Sean McVay explains bold decision to go for it on 4th down from own 29

Despite the fact that the game felt like a blowout in the first half, the Philadelphia Eagles somehow stuck around into the fourth quarter against the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday afternoon. It wasn’t until the Rams went up 31-19 with 10:53 left that the score felt nearly out of reach for the Eagles, and the Rams would go on to add one more touchdown for good measure with 3:37 to play.

The Eagles really had the momentum at the end of the first half and into the third quarter after Cooper Kupp’s fumbled punt return, but Sean McVay grabbed it back with a bold fourth-down call in the third quarter with his team only up 21-16.

From the Rams’ own 29-yard line, McVay went for it on fourth-and-1, calling a quarterback sneak with Jared Goff. They picked up the necessary yardage to keep the drive going, eventually converting it into a field goal from 30 yards out later in the drive.

Had the Rams not converted, the Eagles would’ve had a short field, needing only six points to take the lead back from Los Angeles. After the game, McVay explained his gutsy decision, saying he didn’t think the Eagles expected the Rams to go for it.

“I think it’s all about the players. That’s a reflection of the confidence I have in our guys,” he said. “Sometimes you are just feeling what’s in your gut. There are the analytics and all of that stuff, and that is something we take into consideration, but it was also just a factor of the Eagles not thinking we were going to do that there. I did not want to punt the ball back. I thought it was important that we got some continuity offensively, because we had really stalled the last couple of drives. I thought that situation presented a chance for us as coaches to show the confidence in our guys. They ended up responding the right way and we ended up kicking a field goal on that drive. I still thought it was some positive momentum we were able to regain there.”

The drive wound up going 16 plays with the Rams gaining 73 yards, and although it was disappointing to only come away with three points, it snapped the team out of a funk offensively.

They punted on their previous two possessions – excluding a kneel-down before the half – and couldn’t get much going on that side of the ball. The fourth-down conversion provided a spark for the offense, which scored points on each of its last three possessions before ending the game with three kneel-downs.

Goff knew McVay was going to keep his offense on the field when the Rams came up just short of the sticks on third down, and he converted with a successful sneak.

“We had that call up all week as a fourth-and-short or a goal-line play,” Goff said. “As soon as we were down fourth-and-1 there, they were getting a little momentum back. We had a couple of good plays, kind of stalling on drives. We kind of got on that fourth-and-1 and we needed a little spark. I knew he [McVay] was going to call it. You can kind of just get that feel. We were so close and sure enough he called it and we got the first down.”

According to EdjSports, the Rams added 5.3% to their win probability by converting on that fourth-down play, which shows McVay’s aggressiveness paid off.