I'll ask this again..
Do you think the Rams defensive structures and approach in this game were created without a lot of input from McVay?
Do you think Morris came up with the gameplan on his own?
Because, after hiring a guy he knows and telling him he has to adjust to the defense that the Rams were already running, I don't.
Individual play calls? I guess that's a place we can start to look at Morris more closely.
But, conceptually? Sorry, McVay's fingerprints are all over that.
I think he did with Morris what he did with Wade Phillips and Staley prior to Morris, i.e. he gave them a free hand to run the defense they thought was best. This defense was better under Phillips than Morris. The problem Phillips had was in the players. Rogue players like Marcus Peters, Roby-Coleman, and over the hill Talib and an off and on Suh sabotaged his scheme and got him fired.
McVay historically has never really gotten involved with the designing of the scheme, how it's played or the play calling.
Wade Phillips: Played an aggressive 3-4 hybrid scheme. He mixed his coverages, from man to zone. If he had the talent this defense has then IMO it would be a top 5 unit and this team would be a contender for the division.
Staley: Played a zone scheme with man coverage concepts. Again he was very aggressive and intentionally prioritized the pass defense. Once a receiver entered a zone the DB or LB would plaster that receiver to force a contested reception or make the QB hold the ball longer giving the pass rush time to get to the QB.
Morris: Plays a passive conventional zone scheme. He has his DBs and LBs drop to their zone then stand there like statues and react only when the pass is thrown. That makes them late and the reception is rarely contested. A perfect example was on Sunday when the Packers were in 3rd and 5 and the CB was playing 8 yards off. There was no way he was going to stop the reception. Another was another 3rd and long and the receiver simply split the zone and the camera showed a LB and DB just standing there as the receiver simply turned around and made the catch and only then did the defenders react.
WTF kind of scheme is that? Again, I have no problem with zone defenses if played aggressively. Morris' defense is too fucking soft. He plays his players passively. McVay simply tries to deflect the criticism of Morris but he's done nothing to change a fucking thing. This is pure Morris and I'm hearing it's why he got fired last time.
This season is going down the toilet because of McVay's stale scheme and Morris' failure of bend and hope you don't break.