In my opinion, Sean McVay, who chose to return as the coach of the Rams, rather than being touted as such an elite coach, should be considered closer to the bottom of the coaching pile.
After losing one Super Bowl, he and ownership decided to buy their way to another. He took a good young QB (Jared Goff, who he nearly destroyed), threw him on what looked like a junk pile in Detroit, and went to buy the team’s best money.
That’s how they won the Super Bowl. So what? What do they have now? A bunch of aging veterans, no picks from now until forever, and a coach who doesn’t seem to have a clue how to sign and develop young players.
Look at Doug Pederson in Jacksonville and what he did (and is doing) with a bunch of unknowns. Much better than the pathetic Rams.
Goff is flourishing in Detroit. Let McVay continue on his merry way, leaving the Rams in shambles.
Anne Beaty
Los Angeles
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With talk of a possible McVay departure, there will inevitably be allusions to a “sinking ship,” but perhaps the ship has already sunk, which begs the question: What’s more/less for the Rams to win next year? I’m thinking about 5, the same as this year and I honestly don’t know which way to go.
Jack Wishard
Los Angeles
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Many people thought that at 30, McVay was too young to be a head coach in the NFL. At the age of 36, he is too young for an annual vacation! The challenge is greater, and he should return to the Rams next season and show what a truly great coach can achieve.
Vaughn Hardenberg
Westwood
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Five words for McVay: What would Vince Lombardi do?
David George
Irvine
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Too bad the Rams came up short against Seattle. It would be nice to see Jared Goff and the Lions make the playoffs.
Dave Thomas
Ventura
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Why is McVay always praised as one of the greatest coaches? Sure, he won the Super Bowl, but so did Don McCafferty. The Rams’ rallying cry this year was “Bring it back.” They are, until 2016.
Ruben Hernandez
El Monte
Repeating the cotton bowl
How smart is it to bet on sports? If you took TCU against someone willing to give you 57 points, you lost.
Bruce Younger
Santa Monica
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Like any casual fan, I enjoyed watching the complete dominance of the Georgia football team in its national championship triumph over Texas Christian University. Turn? Post-game cigars everywhere. Countless teenagers went on a smoke hunt this week as they spotted the glamorous University of Georgia football players enjoying cigars after the game. Many of them will become addicted to tobacco, and eventually disappear as a direct result. Whose idea was it to throw out the stogies? What happened to sports heroes as role models?
Tad Daley
Los Angeles
Blame the Grinch
Lincoln Riley’s devotion to Alex Grinch, while admirable, is unwarranted. Giving the Grinch passes for Utah’s regular-season loss and disaster in the Pac-12 title game, the Cotton Bowl debacle in Dallas should have been his Waterloo. The inexcusable inexplicable failure to stop a mediocre Tulane quarterback on two long fourth downs on the final drive, turning Michael Pratt into Vince Young, was simply inexcusable.
Mark S. Roth
Los Angeles
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Boy, how quickly fans forget Clay Helton’s frustrating tenure and the empty cupboard of talent Lincoln Riley inherited in his first year at the helm. Complaining about defensive deficiencies after the big turnaround Riley has made is short-sighted at best. Give him time to see if he learns from his Oklahoma teams’ defensive woes, as well as this first year at USC. An 11-3 freshman record is nothing to sneeze at.
Ken Blake
Brea
Blue in the face
It’s amazing to me that Stan Kasten can brag about the Dodgers having the highest attendance in baseball and then actually refuse to sign anyone to avoid going over the luxury tax. The only luxury tax will be paid by the fans paying top dollar to see the now obviously inferior product.
Debra Steinberg
Corona del Mar
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I was wrong. I really thought the same management team that took money from cable TV and screwed their fans for years would realize they were already on the hook for another $22.5 million and still desperately needed pitching. You’d think fans would be forgiving if Trevor Bauer produced, right? It turns out they don’t have the guts to do either.
Jeff Heister
Chatsworth
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Love him or hate him, which comes with being a sports columnist, Dylan Hernandez is pretty fearless in the pages of The Times.
Calling Stan Kasten shameless and Mark Walter a coward certainly won’t get him special access to the Dodgers, and he regularly calls it like he sees it.
Keep it up sir.
Mike McNiff
Costa Mesa
Pushing around
Is it NFL or NRL (National Rugby League)? The NFL should ban allowing players to push the running back/quarterback over the line for a gain. The offensive line should be responsible for moving the defensive line back enough for the running backs/quarterback to move forward and get a first down, not 900 pounds of players pushing them.
Russell Morgan
Carson
Where is the golf coverage?
Almost 10% of our population plays and watches golf. It is broadcast by NBC, CBS, TNT, ESPN, Fox and the Golf Channel. The Times usually “dedicates” an inch or two to it, hidden in its various Sports Day. Pro tournaments are played almost every week, and yet, unless it’s a so-called major, you don’t have commentary, you don’t have leaderboards, and you only briefly mention a few players who are in the lead. Golf fans are mostly ignored.
Sandy Wilk
Encino
A warrior’s farewell
Charles White was a warrior, worth the price of recognition, a solid character, Mr. Student Body right/left, Heisman role model, and forever stored at the end of the peristyle. My favorite USC football player. REST IN PEACE
David Marshall
Santa Monica
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