Mariner Talk Chat Forum

McVey not so smart anymore?

For three hours in Pittsburgh on Sunday, it was clear that Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay doesn’t have the same magic as his first couple seasons. We can drill it down to a baffling two-play sequence.

If Freddie Kitchens or Adam Gase had a similar decision-making process, we’d want them fired before they got on the team plane. In the third quarter, with the offense stalled, all of a sudden Blake Bortles was in the game at quarterback. He ran a really awkward read option and was stuffed for 1 yard on third-and-2. This was the plan. There was a plan to remove Jared Goff for Bortles in a key situation.
“We just had Blake come in. That was the play that we had designed for Blake,” McVay said, via Cameron DaSilva of The Rams Wire. “It wasn’t anything where Jared – you know, he was good. He was OK. That was a play that we were going to get Blake involved in and that was part of the game plan.”
Somehow, that wasn’t even the worst play in that sequence.

On fourth down, punter Johnny Hekker came on. He lined up at shotgun depth and not his usual spot to kick. The Rams practically announced Hekker was going to throw it; it’s hard to even call it a fake. Hekker’s pass was intercepted by running back Trey Edmunds.
So on a key sequence McVay took Jared Goff off the field to run with Bortles, then pass with his punter. That’s ... something. Just to show he hadn’t gone temporarily insane, McVay didn’t give Todd Gurley one touch in the fourth quarter of a close game. Gurley averaged 6.1 yards per carry over the first three quarters.

This is the kind of stuff that drives me nuts. It's like running a Wildcat play with your fourth string tailback or working on a trick play all week and not even knowing it is illegal. You know, like Chis Petersen did? Why do these guys go batshit crazy like this? I still can't get over Ron Rivera going for two early in the fourth quarter.....DOWN 8!

WTF?

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/th ... spartanntp

Some good stuff in there about other guys too. Kitchens? OMG, I had to start Kareem Hunt in fantasy, so I watched those goal line plays with a lot of interest. Cleveland is, well, they are still the Browns.

I used to think it was just a Seattle thing but it seems HCs all over the country are getting dumb and dumber. wtf is going on????

D-train wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 11, 2019 9:13 pm

I used to think it was just a Seattle thing but it seems HCs all over the country are getting dumb and dumber. wtf is going on????

Two things with McVay. One. Gurley pulled a full Shaun Alexander. Offense doesn't work without him. Two Goff sucks. A good QB shows flashes their rookie season. They don't go from incompetence to Montana year two. McVay was reading the coverages for him. Last 15 seconds of pkay clock radios are off Teams wait to switch their coverage. DCs around the league figured that out. Third they let their Center Sullivan go in FA and it appears age has finally caught up with Whitworth their LT.

D-train wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 11, 2019 9:13 pm

I used to think it was just a Seattle thing but it seems HCs all over the country are getting dumb and dumber. wtf is going on????

I realize these decisions have to be made in a split second, but when you are watching a game and are immediately blown away at how crazy it seems, shouldn't they have known also? I hate to keep harping on it, but when the Huskies lined up the last three times in the Wildcat...LONG BEFORE THEY PLAY FAILED ALL THREE TIMES, my 12 year old son yelled at the TV "What are you doing!?"

Ron Rivera? If you are going to go for two for the win, don't you do it at the end of the game? Passing on the two point conversion to cut it to seven means if you don't get it you HAVE to go for two later. It absolutely makes zero sense...NON. The Ram versus Steeler game was a one score game the entire way....and the RB who averaged 6.1 per carry doesn't touch it the entire 4th quarter? So the QB you have so much faith in you take off the field for a read option on 3rd and have the Punter throw from the shotgun on 4th?

Cleveland isn't even worth talking about, but then the Cowboys run on second AND third and long to throw a desperation pass on 4th? There isn't enough time in the day to discuss all the head scratching stuff that goes on...and yet it is mostly glossed over. In years past the ESPN guys would STILL be breaking down what Ron Rivera was thinking. It is almost as if the slant pass to the gunner on the punt team on second and goal from the one just sanitized the entire world for stupid ass stuff that can happen. No one even bats an eye anymore.

ThePro wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 11, 2019 9:19 pm

D-train wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 11, 2019 9:13 pm

I used to think it was just a Seattle thing but it seems HCs all over the country are getting dumb and dumber. wtf is going on????

Two things with McVay. One. Gurley pulled a full Shaun Alexander. Offense doesn't work without him. Two Goff sucks. A good QB shows flashes their rookie season. They don't go from incompetence to Montana year two. McVay was reading the coverages for him. Last 15 seconds of pkay clock radios are off Teams wait to switch their coverage. DCs around the league figured that out. Third they let their Center Sullivan go in FA and it appears age has finally caught up with Whitworth their LT.

All good points, but in this scenario? If Gurley is averaging 6.1 yards per carry, why remove him from the game plan in the 4th? It is funny you mention Alexander. Because before he got paid, in the season we went to the Super Bowl, we started out 2 and 2, and Alexander was limited in his usage in a lose at Jacksonville and the other loss that escapes my mind. Holmgren then wrote "run the damn ball" on his playsheet! Sometimes I think these guys fall in love with their own brains...they think all they need is there scheme. It got Chip Kelley a job at UCLA!

These coaches think they have to do something completely off-beat now to show the world how clever they are. Football is about putting your best players in a position to do what they do best, but some of these new coaches on the scene seem to be wrapped up in their egos, or else very insecure. The interesting part is what happens when they start to realize they aren't all that smart.

off beat shit?...I thought the knock on PC was his super conservatism

There's a massive middle ground in which resides common sense.

are there actual coaches that reside there?...If there are, please name them

speaking of genious'...seems Cable's Oline in Oakland has been playing pretty well lately