Rams’ BFFs, Sean McVay and Wade Phillips, ready for another year together

Josina Anderson, Victor Cruz and Mike Tannenbaum explain the influence defensive coordinator Wade Phillips has had on Rams head coach Sean McVay. (1:58)

LOS ANGELES — It was Week 3 of the 2017 season, in the aftermath of an exhilarating Thursday night game between the Los Angeles Rams and the San Francisco 49ers. The two division rivals combined for 80 points, accumulating four touchdowns within the final 13 minutes. The Rams stopped the two-point conversion that would have tied it, then fumbled the ensuing onside kick and needed a fourth-down, Aaron Donald sack to win a game that at one point seemed destined for a blowout. Emotions ran high in the coaches’ locker room immediately thereafter, exhaustion and adrenaline clogging the air. Wade Phillips casually strolled inside and cut through all of the tension with one sentence.

“We sure kicked their ass, didn’t we.”

The Rams’ coaches burst into collective laughter. Sean McVay, only three games into his rookie season as a 31-year-old head coach, couldn’t help but smile. It was a moment that captured the very essence of Phillips, the now-72-year-old defensive coordinator who never lets the stress of his job sap any of the joy that he extracts from it.

“He always enjoys the moment,” McVay said. “And I just think that’s such a good reminder, because people feel that.”

McVay was asked if his personality would ever allow him to do the same — to take the ebbs and flows in stride, laugh off the inevitable struggles along the way, even take a moment to appreciate his place in the world from time to time.

“I don’t think so,” he said, “but I think it’s a good measuring stick.”

McVay is one of boundless energy and unbridled enthusiasm, the type that sticks out within a profession composed of the hyper-obsessed. But he is also an unrelenting perfectionist. The smallest indiscretions — misused timeouts, botched playcalls, inefficient practices — ceaselessly gnaw at him. It is both his gift and his curse.

“He would probably say he’s got a little ADD or something,” said Phillips’ son, Wes. “He’s just on all the time.”

Phillips navigates through life with distinct ease and calm. An urgency lies within it, but one enveloped by perspective, upheld by a mantra of enjoying successes without lamenting failures. Nothing seems serious enough to dwell on.

“Wade’s got a really neat, easygoing way about him that camouflages he’s one hell of a competitor,” said McVay’s father, Tim. “He’s a great competitor, but he’s a real cool customer about it.”

The two coaches reside on opposite ends of the spectrum, both in age and in personality, which is what makes their dynamic so fascinating.
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