Vaunted offenses meet in Chiefs’ relocated clash with Rams
LOS ANGELES – Sean McVay has looked up to Andy Reid for years. The Los Angeles Rams’ young coach constantly studies video of his Kansas City counterpart’s offensive sets during the season, marveling at their intricacies and ingenuity.
“Every single week they do something where you say, ‘That’s pretty good,’ ” McVay said. “I’d be lying if I said we haven’t stolen some of their stuff this year.”
McVay gets a close-up look Monday night in one of the biggest games of the regular season and a possible Super Bowl preview.
The Chiefs (9-1) are visiting the Rams (9-1) in a game originally scheduled for Mexico City before poor field conditions at Azteca Stadium prompted the NFL to move the game to California on six days’ notice.
Instead, the Coliseum will host a meeting of two prolific offenses masterminded by coaches separated by 28 years of age, but shoulder-to-shoulder on the cutting edge of football.
“He’s done a phenomenal job,” said Reid, a Los Angeles native who lives in Orange County in the offseason, said of McVay. “He came up through a good system. He’s put his own flair to it. He’s a smart kid. I am proud of him for the job he’s done.”
Two offenses averaging 33 points per game have never met this late in a regular season. The game is only the fifth meeting since 1970 between two one-loss or unbeaten teams in Week 11 or later.
Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes leads the NFL in yards passing with Jared Goff in second. The backfields contain Kansas City’s Kareem Hunt, last season’s NFL rushing champion, and Todd Gurley, the current runaway leader in the category.
Offensive fireworks seem inevitable in a matchup tailor-made for prime time, even if the late venue switch caused logistical hurdles for ESPN. Both teams expressed disappointment about the game being moved out of Mexico City, even though McVay said it was “clearly the right thing to do” given the field conditions.
“We’re certainly not going to complain about getting the chance to play at the Coliseum in front of a great atmosphere,” McVay said.
On the move
The late change of venue ruined a big night for thousands of Mexican fans and thrilled Rams fans who will get an eighth home game to cheer, but it had little effect on either team’s preparation. The Rams planned to spend the week in Colorado Springs, Colorado, to prepare for Mexico City’s altitude, and they decided to stay anyway – partly because several players and coaches couldn’t return to their homes this week because of wildfires surrounding the towns near the Rams’ training complex. The Chiefs merely altered their travel plans to take them west instead of south. “We really haven’t had to change much, other than going to a hotel in Los Angeles,” Reid said.