Personally, I think McVay and Morris did a fine job in coaching the Super Bowl. Breakdowns of the play show how the Bengals had to resort to cheating to stay in the game. Much of the struggles with both the passing and run attack were due to obvious uncalled holding and PI.
McVay adjusted his offense, something he simply isn't known for, to his depleted offense. In the end, he resorted to the one receiver the Bengals could not stop, except by committing holding or PI. Those errors in the red zone by the Bungles were the results. More than one WR has said that in the red zone you cannot lay hands on a WR as the Bungles did without getting called. They all know that but did it anyway because they were desperate. They were outmatched and they knew it. So all the complaining about the refs was set up by McVay.
There is no doubt in my mind had Morris played the defense all season as he did in the playoffs this team would have been the #1 seed, but ultimately it all worked out. Morris is going to be the DC next season so I hope he learned his lesson about staying in a soft zone.
I'm stoked about next season. I see Harris taking OBJ's spot until he can return, probably late in the year. Both Blanton and Hopkins looked like they had their breakout behind Higbee. So combined with Woods the offense looks in good shape. IMO Whitworth is waiting to retire based upon the Rams being able to come to terms with Noteboom. I'm confident they will and he will be a worthy successor to Whit. I see Allen returning, but both OG spots are up for grabs though Corbett is a serviceable starter. Shelton really needs to step into that second OG spot as a bridge.
Their assessment of Alaric will determine whether or not Havenstein stays. I'm sorry but 7 regular season and 2 post season sacks blows a hole in the opinion he's a good RT.
If they can lock down Miller the Rams will have another year with one of the best DLs in the league. AD 15 sacks, Von Miller 9 sacks and Leonard Floyd with 12 sacks is testimony to why LA doesn't need to blitz. They threaten it to single up the blocking by the OL but most of the time they back off. With Jones, Howard (assuming the re-sign him) and Hollins they are fine at LB. I see Rochell replacing Williams and the Rams playing Burgess more this year. With Rapp, Fuller, and Burgess they have their nickel. Rapp as their in the box SS with Burgess and Fuller in Morris' shell.
Robinson proved when he wants to he can be the answer to plugging the middle along with Gaines. Gaines is the starter with Robinson rotating in on run downs. With the two of them, short-yardage was no gimme for the opposition. Robinson showed he's everything SJD isn't.
Because of Morris' soft defense the Ram defense finished the regular season ranked 20-21 but played much better than that during the playoffs with some evaluations saying a top 10 ranking. If Morris plays this year's defense like he did in the playoffs, this will be a top 10 ranked defense, i.e. good enough for another SB run.
Dare I say it? TWO CONSECUTIVE LOMBARDI TROPHIES!!!
