It’s by no means a preseason game, but the Los Angeles Rams aren’t going full-throttle in Sunday’s season finale against the Seattle Seahawks. Not only are they resting Matthew Stafford and potentially others, but the in-game coaching will look very different, too.
As he does in the preseason, Sean McVay might hand over play-calling duties on offense. The Rams coach told reporters on Wednesday that it’s possible offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur will call the offensive plays against the Seahawks.
LaFleur called the plays in the preseason and also handled that responsibility in the season finale last year when Carson Wentz and the Rams beat the 49ers in Week 18 when Stafford and other starters were resting.
“We’ll work through that. Last year, Mike did a great job for Carson. That might be the approach that we’ll take this week,” he said.
LaFleur has experience calling offensive plays, doing so with the Jets when he was their offensive coordinator, so it’s nothing new to him. And as McVay said, he did a nice job last year against San Francisco, calling a run-heavy script.
Sunday’s game isn’t completely meaningless for the Rams because if they win, they clinch the No. 3 seed and a game against either the Commanders or Packers. If they lose and the Bucs win, they’ll have to host the Vikings or Lions in Round 1.
The Rams won’t completely mail it in and still want to win on Sunday, but it’ll be a challenge with a new quarterback and playcaller.