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“Last Second Thoughts-Super Bowl”

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Spraying spots all over the field in my post Super Bowl-autopsy.

NEW ENGLAND…The Patriots won because they out-schemed the Rams….They kept adjusting their defensive formations as the play-clock ticked down ….Once the coaches mike turned off with (:15) left, the Pats changed up again causing Jared Goff lots of problems….He had no help from Sean McVay from the sidelines.

PATRIOTS PRESSURE….Not really mentioned much on Sunday but the Pats defensive front beat the crap out of the Rams offensive line. Stunts, twists, gap blitzes, zone blitzes, Goff must have thought there were 13-men on the field on defense.

SECONDARY STARS….the Pats went to zone coverage with each of their DBs patrolling a different part of the secondary. They had never shown that look all season long, but the Rams saw something similar in their regular season game against Detroit. The Pats saw that video. The Rams, they never made the correction.

BIG BOY FOOTBALL….Tom Brady had lots of problems with Wade Philips defense in the first half. Was it zone, was it man, that’s why he struggled. He was jumpy-tentative in the pocket, got hit, got pressured in an erratic opening half. Then New England went to its jumbo package, two tight ends, running back, fullback and one wide receiver. But they spread that formation out, destroying the Rams ability to pressure and cover at the same time. Second half for Brady, no hits, no pressure….five big chunk plays on offense that spelled the difference in the game.

PANIC CITY….The accumulation of hits on Goff led to the critical turnover in the game. He took 4-sacks, 12-hits, 6-pressures, and there 7-tackles for loss. He took so much punishment, that he threw one up for grabs down on the goal line that was a drive killing Stephon Gilmour pick. The Rams first 8-possesions over 3-quarters, they had 3-first downs.

TURNOVER CITY…Interesting stat after the game. For the season Goff threw 1-pick against man coverage. Against zone packages, he finishes the year with 11-interceptions. Belicheck and his analytics people knew this, how come Sean McVay and his staff didn’t.

O LINE BEATDOWN….That’s what happened in front of Goff. The Rams could not handle the edge speed of Dont’a Hightower, and missed blocks time and time again in the 2nd half, when the Patriots stunted, used twists,and scrapes and delayed blitzes. Goff became a punching bag in the final two quarters.

GURLEY MIA…There were no running lanes for Rams RB-Todd Gurley up inside, and the Pats did a tremendous job holding the edge,never letting him get wide. End result, no play action for Goff to use to setup deeper pass plays. New England used a 6-man front at times, then also played press coverage too on receivers. It stymied the Rams run game.

BAD DAY AT THE OFFICE….Marcus Peters-Aqib Talib, it’s on you….Brady picked on them. Peters gave up 6-receptions…Talib three….and LB-David Littleton was beaten four times in coverages. That’s 13-completions against the best the Rams had back there. 5-of-the 6 biggest pass plays came against the best the Rams had to offer in the secondary.

THE REFS….They let them play. There was alot of hand checking down the field, but they didn’t throw flags on anyone. The one pass inteference penalty,a hit on Edelman, called on the Rams, was a hard tackle, but not a helmet hit , just a bang-bang play.

EDELMAN EXCEPTIONAL…..He was fast, he was quick, he found open holes, he had 10-catches adn 141-yards worth of big plays. The headlines read “PED-to-MVP’, a big unfair. he did serve a four game suspension to start the season for using a supplement while recovering from knee surgery that wiped out his 2017-season. But either side of that incident, he has been a big game guy in the biggest Patriots games for years.

GRONK GOES WILD…..He made big catches, he made punishing blocks in the run game, his size caused matchup problems, whether he was the primary receiver or the decoy. The Rams are still looking for ways to cover him..

MC VAY AFTERMATH….The Rams coach was upset, is still upset. He stood there unprepared to help his quarterback. Teacher Belicheck schools the student McVay. Old guard-Brady outgunned new breed Goff. Old school football…defense-sure tackling-adjustments got the Patriots the win. He said he was numb with how bad his team played.

THE FUTURE….The Rams QB will grow, that coaching staff will grow, but the reality is, over the final 7-games of the season, playoff included, they were not the dynamic-dangerous team they were earlier in the year….The Patriots just keep doing it. Look at what they did to the Chargers offense, the Chiefs big plays, you had to believe they’d do it again, and they did to the Rams offense.

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