Mike Preston on Super Bowl 56: Rams coach Sean McVay keeps his stars shining; Aaron Donald was supposed to be the MVP

Respect for Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay continues to grow.

It’s not just because the Rams beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 23-20, to win the Super Bowl 56 championship Sunday night, but the way he’s handled his team throughout the season and playoffs is admirable.

Critics will say McVay, 36, should have won the title because owner Stan Kroenke traded their most important draft capital for superstar talents like full-back Matthew Stafford , full-back Von Miller, player Odell Beckham Jr. and full-back Jalen Ramsey, but there’s a history of teams doing this and failing miserably.

McVay has the same disruptive personality as Beckham and still draws considerable strength from him, which shows that he can touch the soul of a player. Early in the year, it seemed like it was only a matter of time before the Rams exploded – they won 0-3 in November – but they never did.

Instead, their star players always come out in difficult times. It happened here in Baltimore on January 2 when the Rams won 20-19 and again on Sunday night when Stafford led Los Angeles in a 79-yard win game that ended in a line One-yard touchdown pass to Cooper Kupp with about 90 seconds remaining.

Before that, the Rams only fouled a total of 52 yards in the second half. But on this final drive, Stafford, who completed 26 of 40 283-yard passes and three touchdowns, just sank and plunged down the pitch. Besides the game-winning touchdown, Kupp also had four catches of 39 yards in his final drive. The match might not have been decided so late had Beckham Jr not left the match with a knee injury in the second half. He had two catches for 52 yards, including a 17-yard touchdown in the opening half.

Defensively, Aaron Donald dominated the second half, finishing with four tackles and two interceptions. His final play ended the game, as he swung quarterback Joe Burrow around and made sure his 4 and 1 passes didn’t complete with 43 seconds left. Von Miller finished with two sacks, but like Donald turned the game around in the second half as attack struggled.

Again, there will be some who say that any coach with reasonable knowledge can win with this team, but the NFL is no longer just about the X and the O. The Rams won the game. that area, when McVay goes there is no need to hide to control the speed and keep the Bengalis in the soft zone. Los Angeles also devised a way to free Donald one-on-one in terms of scripting and the same with Kupp in the late game.

But coaching is also about building culture, developing chemistry, controlling social media, and potentially creating motivation. The last concept isn’t always easy when it comes to high-maintenance players who make $20 to $40 million a year and demand the ball and the spotlight.

McVay made it work in Los Angeles.

Donald was supposed to be the MVP

Kupp was named Super Bowl’s Most Valuable Player and few would disagree after he caught eight passes for 92 yards and two touchdowns, but the award should have gone. for Donald.

Not only is he the best defensive player in the game, but he’s also the best NFL player.

Cincinnati had to block him for most of the game with two, sometimes three defenders. Think about it: That’s over 900 pounds of humanity coming to a player consistently throughout the game, and Donald still crashes them late in the game. The most recent six Super Bowl MVPs have gone to offensive players, four to quarterbacks.

This award is starting to look like the Heisman Trophy, where the best college football player is usually a quarterback, running back or receiving the ball. But if you really want to know who is the best player on the field, ask the Bengals’ offensive linemen.

The Burrow needs protection

The biggest chuckle of the night was listening to NBC broadcasters discuss the dilemma the Bengali faced during the season. Should they come up with more explosive attacking players or top laners?

Take a look: the Bengals dropped 55 covers in the regular season. They dropped out nine games in their division round win over Tennessee and seven games over the Rams Sunday night. They’re probably the best young quarterback in the NFL and there’s debate whether he needs better pass protection?

Really?

School is failing

I feel bad for the kids in Cincinnati. Schools were closed on Monday, so there will be plenty of kids unhappy sitting at home banging toys against the wall.

Really, I feel worse for the parents because some of them have to stay home with their kids. It’s only in Cincinnati that such a thing has happened, but that’s because the Bengals haven’t been in the Super Bowl since 1989. Still, the future looks good for Burrow and young players like recipient Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins.

I wonder what these days think at the Castle. In the past, the Bengal team had two divisional victories in one year. Last season, they blew Raven twice. The Crows may feel as anxious as parents and school-aged children in Cincinnati.

Future of Raheem Morris

It would be interesting to see if the Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris garners any interest from NFL teams as a possible head coach in the future.

Besides being the Rams’ first-year coordinator, he worked with Tampa Bay as an assistant defensive quality control when the Buccaneers won Super Bowl XXXVII in 2002. Morris, Black, was a former NFL head coach, compiling 21 -38 records in five seasons in Tampa Bay and Atlanta.

But in both of those situations, he became a late or temporary substitute in volatile situations when previous head coaches quit or were fired for various reasons.

The surprise for Morris, 45, was that he became close to the players, enjoying interacting with them so much.

That’s impossible for any coach at any level. He should be old enough to know better now.

No call, no problem

Bengals fans complained about late calls to intervene on the pass for their team during the Rams’ final strike. They argue that the referees were too involved after letting both sides strain in the first three quarters.

Regulations are rules. Cincinnati was called into the game when Higgins apparently interfered with Ramsey, hurling him to the ground with his mask in a 75-yard touchdown in the first inning of the second half.

Cincyers need to stop whining; Just go take care of the kids at your school.