Rams coach Sean McVay wishes he’d prepared less for the Super Bowl

Rams coach Sean McVay hasn’t shied away from taking the blame for his team’s 13-3 Super Bowl loss to the New England Patriots, telling reporters immediately after the game that he got out-coached.

If that was the case, it certainly was not for lack of preparation on the 33-year-old coach’s part. In fact, McVay told Sports Illustrated in an interview published Tuesday, the main thing he’ll do differently if the Rams are “fortunate enough to return” to the Super Bowl is prepare less.

“I operated knowing I had another week,” McVay said of the time off following the Rams’ win over the New Orleans Saints in the NFC championship game. “That urgency to completely finalize the game plan wasn’t quite there, and that led to me watching so much film that you can almost water down your thought process.”

He added, “You have so much time that you can over-prepare and get away from some of the things that helped you get there.”

So how much Patriots game film did McVay watch during that time? Only every game they played last season, including the playoffs, and their two most recent Super Bowl appearances (an admission that caused McVay to shake his head in disgust, SI reported). That’s 20 games jammed into his head at once.

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“You see stuff that worked in, say, Week 3, but you forget about the amount of stuff that’s taken place since Week 3,” he said. “You can watch so much film that you lose perspective.”

McVay also said he wishes he allowed himself the opportunity to soak in the Super Bowl experience.

“I didn’t appreciate it,” McVay said. “I think there’s a lot to be said for the journey, and I appreciated what the season had entailed. But I could have appreciated the week and entirety of the event more. I kept myself kind of isolated because I didn’t want any distraction.”

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