Stafford has had two games where defenses got to him quickly and snuffed out his early reads. Both were losses. But the real prob here IMO is that all QBs are prone to bad games, even the great ones, when those things happen. Fans tend to not remember Brady getting his ass handed to him, or Rodgers playing like dogshit. Because they bounce back and win big games later on in the schedule and over the course of many games consistently put up big numbers.
9 has put up big and consistent numbers this year. He is #3 in passer rating and ahead of Brady and Rogers. Only Wilson and Murray are ahead of him even with those two bad games because he's been Mr. Automatic for the most part.
Going forward I still feel like run game balance is the key. McVay needs to ensure he's checking himself there because we're not gonna win shit throwing the ball all over the yard through the playoffs. Teams that do that always meet a team that hits them in the mouth and eliminates them. We gotta find balance man.
Agree that all Qbs have bad plays and bad days.
But I seem to remember lots of games from the likes of Brady, Rodgers, Montana, Manning, hell Johny Unitas where the QBs have been patient, taken what the defense gives, used short passes and runs skillfully, kept moving the chains, and won. And often eventually made big plays too after frustrating the defense first.
Belichek and Brady didn't come out gunning the ball downfield every game. Seems to me they had a much more varied set of strategies.
Haven't seen much of that from McVay and Stafford. McVay has not shown that patience.
(To be fair, he changes his game to run out the clock, but it's so mechanical an approach it's painful to watch and not nearly as effective as it should be. And last year he limited the offense out of necessity because the line couldn't consistently block, the qb play wasn't great, Kupp and Woods were the only serious receivers, etc. )
McVay seems to have one gear, one strategy. And usually doubles down on it. And usually wins with it. But.... it doesn't always work.
I would like to see the Rams' O with another strategy or gear, more or less already in the can and practiced up, to use against really strong Ds if and when needed. And to regain the element of strategic surprise, which we have totally lost.
Rams have the talent on O to do this effectively. Look at the run game against the Titans.
theramswire.usatoday.com
