By admin 
The Los Angeles Rams opened their season about as poorly as a team can. They got outclassed 27-7 by the San Francisco 49ers. It happened in the NFL’s first-ever game in Melbourne, Australia. This was supposed to be a Super Bowl contender. Instead, Rams head coach Sean McVay watched it all unravel.
Read more Instant Analysis After Chargers Injuries Lead to Unexpected Signing of Super Bowl Winner
One bad Thursday? It simply happens — no reason to make too much of it. Still, you have to wonder what’s going through McVay’s head right now.
Interestingly, somebody already got him thinking this exact way once before. Who? An NBA center with the Denver Nuggets. Eight-time All-Star and 2023 NBA champion Nikola Jokic.
McVay’s résumé
That other rattling goes back to what Jokic connected McVay with. Or, more accurately, what the future Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer didn’t.
A little context first. Most people know McVay as a great NFL head coach. On paper, he’s one of the most accomplished young coaches in league history.
The Ohio native took over the Rams in 2017. He was just 30 years old. That made him the youngest head coach of the modern era. Sean won NFL Coach of the Year that same season. Five years later, “Baby Gruden” led the Rams to a Super Bowl title. It happened in February 2022. The Rams beat the Cincinnati Bengals on their own turf.
Jokic? He knew McVay for something else entirely. What was it? That surfaced again recently. It came up when reporters brought up a story Sean had told before. One that traces back to 2021.
Related: “One of us forgot our t—ts at home” – Sophie Cunningham’s reaction after posing for a photo with Sydney Sweeney
Read more Steelers New CB is Better Than Advertised
The get-back coach
McVay recalled being at Ball Arena for a 2021 playoff game. It was the same postseason in which Jokic won his first of three Most Valuable Player awards. The Nuggets had just been eliminated by the Phoenix Suns at home. “Baby Gruden” was making his way back toward the locker room. He likely did so because the Rams and Nuggets are both owned by Stan Kroenke.
“Nikola sees me,” he remembered, putting on a surprisingly sharp Balkan accent, “and says, ‘Where is your get-back coach?’”
“Golly,” McVay told the Serbian superstar. “This is what the NBA MVP knows me as. I am a failure.”
For those who don’t follow the NFL or football: McVay used to get so close to the sideline that the Rams assigned strength coach Ted Rath to pull him back. It was meant to keep Sean from getting in the way of a play or anyone around him, really. Clips of Rath yanking the former wide receiver went viral years ago. They eventually reached Joker, too.
And that locker room line? It stuck with McVay.
“I’ll never forget this,” he said. “This is when I thought, ‘Man, I got to really reevaluate my priorities.’”
McVay also swears he’s grown out of needing Rath these days. He insisted he’s “not much of a dips—t anymore.” Still, the 40-year-old admits the footage continues to haunt him.
“That video will never freaking leave me, will it?” asked “Baby Gruden.”
Rath is now the New Orleans Saints’ director of sports science. He was appointed in February 2025. His team recently faced McVay’s Rams in the preseason. It happened a few weeks ago. The Rams won that one comfortably, 34-0.
Read more Andoni Iraola Could Be Key to Liverpool Keeping Rio Ngumoha Away From Arsenal
Related: Nikola Jokic insists every defender in the NBA gives him trouble
Copyright 2026 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved
This story was originally published September 16, 2026 at 6:04 AM.