For the Rams to only give up 13 points to the Pats is one hell of a job.
And I thought the defensive dominance by both teams through the first 3 quarters was a superb throw back to some of the great championship battles of the past.
I think the reason why I didn't care about the Super Bowl had to do the fact that it was the Patriots (again). Also, Brady was not the same as he was five years ago let alone when he first started.
And I thought the defensive dominance by both teams through the first 3 quarters was a superb throw back to some of the great championship battles of the past.
I think the reason why I didn't care about the Super Bowl had to do the fact that it was the Patriots (again). Also, Brady was not the same as he was five years ago let alone when he first started.
We saw two really dominating defenses playing. And both defenses made the opposing QB look very vulnerable.
The Rams shouldn't have any regrets about last offseason going "all in" and how the season played out. They almost got it done! They went up against the GOATs, and until late in the 4th quarter, they still had a chance to win it all. So close. Losing to the Patriots in the Super Bowl? Yeah, there are worse things to have to live with! It sucks they fell short, but I was left thoroughly impressed with the job Wade Philips did. It's too bad so much focus has been on Belichick and Brady on the winning side and McVay and Goff on the losing side, because, wow, ol' Wade coached his @$$ off and no one is talking about it!
For the Rams to only give up 13 points to the Pats is one hell of a job.
Especially with ZERO help from their "explosive offense". To keep Brady in check for that long was very, very impressive. It would've been a different outcome had McVay and Goff met Phillips halfway.
...I'm curious to see how Goff recovers from that beatdown.
And I thought the defensive dominance by both teams through the first 3 quarters was a superb throw back to some of the great championship battles of the past.
I think the reason why I didn't care about the Super Bowl had to do the fact that it was the Patriots (again). Also, Brady was not the same as he was five years ago let alone when he first started.
super bowl was interesting to me because we get to see a battle hardened group of vets versus the new nfl darlings. i thought Pats win because i trust NE coach to stymie Rams QB and just do something on ST/D/ O to get an edge. Wade did a great job of controlling a Pat's O that (esp with healthy Gronk) is made to create and exploit mismatch.
without having read the article I'm wiling to say I can rebut everything he wrote, because I believe that Lambert is the worst hack writing about the Bears which is saying something...anyway:
Rams built their offense around a running game and play action, allowing Goff to find simpler reads due to both the pre-snap motion and defenders taking a step forward due to play action. (I bet Lambert ignored the fact that the Bears don't run a lot of play action, preferring to use mis-direction and combo routes to scheme WRs open. Many of us were screaming all season about the under utilized run game, which of course was not the Rams problem at all, quite the opposite. Everything they do is based around running.)
But then:
Pat LBs and safeties were instructed to not step up with play action but stay in their zones. The Pats DL also attacked gaps, not letting OL-men get to the second level. So, without play action working, and the Pats focusing on stopping the run, Goff turned into a drop back passer, allowing the Pats to pass rush to a spot (3 step or 7 step drop points) and not worry about contain. None of tbe Rams WRs are good enough to really scare you, as its Gurley who drove the OFF all season. With Gilmore locking down one WR/TE the rest of the DBs could morph from man to zone to man to zone at the snap, negating the McVay/Goff chat prior to the snap. I read somewhere that the Pats defense didn't react to anything until the play clock was under 15 seconds, which is when McVay was cut off from the QB communication system. Perfect game plan from the best HC in the league who knew how to use his morphing DEF to the best of their abilities.
So, tell me...How does all that mean anything to the Bears again? Whats the template the Beats follow there?
Any reaction to this SB that involves changing what your teams does based how the Pats played the Rams is an over simplification and shows how little you/Lambert actually knows about football. This is like when the Broncos beat the Panthers and every claimed all you needed was an elite pass rusher to win SBs. Over simplification.
There should be a ban on posting anything by Lambert.
Post by Pat Williams' Belly on Feb 9, 2019 10:54:08 GMT -6
Not following the future trend of football is very short sighted and dumb. Pace, McVay, Reid, etc. have the right idea to spread out offenses and put players in motion pre-snap to get them in open space. Now all they have to do is keep tweaking and innovating their ideas.
Post by brasilbear on Feb 11, 2019 15:09:21 GMT -6
This is what we should learn from the super Bowl...not any drivel about not following the Rams plan. SI.com link
A few items of note: "By far the biggest sequence in the game came on New England’s lone touchdown drive. The series began with a well-designed play-action fade to Gronkowski that beat mismatched edge defender Samson Ebukam. Then the Patriots went to spread-empty formations out of “22” personnel (two backs, two tight ends). It was the first time all season they’d shown that look—in fact, the Patriots almost never go spread-empty with No. 2 tight end Dwayne Allen on the field. The Pats did this three plays in a row, and the Rams were discombobulated before the snap all three times. Only one other time all game had the Rams looked unsettled before the snap. Prior to this “22” spread-empty sequence the Rams had been in total schematic control.
The three plays in “22” spread-empty resulted in Edelman beating LB Littleton in Quarters coverage for 13 yards; RB Rex Burkhead beating Peters in man coverage for seven yards; Gronkowski beating LB Littleton in man-free coverage for 29 yards, setting up the game’s lone touchdown (Sony Michel)."
"Aaron Donald was kept in check. New England’s interior O-line did a nice job, often with center David Andrews sliding over to help against Donald. But when the Rams found one-on-one matchups for Donald, New England’s guards Shaq Mason and Joe Thuney survived. Donald’s only truly impactful pass rush play came on a 3rd-and-medium in the first half. The Rams showed a five-man pressure but dropped into a 3-man rush, playing man outside and zone inside. It was the same concept Phillips beat Brady with several times in the 2015 AFC championship. On this play, Donald had a designed D-line slant that put him one-on-one against Andrews, whom he beat for a QB hit. The Rams only went back to this three-man rush once, on a third-and-4 early in the first half. On that play Julian Edelman beat Peters’s man coverage with an excellent seam route for 27 yards."
"• This gameplan was every bit the Bill Belichick masterpiece that we thought coming out of the game. The key highlights, as covered here Monday morning, were the Patriots playing Quarters coverage on early downs, which took away L.A.’s play-action in-breakers, and the Patriots playing a 6-1 front, which took away L.A.’s outside-zone ground game."
"You can’t overemphasize how important the 6-1 fronts were. Patrick Chung played the edge on the tight end side, Kyle Van Noy played the edge on the other side. They took away the outside zone running lanes, allowing New England’s meaty defensive linemen to work one-on-one inside. The brilliance of the 6-1 front was Chung and Van Noy were also positioned to easily play the flats in coverage. And, as we speculated about two weeks ago, Van Noy frequently walked out over the Rams’ tightly aligned receivers, disrupting the timing of their route releases."
Post by brasilbear on Feb 11, 2019 15:16:15 GMT -6
The main take away is that the Pats were flexible on OFF and DEF, created mix matches on both sides of the ball, and took away what the Rams wanted to do. Simple as that.
Want to beat NE when NE has two weeks+ to game plan for you? Change everything, change your coverages, your play calls, even your tendencies. Rams thought they could walk in there and run everything like it was week two of the season. Pats changed everything, and the Rams had no answers.
Don't abandon following the Ram's Blueprint (if they were at all). It got them to the SB. Chief's and Saint's blue print got them to the championship game. But hey, we should abandon that and go back to......what? Fox ball? McCarthy ball? what?
Lets not pretend that Chiefs, Rams and Saints were not successful. They were, they just ran into the GOAT coach and GOAT QB.
Donald held in check for most of that game is why I'm nervous regarding the draft capital and cap space given to mack. guy is a beast but any one player can be held in check. and Donald has a lot more around him then mack does.