In hindsight, it was a rational thought process: To defeat Bill Belichick, the most brilliant mind in football, Sean McVay would have to study as much film as possible.
But is there such thing as preparing too much for a game?
That's what the Los Angeles Rams coach suggested in an interview with Sports Illustrated's Andy Benoit about his game plan for the New England Patriots ahead of Super Bowl LIII.
"In the back of my mind, [when making the Super Bowl game plan back in L.A.], I operated knowing I had another week," McVay told Benoit. "That urgency to completely finalize the gameplan wasn’t quite there, and that led to me watching so much film that you can almost water down your thought process."
McVay said he watched a total of 20 Patriots games: all 18 of their games from the 2018 regular season and playoffs, as well as their previous two Super Bowls. But in all that preparation, the 33-year-old head coach may have missed the forest for the trees.
"You have so much time that you can over-prepare and get away from some of the things that helped you get there," McVay said. "I watched every game from New England’s season. You see stuff that worked in, say, Week 3, but you forget about the amount of stuff that’s taken place since Week 3. You can watch so much film that you lose perspective."
McVay is being a bit hard on himself: As Benoit points out in his story, the Rams did a lot of things right in Super Bowl LIII, especially on defense, where they limited Tom Brady's offense to 13 points.
New England Patriots
Then again, there's no comfort in losing 13-3 on the game's biggest stage, and McVay feels like he could have done more ... by doing less.
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