Wade Phillips and Sean McVay may seem like an unlikely match, being separated by 39 years in age. Phillips is one of the oldest coaches in the league, while McVay remains the youngest head coach around.
Phillips, 72, is in the final year of his contract and his time with the Rams may be coming to an end. With only one game left in 2019, Phillips could be coaching his final game as a member of the Rams coaching staff.
One report from Alex Marvez earlier this week suggested the Rams will consider moving on from Phillips in the offseason. Phillips has heard the rumors of his demise in L.A. but he’s not buying into them much.
“I’ve had a lot of rumors out there,” he said laughing. “I don’t pay any attention to rumors. Wherever I’ve been, I’m going to do the best I can do and if that’s not good enough for somebody, then it isn’t. But we want to finish with a winning season.”
Phillips was asked if he wants to continue coaching into next season, and he didn’t leave much doubt.
“I love coaching. That’s what I do and that’s what I enjoy doing,” Phillips said. “We did a lot of good things this year. Obviously not enough to be in the playoffs, but I thought we did a lot of good things as a team and defensively. I enjoy working with players, I think we’ve got a really good group and like I said last week, they were fighters. Didn’t end up winning that ball game, but I thought we showed a lot of fight as a defense and a team. I enjoy coaching and I want to continue.”
Since Phillips took over in 2017, the Rams have ranked 19th in total defense twice and they are currently 13th this season. They’ve never finished inside the top 10 of points or yards allowed as a defense under Phillips, which is somewhat disappointing when you look at the talent they have on that side of the ball.
When asked if he thinks he’s done a good enough job, he left it up to those in charge.
“That’s up to somebody else,” he said. “We lost two years in a row to Pittsburgh when I first started in the AFC championship game and they won the Super Bowl. Then we lost to Oakland and they won the Super Bowl and we got fired, so those things happen. Like I said, it’s up to somebody else to judge those things. You never know what’s going to happen in football, but I know one thing: I’m going to do the best I can do and I’m going to be the best assistant coach I can be.”
McVay is one of the people who will decide Phillips’ fate in 2020 and beyond, being the head coach. He was also asked about the report that Phillips could be gone next season, and while he didn’t shoot down the rumor, he did acknowledge that everyone on the staff will be evaluated.
“When those things come out, Wade and I discuss those things so that we make sure there’s clear understanding of what goes on and we keep those things behind closed doors,” McVay said. “But like anything else, after the season, it’ll be good for us to all take a step back. Our focus right now is on, let’s see if we can play a really good football game against a tough opponent. Finish off the season, cap it off the right way. But like anything else, we’ll take some time to really be able to reflect back on the year, look at what some of the things we need to do moving forward and part of that is talking to each one of the staff members, talking to your players and then being able to have a direction as we progress into the season.”
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