Sean McVay was the prince of the NFL this season, as the rookie head coach led the Rams to an 11-5 record and the NFC West title.
But the 31-year-old looked like an overmatched "deer in the headlights" during the Rams' 26-13 loss to the Falcons in the wild-card playoffs Saturday, according to ESPN's "Sunday NFL Countdown" crew.
IYER: Falcons flipped script on Rams
Randy Moss and Charles Woodson were particularly hard on McVay, whose speedy success was supposed to inspire a wave of 30-something head coaches in the staid No Fun League.
Going into Saturday's game, Moss said he expected the inexperience of the rookie coach, second-year quarterback Jared Goff and third-year running back Todd Gurley to show against coach Dan Quinn's reigning NFC champions, who could have (and should have) beat the Patriots in Super Bowl 51.
The Rams indeed froze under playoff pressure. McVay's sideline demeanor indicated he wasn't ready for prime time, said Moss.
"I'm looking for 31-year-old head coach with some pizzazz, some enthusiasm on the sideline, be fired up on the sideline," Moss said. "The whole game he looked like a deer in the headlights for Coach McVay. It didn't look good."
Charles Woodson said McVay was "scared" to go against the conventional NFL coaching wisdom that playoff-bound teams should rest their starters in Week 17 to avoid injury. Sure enough, McVay benched Goff, Gurley and other starters against the 49ers in Week 17. And the Rams were walloped 34-13 by Jimmy Garoppolo's resurgent 49ers.
”I would have loved for [the Rams] to be fighting the last game to go into the playoffs, to have that momentum, that drive, that mentality of you lose, you go home," Woodson said.
Matt Hasselbeck countered by saying the game was more about the up-and-down Falcons finally playing up to their potential.
"When they're on, I don't know if anybody can beat this team," Hasselbeck said. "The thing is, they haven’t been on for the entire season this year.”
ESPN's Rex Ryan noted the Falcons were 11-0 when Matt Ryan's offense scored 20 or more points this season and 0-6 when they didn't.
"You get to 20 points with this team, watch out, because the defense plays way better than you think," Ryan said. "They run to the ball, they contest every pass down the field.”
WATCH: Todd Gurley wild-card highlights
Meanwhile, on CBS Sports' "The NFL Today," Bill Cowher said the same dynamic played out in the Titans' 22-21 comeback win against the Chiefs in Kansas City. One team, the Titans, had been fighting for their lives to make the playoffs. The other team, the Chiefs, got complacent and rested QB Alex Smith and other starters in Week 17.
"This is a [Titans] team that's been playing with a sense of desperation for the last three weeks," Cowher said. "And you know what? That showed.
"Talk about the Rams loss and the Chiefs loss? What did they do last week? They both rested their starters. These other teams? Atlanta and Tennessee? They were playing just to get into the playoffs."