Here’s a pic from the first game that came-up, maybe 5 plays into it. The problem is when you watch these condensed highlights they go right to the snap and don’t always show the defense. Notice the Safety isn’t even on the screen?!?!
Yeah and they don’t show the Air Yards for every play and the YAC either, so unless you watch every play and figure it out for yourself, you can never know if it was a 2 yard slant that went for 60 yards or a 60 yard pass in the air.
I think the NFL or nextgenstats needs to add this info to every pass play.
That was Goff throwing with the broken thumb. One of his worst passes all year but Kupp bailed him out with a terrific 50/50 catch. Very rare for the Rams but sounds like Golladay and Jones did it many times a game for Stafford.
Yeah, I kind of wondered if that was when he had the thumb thing going on or not, thanks for letting me know. I think Seattle was daring Goff to throw past them with his bum thumb.
Golladay did it a lot, same with Calvin…not so much for Jones unless I’m just not remembering, which is entirely possible. LOL
Golladay has a crazy catch radius, maybe one of the best ever that I’ve seen.
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I literally could just keep going and going with insane KG catches, if I remember correctly, at this point in his career he has bettter #'s than Calvin.
Quinn’s best pick relative to draft position. No. 96 overall Golladay was better than 2017 No. 5 overall WR Corey Davis.
Precisely!
If anyone watches the full 2020 highlights of Kupp, Woods, and Reynolds… I am not sure if there are 10 balls caught 20+ yards down field… combined.
And… when watching the film… there are many more plays in 2020 where the Rams didn’t even try to get a WR deeper than 15 yards on a route. The offense changed a lot from 2018 to 2020… and the coverages against them changed as well.
Again… the story is not that the 2020 Rams didn’t have 1… or even 5 plays that went down the field.
It is that they were so rare… and the the poor O-line play combined with a lack of speed at WR allowed the coverages so sit on shorter routes because they did NOT respect the Rams ability to get deep.
Here is my quote… notice that “safeties” is plural.
In 2018… the Rams saw a lot of 2 high safety looks because Cooks was a threat.
In the pic you included… I do notice the single high safety is out of view.
I also notice the Cowboys have 10 defenders within 4 yards of the LOS.
I also watched the play… and see that deep safety… NOT getting depth… but coming downhill making the tackle within 5 yards of LOS within 3 seconds of the snap.
That is a defense that is not concerned about getting beat for a deep ball.
And the Seattle example provided for Kupp’s deep catch?
I see 10 defenders within 6 yards of LOS. Only 1 deep safety again.
Then I watch the play… and I see Goff planting his back leg… with 6 defenders sitting on routes within 9 yards of LOS… and 5 of them watching Goff… not concerned about deep routes.
Jamal Adams has Kupp in coverage… and he is watching Goff… then doesn’t turn his hips to run until Kupp actually passes him about 13 yards downfield.
Hawks were 31st ranked pass defense in 2020, and still didn’t respect the Rams ability to get deep.
Now… look at 2018 coverages they faced.
Pic below shows 2nd and 7… possible run situation.
Raiders have nickel personnel… with 1 safety 10 yards deep and the other even deeper.
The ball was snapped with 1:21 on clock. Goff takes a short drop.
Goff plants his back foot with 1:19 on clock.
Ball is caught by Cooks 15 yards downfield… 4 seconds after snap.
The FS was 23 yards deep. The SS was already 17 yards deep. The CB on Woods is 22 yards deep.
Here is a 1st and 10 play… Cooks catches 15 yards downfield.
And there are 3 DBs 18+ yards deep. … and look how much space Cooks still has on that catch.
1st and 10 play… 2 safeties too deep to get in view.
Goff launches the ball only 3 seconds after snap…
There are 3 Cards defenders between 13-16 yards deep.
And… 2 more Cards DBs now 30+ yards deep… for a total of 5 DBs that dropped deeper than 13 yards within 3 seconds of the snap… against a 2 man route.
Cooks makes a 58 yard grab… even though the defense played it right.
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Here is another good example… because the Chargers only have to defend 40 yards of field.
2 deep safeties again. Ball is snapped at the 5:40 mark.
Goff is releasing the ball at 5:39 mark… just under 2 seconds.
And Cooks catches the ball 16 yards downfield… with 2 defenders 17 yards or deeper… another 13 yards deep… and 2 more at 10 yards…only 3 seconds after the snap… against a play with only 2 WRs deeper than 5 yards downfield. The DBs were clearly getting depth because of the speed at WR in 2018.
.
BTW… all of those pics came in the first 2 and 1/2 minutes of the Cooks highlight video for 2018.
I didn’t have to search hard… it is night and day comparing the 2 seasons.
I’m not trying to “fit a narrative” here.
I have been watching film and noticed that the Rams offense in 2020 is not impressive.
It didn’t scare anyone. It didn’t get safeties (plural) backing up on play action passes.
Robert Woods was the most explosive Rams WR in 2020… and he was a VERY DISTANT #2 to Cooks in 2018.
In 2018… the Rams were looking at WAY more 2 deep safety looks.
And… when the defense did show 1 deep safety… the CBs were frequently bailing and and getting depth at the snap. There are 2 man routes that command enough respect to get 3+ DBs dropping deep.
In 2020… watch the film and you will see DBs sitting on routes. They aren’t bailing to get depth.
They have their eyes in the backfield most of the time. They are anticipating the crossers, digs, hooks, etc. Instead of having 2 deep safeties… the 2020 Rams often had a safety playing a “lurk” role watching for the crossing route they rely on so often. At times… even with play action… the safeties are moving forward or at least holding ground.
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Watkins doesn’t seem like he gives a damn to be honest. He seems to be a bit like our DL Deshawn Hand. All the talent in the world but just not all that into football IMO.
Cooks size limits him in some ways. He definitely shouldn’t be a number one but given that he and Goff should have some chemistry he would be an ideal trade deadline target if we’re in the hunt.
They make the highlights when completions are made. Your assumption is that it’s because Goff didn’t have weapons getting open deep and that the deep ball wasn’t there. However McVay has stated that wasn’t the case plenty of times in the media. McVay was basically saying that Goff wasn’t recognizing and hitting those open deep WR’s. This is the main reason Goff was traded.
However I’m not sure I buy that completely. When you look at 3rd and long situations. The Rams failed to complete zero of them when they needed 15 yards or more. That’s an alarming stat. McVay seems to put the blame on Goff. But when you look at the breakdowns they had 16 situations where they needed 15 or more yards on 3rd down. 6 times they ran it …. What? …, that’s crazy right. Several times Goff completed a short screen pass. Was this by design? Was it because he had to get rid of it quickly or was it because he wasn’t recognizing the open deep WR?
So let’s look at 2nd down. 19 times they needed 15+ yards. 6 times they chose to run it and only once did Goff make a pass that went more than 15 yards. So 12 times they chose a short pass. Once again was this because Goff wasn’t recognizing a WR open deep?
However when looking at these situations it’s obvious McVay drew up a lot of screens and short quick passes. The media called him out for it to. Basically calling him conservative. He admitted he would rather play it safe and take 3 points than to take risks.
All of this gives me the impression that McVay didn’t trust his offenses ability to complete the deep pass. Did he not trust Goff, his WR’s or his OL to hold a pocket? The fact he shipped Goff suggests that he didn’t trust Goff for some reason.
Personally I’m not buying that Goff suddenly wasn’t able to complete the deep pass. I think there was a bunch of factors that contributed to this problem. Some falls on the declining weapons, some on Goff, some on the OL and some on McVay.
I think teams recognized that McVay wasn’t taking shots downfield and calling up deep passes as frequently … so they adjusted accordingly. I think that’s what your seeing.
When McVay first became HC he was touted as a guy who likes to go deep and then he became more conservative these last two seasons. Question is why? …… McVay seems to put that on Goff but I think Goff was the escape goat. More or less anyway.
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I think you are seeing what I see here. It was not just Goff.
There were HUGE differences in that offense from 2018 to 2020.
I have REALLY tried to find the times when Goff was missing deep looks.
I am not trying to be a homer and love everything Goff… but I really just don’t see where Goff was missing open deep balls. You are absolutely correct that McVay has stated his belief that Goff was missing opportunities… but I just can’t find it on film.
There might be something I am missing… because I am not a pro scout or anything,
I just can’t find it with the available film.
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I am staying out of this pissing match and I swore I wouldn’t comment. But you posted a pic of 10 guys within like 7 yards of the line of scrimmage. What am I missing?
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It was to go against his statement that nobody was playing deep.
You think 10 guys crowded up like that…
…nevermind.
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Ok, cool.
Nobody playing deep??? Who said that?
I was talking about 2 deep looks in 2018… vs. single high in 2020.
Here is a little recap…
2018…
.
.
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Then… 2020… 10 guys within 6 yards of LOS… .with a single high safety…and no DBs bailing deep.
And… my point was that there was 1 single high safety on a majority of plays I watched.
The common theme in 2020…
1 deep safety.
10 guys fairly close to the LOS.
LESS than 2 DBs getting significant depth.
Coverages watching for that crossing route… rather than worrying about any deep ball.
Golliday’s a stud, to be sure. Jones is a really nice #2. Golliday has been off the field as much as on it (love the guy, but wish he was healthy). Stafford is a complete badass QB. That doesn’t mean Goff isn’t. Sometimes where people take things is so friggin’ weird.
Rule #1
You don’t have to invalidate Stafford, for Goff to be a great QB.
Rule #2
You don’t have to invalidate Goff, for Stafford to be a great QB.
Unrelated conversations.
It makes no sense to call people who believe Stafford to be a great QB “fanboys” or “Stafford fanboys,” especially if you are riding Goff’s nuts so hard you’re pulling all of his pubes off…
Conversely…
It makes no sense to call people who believe Goff to be a great QB " fanboys" or “Goff fanboys,” when you’re riding his nuts so hard you’re pulling off all of his pubes.
Buncha hypocrites.
Invalidating one or the other doesn’t make the other look any better/worse.
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Not a commentary on quality of either QB. Goff is a precision QB that attempts to throw in stride. At least on the Rams he didn’t throw many 50/50 balls and rarely did the Rams WRs win 50/50 balls aside from that Kupp one against the seahawks.
I’m saying that they seemed a part of the game plan and were a regular feature of Stafford to Golladay.
Will be interesting to see if more of those 50/50 happen on the Rams with Stafford there and if more Happen with Goff away from McVay.
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Part of me still feels, the human part, that maybe McVay just couldn’t get over Goff remarks in his girl?! …
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