The Los Angeles Rams left just 7 seconds on the clock during their final drive against the Buffalo Bills after running the ball three times. They weren’t going to go for it on fourth down with a two-point lead, so Sean McVay decided to punt it away and hope that Ethan Evans hit it high enough to let the clock run out.
Evans got the job done, booting it all the way to the goal line and bleeding the last 7 seconds off the clock. It helped that the Bills completely botched the final play of the game, only sending nine players out for that punt.
McVay sure is glad it worked out that way because not only did it prevent Buffalo from returning the punt, but it also avoided any possibility of the Bills blocking it.
“They didn’t have enough guys on the field so it was good. We were in between – there were 6 seconds left, which usually is the maximum threshold to be able to just roll out towards your sideline and airmail a ball vertically and let the clock expire before that thing hits anything. Once the assistant replay ended up tagging on to seven, we ended up doing our operation where it’s a one-step punt. They were a little bit in between. I don’t think they knew exactly what we were going to do. It was fortunate for us that they weren’t able to get together for a full-out punt rush. That was exactly how we wanted it to go. Ethan ended up kicking that thing high and ended up expiring the clock. That was the exact intent. It was a really good job by those guys to be able to execute in that situation.”
While the odds of the Bills blocking the punt or returning it 99 yards for a game-winning touchdown were highly unlikely, the fact that they only had nine players on the field made it borderline impossible for them to do anything of consequence.
It worked in the Rams’ favor and McVay will take the early Christmas gift without remorse.