Sunday’s game between the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers wasn’t a preseason matchup, but neither team treated it like a must-win regular-season contest. They each rested starters and had one eye looking ahead to the playoffs.
For the Rams, it was an opportunity to hand over the play sheet to offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur for a day. And that’s exactly what Sean McVay did.
After Sunday’s 21-20 win over the 49ers, McVay revealed that it was LaFleur who called the offensive plays with Carson Wentz at quarterback.
“What we did today, because we went off a wristband, Mike LaFleur did a great job calling it today,” he said. “Mike has been instrumental. There were some operational things relative to using the wristband, the comfort, the familiarity there. I have so much confidence in Mike, he could do that, but we felt like that was what was the best approach. We’ll go back to our standard, normal operating procedures next week. I can’t say enough good things about what Carson did with the overall operation. Mike LaFluer is such a stud. He has been so instrumental in all of the good things that have occurred offensively, the way that he’s helped me and led our operation.”
It may not seem like much but it was a great chance for LaFleur to call the plays for the Rams, something he hasn’t done all season. He was the offensive play caller for the Jets during his two years in New York, but he gave up that responsibility to join the Rams this season.
As McVay said, he called a great game, too. The Rams went 9-for-15 on third down, rushed for 109 yards and outscored the 49ers in the second half, 14-0. They only had 258 total yards of offense, but that was with backups all over the place on offense.
LaFleur could be a head coaching candidate as early as this year but if not now, don’t be surprised if he draws some interest in the near future.