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You could look at it two ways . . .
. . . either it’s really impressive or really pathetic.
I’m talking about the New England Patriots winning another Super Bowl, their sixth during the Tom Brady-Bill Belichick tenure.
If somebody told you that Los Angeles Rams would hold Brady to 13 points, who would you have picked to win the game, especially since the Rams have been had a prolific scoring offense the last couple of years?
So think about how wasteful this was, the Rams holding the Patriots to 13 points, and their high-octane offense, which has been the talk of the NFL the last couple of years, managing only three points.
And spare me with how great the Patriots defense was. Yes, they were good, but let’s not put them in Canton. Did you see the second half of their previous game against Kansas City when the Chiefs scored 31 points and Pat Mahomes threw three touchdowns?
Late in the season, the Miami Dolphins upset New England. But forget the crazy kick return at the end of this game, how about the fact that QB Ryan Tannehill, a player the Dolphins are likely dumping, threw three touchdown passes in that game?
So how on earth were the Rams so anemic against the group?
Yes Bill Belichick and Brian Flores game up with a terrific game plan, but a lot of this was Jared Goff, who was underwhelming.
Like a lot of young quarterbacks, and Sam Darnold had this problem in 2018, Goff struggled dealing with a zone defense.
Zone defenses can be like Kryptonite to young quarterbacks.
Also Goff is a system QB, and without a running game, he’s in trouble, because he can’t sell the play-action and bootleg fakes, which can lead to wide open receivers down field.
The system didn’t work against New England.
And speaking of the system, it seemed like many teams with coaching openings this off-season, wanted to hire the “next Sean McVay.”
How’s that looking right now?
Sophomoric.
You know what you need to do when you hire a new head coach, you go out and find a great candidate, and don’t worry about finding the “next this” or the “next that.”
Kansas City Chiefs special teams coach Dave Toub was a bonafide head coaching candidate, but he isn’t “young” or an “offensive coordinator” so Toub got shut out again.
The Packers, Cardinals and Bengals went down the “next McVay” road.
If you are a Cincinnati fan today, how do you feel about your team hiring the Los Angeles Rams’ QUARTERBACK coach, 35-year-old Zac Taylor, to be your next head coach?
Hiring Goff’s QB coach, coming off Sunday’s game, is looking like a remarkably bad decision right now. Have fun selling that one?
But notice I didn’t throw Adam Gase into the “hot young coordinator” narrative.
I don’t think he’s in that category with Taylor (35), Kliff Kingsbury (39) and Matt LaFleur (39). Why? He’s been an NFL head coach before. He’s not the next McVay. He’s the next Adam Gase, who should be better his second-time around after all he learned in Miami. Those three years of learning on the job will benefit Gase his second time around, and the Jets.
So I don’t consider the Gase hiring a McVay copy-cat move.
But honestly, how do you throw a jump ball deep pass to Brandin Cooks covered by one of the game’s best corners, Stephon Gilmore? First off, Cooks is 5-9, and not a jump ball kind of guy. Secondly, Gilmore is one of the game’s best, so why would you go there with such a reckless throw?
What a missed opportunity by Rams. You contain Brady and the Pats offense and you are known for your offense, and you score three points?
As they say, “they had them right where they wanted them.”
But their quarterback looked across the line, and it was all a fog to him.
So this should make us realize how much work Gase has to do with Darnold on reading zone defenses, so difficult for young quarterbacks. This will be huge in Darnold taking the next step.
February 4, 2019
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