Coaches Film: The dick punch drive that lost us the NFC Championship

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OnceARam

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Gents and lady,

We are going over the three play drive that lost us the game.

Need I remind you that we were up by a score with 1:33 going into the half.

All we had to do was not fuck up.

Instead, we went three and out... and that was all she wrote.

Without further ado, here is your dick punch that lost us the NFC Championship;

Context:

133.webp



1st down:

NT is doubled by OC Shelton and OG Avila at the point of attack.
1st down.webp



RB KW is reading which hole to run through. Looks like he has several available. Avila climbs to the second level to erase ILB (former Ram erased).
1st down 2.webp



KW plants his left foot and goes right. Decides back side A gap is WIDE open, which it was.
(Notice that the helmet of the Seattle NT is on the left side of Shelton.)
1st down 3.webp



Seattle NT Murphy II uses Shelton as his b*tch and gets to the hole before KW does.
1st down 4.webp



Byron Murphy II is better than Shelton, KW and the PLAY CALL. Minimal gain.
1st down 5.webp



2nd down:

2x2 fomation. 11 personal. Puka is second from top. DA is bottom WR.
2nd down 1.webp


Stafford makes the (correct) read immediately. Emmanwori is 3 yards off Puka when Staffords goes to throw the ball.
2nd down 2.webp


Emmanwori closes on the ball at an impossible speed. (DA beats his man immediately. But he is only open because the SS/Star vacates middle field intermediate zone based on Stafford`s body language and throw.)
2nd down x.webp



Emmanwori beats the throw, which could have been placed on the OUTSIDE shoulder of Puka. Bang. Bang.
2nd down.webp



3rd down (the money down):

3x1 formation. 11 personal. Ferguson motions to middle of bunch and runs a clear out, vertical route. Stafford looks left, sees flat defender(s) waiting.
(Notice how DA has already beat his man. Also notice how both deep safeties are keyed to bunch side.)
3rd down.webp



Stafford now looks right. Corum is at LOS, leaking out top right. DA is NFL open with no Safety over him.
(Stafford was right to move off of Puka, as he is clearly bracketed, with extra defenders lurking.)
3rd down 2.webp



Stafford still looking right. DA is now college open with NO Safety. Corum is running to Emmanwori, who is waiting patiently.
3rd down 3.webp



Stafford waits another beat for Corum to get closer to Emmanwori and then throws the ball. DA is now high school open with NO Safety.
3rd down 4.webp



Emmanwori closes on the ball like a bird of pray, as Corum watches the ball bounce off of his dick. Incomplete. Drive over. Game. Set. Match.
3rd down 5.webp



Lessons learned.
1. Seattle drafted two defensive players who are All-Pro`s, who make up for the lack of fundamentals that on-the-spectrum-Mac-Tonight plays with .
2. Stafford takes his foot off of the gas peddle every now and then. And although a QB has to have a healthy ego, I don`t think Stafford appreciates that DA is better at his position than Stafford is at his. There I said it.
3. Shelton... is great at line calls, and cashing checks.
 
Drive should have been either run-run-run, or run-run-pass, not run-pass-pass. Seattle would have had significantly less time and/or time-outs to drive the field.
 
Great analysis, but I'm not sure why you think this was the key drive of the entire game? Rams tried to be "moderately aggressive" and then punted away.

After this, the Hawks went six plays for 74 yards in only 34 seconds and scored a TD. So even a super-conservative sequence of Rams going run-run-run probably wouldn't have prevented Hawks from having enough time to sustain a TD drive.

IMO the problem last year was the secondary. Pretty hard to put this on the O when the D gave up 31.
 
Good thing we addressed the secondary with our second pick of the draft!
 
Going into that game I kept saying the Rams would have to score over 30. They didn’t and they lost.

The secondary was terrible down the stretch. The defense would rarely get off the field without the offense shooting themselves in the foot.
 
With 1:33 to play in the half, the #1 Offense in the NFL the ... Rams ... tried to Score!!!

After this, the Hawks went six plays for 74 yards in only 34 seconds and scored a TD. 34 Fucking Seconds!!!
I made a couple edits, bolded and underlined ... I hope you don't mind.
 
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Would ya look at the size of those gaping running lanes….

Holes close quickly at this level.
 
So long as we're second-guessing that game, I've had heated arguments with a non-Rams friend who insists McVay should have kicked the FG to make it 31-30, with his logic being that another possession would've required only a FG to win. I countered that it didn't matter, because to win the game, whether we took the FG or went for it and failed, the Rams' defense would have to stop them the following possession. And if we kicked the FG, Seattle would have started on their own 35 instead of around the eight where they did start.. Since we only did stop them with about 35 seconds to go, deep in our own territory, no TOs, it was pretty much over. But if we score to go 34-31, we still wouldn't have stopped them from at least tying the game or winning outright in those last four minutes. Just like in the OT game, where if they got one stop at the end meant that game, the #1 seed, and a SB win where they wouldn't have kicked five fucking FGs vs a weak NE team. No, the culprit was the defense. Better secondary play and a more consistent pass rush will go a long way. Just hope not a year too late.