Yeah, if you go back and *really* watch the game, you'll see a metric crap-ton of opportunities in the passing game that didn't materialize. Be it because of pressure, forcing throws, or not seeing what was out there, I just don't think it's fair to say that McVay was only feeding his ego. He knew what was available, and he drew up some good plays, but they didn't get executed.
Yes, it would have been nice to get Gurley going, but he and Anderson were only averaging 3.4 YPC against a mostly stacked front. Belichick wanted to give away the passing game and force a very inexperienced and young QB to beat him. And by rushing the passer while playing the run, they were able to bottle up the middle and get pressure inside. If anything, IMO, it would have been better for McVay to go 5-wide and get people off the line. But, what do I know? About as much as anyone else questioning what he saw on the field.
Yeah, I noticed that they rushed 5 quite a lot and from different spots, so on a lot of plays, we didn't have the RB available to head out into the flat for a check down.
Even though we got beat pretty handily, a few plays get made and we actually win, which is crazy.
The good news is that our D balled out and this looks like the maturation process for Goff.
If you all remember, Brady's stats in his first SB were crap and if it weren't for the abusing of the "let 'em play" business and our D playing prevent at the end of that game for some inexplicable reason, we win SB 36 even with all those shenanigans. It's safe to say that Belichick is a much better defensive coach than our DC during SB 36.
I'll keep saying it, McVay had no answer for how Belichick attacked the ZBS and in part I think it was either that Gurley didn't have the speed for the edge or McVay just plain forgot about spreading the D. Sometimes you take the 1 yard loss on a run to set up bigger runs out of that same set, something he did all season.
McVay is a young savant who's still learning. Wade had the D pitch a heckuva game as well.
What sucks isn't so much that we lost, but having to listen to Pats and Saints fans shittalk all off-season, but I find it easier to ignore people than ever, so...