Rams offensive failure

[Sydla]

Pats are just better than everyone at the chess game. Coaching matters.

Coaching doesn't matter.

Coaches are interchangeable.

So I have been told.

 

[Dodger12]

Even Romo said the Rams needed to change up to throw more on 1st down and use play action but in the end the Pats were able to control the line and when the Rams passed they got pressure on Goff. Not that complicated, teams winning the line of scrimmage will normally win the game. Meantime Pats did the same stuff over and over on offense, dink and dunk, dink and dunk. I find it funny Dak gets ripped for it yet Brady has made a living off the dink and dunk.

Earth to Doomsday....Earth to Doomsday.....come in Doomsday.........

I'm sure the opposing team's game-plan(s) have routinely been to stop NE's run game and make Brady beat them. I can absolutely see the similarities of how teams defend Brady and Dak since they're so similar, it's almost scary.......probably clones.

 

[G2]

If everyone involved says Gurley was fine to play - Gurley himself, the head coach and the QB - how can we question that? And why would nobody else that knew the situation shed any light? What would be the motivation for the team to lie about that, and to instruct the entire team and coaching staff to back up the lie? All lying about that does is make the team and McVay look worse, whereas if he was injured it would look better for them to say that.

So, his past injuries this season didn't happen either? What's the real reason for sidelining him? Because, I really can't imagine any other reason. Regardless of what people are saying or not saying.

 

[G2]

Coaching doesn't matter.

Coaches are interchangeable.

So I have been told.

Easy fix too. Just like cleaning the old Nintendo cartridge games.

 

[sbark]

Cooks and Goff connect on the 2 dropped Td passes.....all of a sudden they are young genius's

The 2nd pass to middle of end zone, Goff was just really late on the throw....

 

[Reverend Conehead]

They didn’t establish the run, and really didn’t make more than a token attempt to do so. This allowed the Pats to just keep coming after Goff. Interestingly enough, as stale and predictable as the Cowboys offense was, their standard game plan would have worked better than what the Rams offense did in this game. Pounding the rock with the great RB would have likely yielded results over the course of the game, and would have taken pressure off the young QB to perform in the face of a relentless pass rush. Instead they put it all on Goff to deal with instead of sharing the burden with what had been an elite running game over the season.

It makes me wonder if they backed off from using Todd Gurley so much because he was still hurt. But then why didn't they run more with that Anderson guy? Anderson ran down our throats.

 

[OmerV]

Nor do you but what I saw was constant penetration into the backfield and Pats looking to stop the run and were doing so. Pass was a big part Goff was avg 35 passes a game put up 32 TD passes on the season. You say I don't know but you do know that had they continued to run they would have stopped punting the ball sending their defense right back out? They started the game running and got no where not even 1st downs.

I didn't say I know, and in fact said your thought may be right, or it may not have been. The one thing we do know is the Rams eliminated any chance for the running game to pick up and impact the game by not giving it the chance.

And I never said passing wasn't a big part of the Rams success. Obviously it was. But so was the run. The success was based on being strong in both areas.

As for them running early and not getting first downs, they weren't getting first downs passing either. Look at the early possessions. First possession they threw 2 of the 3 plays before punting. Second possession they threw 5 of the 6 plays before punting, and the one run was to a WR. 3rd possession they ran twice for 5 yards and 3 yards, and on 3rd and 2 they passed and it was incomplete, so they punted again. How does this translate into the early inability to get 1st downs being the fault of the running game?

 

[OmerV]

It makes me wonder if they backed off from using Todd Gurley so much because he was still hurt. But then why didn't they run more with that Anderson guy? Anderson ran down our throats.

That was my original thought too, but Gurley was not listed on the injury report going into the Super Bowl, and Gurley said after the game he was fine. In addition, McVay said afterward he did a poor job of getting Gurley involved, and Goff said afterward he would love to have got Gurley more involved, but that wasn’t his decision.

And, again, like you said, Anderson had played well, and it wasn't just against the Cowboys. He had some huge games when the Rams signed him at the end of the regular season. He didn't even join the Rams until the last 2 games of the regular season, and in those game he ran for 167 yards, and 132 yards, and then followed it up with 123 yards against Dallas in the playoffs.

 

[garyv]

What I saw in the game is Pats dominated the line of scrimmage. They were able to stop the run and got a lot of pressure on Goff and had 4 sacks on the night. I think both defenses played great ball through out the night in the end the ball by Brady to Gronk was the difference maker.

This is a pivotal key and thoughts for the Cowboys. We got beat by the Rams because of getting beaten on both sides of the line
and this should be a major focus in the offseason.

 

[coogrfan]

insanely stupid offensive game plan - NE isn't remotely that good on defense. NO would have been a better match-up, thanks refs.

The Pats defeated the top 2 offenses in the league in the AFCCG and the SB. NE's talent may not be elite, but Belichick absolutely is.

 

[Blackspider214]

insanely stupid offensive game plan - NE isn't remotely that good on defense. NO would have been a better match-up, thanks refs.

Thanks refs? You mean thanks the Saints for choking. 13pt lead blown. 2 FGs on first 2 redzone attempts. Allowing Goff to drive down the field to tie the game to send it to OT. Saints get ball first and throw a pick.

But yeah, those pesky refs....

 

[CowboysExchange]

The Patriots went run n shoot on the Rams and the Ram's didn't utilize their rbs properly. I was pretty dissappointed w the Ram's offense. Mcvay pulled a Jason garrett.

If Brandon cooks catches that pass maybe there is some momentum. coulda woulda shouldas. But 3 points. I don't even think they got to the red zone

The flag on the hit on a defenseless player was a momentum killer. Looked like a bad call on that. If the league is protecting the players like that they shoulda called a penalty for a late hit on Goff. Lol. I betcha Who Dat Nation feels vindicated. Maybe they put a voodoo spell on the Ram's offense. Lol.

The Rams couldn't get any momentum whatsoever w their one dimensional running attack and lack of a short to intermediate Passing attack. I just cannot get over the rb targets.

 

[Roadtrip635]

 

[Doomsday101]

Earth to Doomsday....Earth to Doomsday.....come in Doomsday.........

I'm sure the opposing team's game-plan(s) have routinely been to stop NE's run game and make Brady beat them. I can absolutely see the similarities of how teams defend Brady and Dak since they're so similar, it's almost scary.......probably clones.

Did not say that. Brady makes quick reads and gets the ball out quick often hitting his man in stride. However vast majority of what Brady does is dink and dunk. I have no issues with Dak throwing the short passes but he has to do better about making the quick reads and getting the ball out quickly to allow the receiver or back to do something with the ball once they make the catch.

 

[Teague31]

Just sad. Our O was much better against the Rams than the almighty Pats. The inability of Rod and Richard to adjust the run D lost what was a winnable game

 

[Doomsday101]

I didn't say I know, and in fact said your thought may be right, or it may not have been. The one thing we do know is the Rams eliminated any chance for the running game to pick up and impact the game by not giving it the chance.

And I never said passing wasn't a big part of the Rams success. Obviously it was. But so was the run. The success was based on being strong in both areas.

As for them running early and not getting first downs, they weren't getting first downs passing either. Look at the early possessions. First possession they threw 2 of the 3 plays before punting. Second possession they threw 5 of the 6 plays before punting, and the one run was to a WR. 3rd possession they ran twice for 5 yards and 3 yards, and on 3rd and 2 they passed and it was incomplete, so they punted again. How does this translate into the early inability to get 1st downs being the fault of the running game?

true it is 20/20 coaching after the fact. What I saw was as long as the Pats front 7 were winning the battles up front the Rams would struggle. It is not as easy as saying you need to run more, if you are not getting it blocked up front it does not matter what plays you are calling. There were some things I was surprised the Rams did not do which was using Gurley more in the passing game, he had 1 catch on the night, I would have thought they would try to get him involved in the passing game. Bottom line if you can't control the line of scrimmage you will struggle to do much of anything.

 

[Philmonroe]

"They played six on the line all day, which kind of limited the space to get the runs in there," Rams left tackle Andrew Whitworth said. "They played an open-field 6-2 almost, but with one guy in the middle -- almost a little bit of goal line. And they played a lot more zone than they played all season, so that kind of shook it up a little bit."
That was the key difference. The Patriots' defense played more man coverage during the season than any team in the league. But Sunday night, New England was in zone on about 40 percent of its defensive plays. That might not sound like a lot, but it's a lot more than the Patriots showed in any game film the Rams were able to watch the past two weeks, and it worked.

"When they start running zone, you've got to hold it a little bit," Whitworth said. "And then they end up rushing six guys -- all NFL rushers, all guys who can rush in the NFL -- somebody's going to have a mismatch somewhere."

The results were a bit similar to what happened to Goff and the Rams in their Week 14 loss in Chicago. That night, the Chicago Bears played a bunch of zone concepts and intercepted Goff four times in a 15-6 victory. Until Sunday night, that point total was the Rams' lowest of the season -- by 17.

"They mixed it up," McVay said of the Patriots' Super Bowl game plan. "In the early downs, all they ended up playing was some single-high buzz structures and some quarters principles. Then on third down, they had their designers and things like that. It was a great game plan."

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/25920798/how-patriots-defense-stymied-sean-mcvay-super-bowl-liii

You give Bill B 2 weeks to prepare and he'll take away your #1 threat. The Rams couldn't adjust.
Once the ground game was neutered, the Rams lose that ability to try to trick you with misdirections and presnap motions.

Forget giving Bill two weeks to prepare he just took the Bears gameplan like we should've done and did what he was supposed to. That's why I was like the coaches should've been fired when they were coming out with that garbage gameplan when another team showed you the blueprint.

 

[Dodger12]

Did not say that. Brady makes quick reads and gets the ball out quick often hitting his man in stride. However vast majority of what Brady does is dink and dunk. I have no issues with Dak throwing the short passes but he has to do better about making the quick reads and getting the ball out quickly to allow the receiver or back to do something with the ball once they make the catch.

When you say that Brady does the same thing as Dak but Dak gets "ripped" for it, you are saying it. You're saying they play the position the same way (dink and dunk). Only folks here would continue to compare Brady to Dak and in any way feel that they play a similar style. Brady's not going to the HoF because he made a career of "dinking and dunking" his way through the NFL.

 

[Doomsday101]

This is a pivotal key and thoughts for the Cowboys. We got beat by the Rams because of getting beaten on both sides of the line
and this should be a major focus in the offseason.

I think Martin had a hard time vs Shu. Shu is a strong guy vs Martin playing on a bad knee. I think you face a man like Shu you better be close to 100% and fact was Martin wasn't. Donald on the other hand is a game changer no matter who he faces you can expect a hard fight all day long.

 

[kuyyo_morro]