McVay became briefly aware he wasn't feeling right. 'I couldn't pinpoint what it was,' he said. 'Imbalances or just … I knew I was running a race that wasn't sustainable.' He usually pushed the feeling away. He didn't have time for much else in his pursuit of a championship. Was he tired? He'd disappear for just a few days and rest before returning to work at his typical obsessive pace. Mentally blocked? There were leadership books to read or new ideas to glean from the constant churn of young assistants working under him. When the Rams appointed him the youngest head coach in NFL history in 2017, McVay's leadership and communication abilities — not to mention his understanding of the game's strategic evolution — led the organization to build its entire football operation around the then-30-year-old. It paid off. The Rams won a lot, and quickly. Empowered by the organization and motivated to win a championship, McVay could discard anyone who couldn't match his pace. Those moves were for the greater good, he reasoned; everything he did was to win a Super Bowl. At times, McVay's rush to contend conflicted with his humanity. Throughout the 2020 season, rising tension between McVay and quarterback Jared Goff led to a total break in communication. McVay then urged the Rams front office to trade away Goff in the deal for veteran Matthew Stafford in early 2021. McVay has since expressed his regret over how he handled the personal elements of that trade. Back then, losing relationships wasn't a real consequence to him – losing football games was. Advertisement 'When I look back on especially the first five years of my tenure here, there was a lot of selfishness, where I knew how to say the right things but I didn't feel it,' he said. Conversely, McVay said he badly wanted to win for his team captains and his coordinators during the Rams' Super Bowl run following the 2021 season, which led to a kind of 'purity.' But after he hoisted the Lombardi Trophy, that feeling quickly left him. 'After you win, it becomes more about you than you'd ever like to admit,' he said. 'That's when you're like, 'man, this is it, huh?'' The team imploded during the 2022 season. Burnout following the championship run made it all worse. McVay was outwardly frustrated and privately angry when assistants relied on him for answers, even though he was the one who created an order of operations that flowed wholly through him. He saw his struggling, tired team as a reflection of himself, so he withdrew. He said all the right things in team meetings but closed his office door afterward. He even gave up play calling for a short time. He considered giving up coaching altogether, which he acknowledged in a news conference with local reporters on a rainy, gray afternoon as the Rams' 2022 season ended. Petersen saw footage of McVay's comments and got his number from Kellen Moore, Petersen's former quarterback at Boise State and the current head coach of the New Orleans Saints. Petersen assumed he wouldn't hear back from McVay and said as much in his voicemail, adding that if he could help, he would. 'I was in my office at home,' McVay said. 'I've been a fan of his, and he was like, 'You probably don't know who I am,' which shows you his humility. I'm like, 'Yeah right.' I've been watching him for a long time, I knew exactly who he was.' Their first conversation lasted two hours. Advertisement After McVay's initial crash, he had worried about oversharing with family or friends. His problems were unique and privileged. At times, he felt guilty for even categorizing them as problems. But he was surprised at how easily he could unload to Petersen. The two men had common ground. They were from the same world. They both were deeply unhappy at the top of their respective careers and in relentless pursuit of what they believed was greatness. 'As a result of that chase, there were some good times, but there were a lot of times that I became somebody that I don't like,' said McVay, 'I think he would probably say the same thing.' Typical of football coaches, Petersen and McVay quickly fell into a routine of regular correspondence as the 2023 season began. McVay and his wife, Veronika, became parents that October. Petersen, who has two sons, often pressed McVay with questions or challenges that led to thoughtful conversations about how he was managing his time at home. Setting an example of perseverance for his son, Jordan, was a big factor in McVay's decision to stay in coaching, but could he be more present with his family, even in the middle of a season? Injuries and compounding losses made a 1-4 start to the 2024 season feel eerily similar to 2022. McVay admitted he still got just as angry and at times felt just as out of control. But this time, he kept his office door open. He held frequent one-on-one meetings with players and staff to reinforce their good habits and correct their bad ones. He took feedback from assistants, even his younger players. He delegated instead of taking every problem on himself. Daily, McVay repeated three things Petersen once said to him: Stay present. Stay grateful. Keep doing hard things. His team started to show a new kind of resilience that inspired him. Petersen believes it was also a reflection of McVay's internal progress. The Rams won nine of their next 12 games and became NFC West champions. In January, despite mass evacuations and a relocated wild-card game due to wildfires across Los Angeles, McVay's team stuck together, trouncing the Minnesota Vikings 27-9. In the swirling snow of the divisional round in Philadelphia, the Rams came just two plays short of beating the eventual Super Bowl-champion Eagles. As he stood in front of his players in the visitors' locker room moments after the loss, McVay said he was staggered at the hurt that flooded through him — not for himself, he realized, but for them. It was, he said, the first season he felt like an actual head coach. Advertisement 'I did not like being 1-4. But you know what I know about people? They can handle it,' McVay said. 'I know our coaching staff can handle it. … A few years ago, we wouldn't have been able to do the things we were able to do in terms of my role and responsibility as a leader. That's the truth. There's no f—ing way. I would have melted.' Lake joined the Rams as assistant head coach in 2023 following a short tenure at Washington. After spending the 2024 season as the defensive coordinator of the Atlanta Falcons, Lake returned to L.A. to work for McVay. He can see Petersen's influence. 'He's also extremely into pouring into people and getting the best out of them, and genuinely, authentically wants people to succeed around him,' Lake said. 'That is very much like Chris Petersen.' McVay still calls himself a 'basket case,' but usually he says it with a laugh. He is still driven by competition and even perfectionism, still feels the same anger and misery he always has when he loses or comes across a problem he can't immediately solve. 'I still am who I am,' he said, 'But these are skills you develop. … You're building skills and you're building opportunities to be resilient by acknowledging whatever those shortcomings are.' Influenced in part by Petersen, McVay said he will change the messaging and signage around the Rams' practice facilities this offseason. For years, his slogan and the starting point for his team culture has been 'We not me.' Now, it will say 'We then me.' The initial idea was to prioritize team over self. But, as McVay learned firsthand, when subjected to unique stress without constant maintenance, the self can decay — and maybe even destroy the collective. Now a college football analyst for Fox, Petersen quietly helps several coaches throughout all levels of the sport (and even people in other professions) in addition to McVay. In his ongoing conversations with 'Coach Pete', McVay practices reframing his worldview from quantifying every experience as a win or a loss, like he would on a football field, to something much more open-ended. Advertisement He reminds himself that there is no conclusion to the process of getting better, no score to keep. Petersen calls it 'becoming.' For McVay, it is an idea both radical and necessary. '(Petersen) always tells me that if he had one sign in his office if he ever got back into coaching, it would say, 'Who am I becoming as a result of this chase?'' McVay said. 'I think about that all the time.' (Illustration: Will Tullos / The Athletic; photos: Katelyn Mulcahy, Chris Butler / Getty Images)
USA Today
5 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Here's why Puka Nacua was excused from Rams' first OTA for a 'pretty cool opportunity'
Here's why Puka Nacua was excused from Rams' first OTA for a 'pretty cool opportunity' Nacua had a trip planned with his mom months ago, so he was excused from Day 1 of OTAs Puka Nacua was absent from the Los Angeles Rams' first day of OTAs on Wednesday, but it's not anything that caught the team off guard. In fact, Sean McVay knew for months that Nacua wouldn't be able to attend the start of OTAs. After the team's first practice on Wednesday, McVay shed some light on the reason for Nacua's excused absence. He said the receiver had a 'pretty cool opportunity' to travel with his mom, which Nacua has shared photos and videos of on his Instagram story recently. Nacua was getting back on Wednesday, which is why he missed practice, but he'll be participating in everything moving forward. 'Oh yeah, this was months ago,' McVay said. 'He's traveling with his family, pretty cool opportunity. Got to be able to go travel with his mom. He was getting back today. He'll be here so he's done a great job of communicating a couple months ago.' One of the places Nacua posted on Instagram during his travels was Samoa, which is a special place for him being of Samoan descent. Though he grew up in Provo, Utah, he's proud of his Polynesian heritage so traveling back to where his family is from was likely incredible for him and his mom. Now that he's back in Los Angeles, expect to see Nacua on the field with his teammates again. Follow Rams Wire on X, Facebook and Threads for more coverage!
USA Today
25-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Quentin Lake thinks Rams' 2025 offense will be 'reminiscent of Greatest Show on Turf'
Quentin Lake thinks Rams' 2025 offense will be 'reminiscent of Greatest Show on Turf' Talk about a bold claim from the Rams DB It'd be safe to say the Los Angeles Rams' offense underachieved in 2024. With Puka Nacua, Cooper Kupp and Kyren Williams surrounding Matthew Stafford, it was supposed to be a big year on that side of the ball. The Rams finished the year ranked 20th in points scored and 15th in total yards, a far cry from 2023 when they were eighth and seventh, respectively. Heading into the 2025 season, a bounce-back is expected. Davante Adams joins Nacua to give the Rams a fantastic wide receiver duo, while Terrance Ferguson steps in at tight end to provide another pass-catching threat. Kupp isn't there anymore but Tutu Atwell, Nacua, Williams and Blake Corum are all still in the mix. Quentin Lake has high expectations for that group, making a bold statement while on NFL Network recently. In raving about Adams and what he brings to the offense, Lake said the Rams could be reminiscent of the Greatest Show on Turf era when St. Louis led the league in scoring and yards three years in a row. 'He's a fantastic player. He's been doing it year in and year out, and you can kind of tell he's adding value not only what he does as a player, but as a mentor to the younger guys, too,' Lake said of Adams. 'Teaching these guys how to attack defensive leverages, what to do at the top of the routes. I still think he's one of the best route-runners in the NFL and there's a reason Sean McVay was very adamant about getting him. He just kind of unlocks things in the offense and obviously, we've got our future Hall of Famer Matthew Stafford over there. I expect big things because you got Puka on one end, Davante on the other, Tutu Atwell does a fantastic job, too. So we have all the weapons we need, and then Kyren in the backfield. It's going to be reminiscent of the Greatest Show on Turf. I hope we bring that back this year.' As talented as the Rams are on paper, no one should expect them to replicate the production from that 1999-2001 era when everything looked so easy offensively. Nacua and Adams should put up big numbers and Atwell could be poised for a breakout as the No. 3 receiver, but the Greatest Show on Turf had three Hall of Famers at quarterback, running back and wide receiver in Kurt Warner, Marshall Faulk and Isaac Bruce. Torry Holt isn't a Hall of Famer (yet) but he's an all-time great who should be enshrined in Canton already. Lake's confidence is admirable and encouraging, but he might need to take his expectations down just one notch.
USA Today
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Watch: Rams release awesome behind-the-scenes footage from the 2025 draft
Watch: Rams release awesome behind-the-scenes footage from the 2025 draft One of the best parts of the offseason each year is the rollout of 'Behind the Grind', which is the Los Angeles Rams' video series where fans get an exclusive look inside the building – from free agency to the draft to training camp. The Rams released Episode 2 of this season and it mostly centered around the 2025 NFL Draft. It started out with Jared Verse receiving his Defensive Rookie of the Year Award and then transitioned into preparing for the draft, setting up at the LAFD headquarters and then making the picks. It's fascinating to see how Les Snead and Sean McVay work in the war room, with the help of Tony Pastoors and Nicole Blake when it comes to making trades and moving around the board. The Rams traded back from No. 26 to 46 in a deal with the Atlanta Falcons, and it's clear they couldn't have been more excited about getting a 2026 first-rounder in return. 'That was great. Couldn't have worked out any better,' Snead said. It's also clear the Rams were targeting Terrance Ferguson all along after trading back. 'The question is, how do we get back up in here, while staying at 46 and 90, if at all possible. Let's just say it's Ferguson, we get him,' McVay said as Day 2 was getting underway. The Rams always have complete buy-in when they draft a player, making that selection with conviction and a vision for how he's going to contribute and fit in on the depth chart. That was the case with Ferguson, as well as every other player the Rams drafted. There's no question about that with Josaiah Stewart, who McVay loves. 'This is like (Braden) Fiske and (Jared) Verse. This guy transferred up, overachiever,' he said, before excitedly saying, 'That's right, Les!' and playfully shoving his partner in crime. The Rams love the six players they came away with in this class and this behind-the-scenes footage only makes that more obvious.
USA Today
20-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
7 CBs the Rams could trade for who aren't Jalen Ramsey
7 CBs the Rams could trade for who aren't Jalen Ramsey The Los Angeles Rams' biggest need is at cornerback ahead of the 2025 NFL season. L.A. brought back the same group as this past season but could upgrade with a veteran trade this summer. The Rams have been flirting with bringing back cornerback Jalen Ramsey after trading him away two years ago, but he isn't the only cornerback they could acquire. There are several veterans who could be moved before the regular season that the Rams may look into if they don't want or can't afford Ramsey. Here are seven cornerbacks whom the Rams could target in a trade. Greg Newsome Newsome is in the final year of his rookie deal and would be looking for a contract extension. It's unclear if the Cleveland Browns want to offer that to the 25-year-old, but the Rams could be a destination for him as both a starting cornerback and long-term fit. Newsome didn't have a great 2024 season after starting just three games and missing the final four with a hamstring injury, but he finished with one interception, 27 combined tackles and five defended passes. The year before, Newsome had two interceptions and 14 defended passes. Jaire Alexander Alexander would be a Ramsey-level trade. The 28-year-old Green Bay Packers star is already a two-time Pro Bowler with 12 career interceptions, 70 career defended passes and 287 combined tackles. However, he's only played in 14 games over the past two seasons due to injuries and team suspensions. Trading for Alexander would also cost the Rams around $17 million in 2025 salary cap space. Amik Robertson There is no indication the Detroit Lions want to move on from Robertson, but they did sign two cornerbacks in free agency: D.J. Reed and Avonte Maddox. That's a crowded and now expensive room with Robertson on the final year of his contract. The five-year veteran has blossomed with the Lions in the past two seasons with two interceptions, 18 defended passes and 100 combined tackles. Jaylen Watson The Kansas City Chiefs loved Watson enough to name him the team's Week 1 starter in 2024 after they traded away L'Jarius Sneed, but the 26-year-old only played six games before he missed the rest of the regular season with a broken ankle. The Chiefs also added Kristian Fulton in free agency, picked up Trent McDuffie's fifth-year option for 2026 and will have to pay Watson after this season. He's a tall cornerback who had one interception, 12 defended passes and 82 combined tackles over his firs two seasons. Watson was trending upward in 2024 with six defended passes and 32 combined tackles before his injury. DaRon Bland Bland was a ballhawk in his first two NFL seasons for the Dallas Cowboys with 14 interceptions and 22 defended passes in 23 games. He missed the first 10 games of the 2024 season with a stress fracture but returned for the final seven games and tallied six defended passes and 41 combined tackles. Bland would be a big get at just 25 years old, but is gearing up for a big contract extension. One that the Rams might not be able to or want to pay. Ja'Quan McMillian McMillian's time with the Denver Broncos may be coming to a close after the team drafted Jahdae Barron in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft. McMillian started a career-high nine games in 2024 but is, at best, fourth on the depth chart behind Patrick Surtain Jr., Riley Moss and Barron. McMillian has been solid in his three NFL seasons, though, with four interceptions, 15 defended passes, three sacks and 132 combined tackles in the past two years. Jamel Dean The Tampa Bay Buccaneers drafted two cornerbacks on Day 2 of the 2025 NFL Draft. While that doesn't necessarily mean Dean will lose his starting position, it could signal that the team is looking to offload the veteran this season. Dean, who'll be 29 in October, is coming off a season in which he missed four games and finished with just one interception, seven defended passes and 59 combined tackles. He also has a $15.13 million cap hit this season with another $15.74 million cap hit in 2026. Those are big numbers that Buccaneers might want to get off their books ASAP.
