GAME DAY Rams at Panthers - Wild Card GDT
- Thread starter CGI_Ram
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BuffaloRam
Hall of Fame
a) Our defensive backfield is pretty bad, especially our cornerbacks.
b) The Carolina Panthers are better than most people think.
Have to agree that was a very weak effort. If nothing else just get in front of the guy if he rolls you that will slow him down. He looked more interested in getting down field. Another cosching opp I suppose.
Panthers defense have some nice CBs but the rest of the defense is made up of Rams castoffs.
No surprise that the game was close.
There is no way we should have been 10 point favourites.
Forget about the Panthers' poor record. It's a matchup league, and our small, non-physical defensive backs are overwhelmed by their big, powerful receivers, and we simply can't contain running quarterbacks.
But my main concern coming into the game was really McVay's bone-headed in-game decision making (game management).
In spite of his first rate offensive scheming, most of our losses in the McVay era have actually been a result of McVay's poor game management/situational decisions. Considering that he is one of the very best coaches in the NFL, it's an area that has not improved.
McVay almost cost us another game today by not taking the chip shot field goal before halftime, resulting in a 4th down stop and an immediate momentum-swinging Panthers TD going into halftime. Considering that the Panthers are a tough matchup for us and that their secondary is very tough, you have to take the points.
Not enough is made about McVay gambling on 4th down twice against the Falcons a few weeks ago when we were in easy field goal range, against a defence that was totally stopping our offence. We lost the game by 3 points on a last second field goal.
Going for it on 4th down twice was questionable in the first place, going for it twice with 2 backup offensive linemen playing was suicidal. Naturally, both gambles failed.
In the 2nd Seahawks game, with a 16 point lead and with the NFC number one seed on the line, we punted the ball to Shaheed who returned it for a momentum changing TD and an eventual backbreaking overtime loss that prevented the Rams from obtaining the bye, the NFC first seed, the NFC West title and guaranteed home playoff games.
Many posters noted that Ethan Evans' punt to Shaheed was low. The special teams coach was fired after the game.
The fact is that the Rams should have been fully aware through their pregame prep and film study of the threat that Shaheed poses, hence the Rams' decision to kick all the kickoffs through the end zone and allow the Seahawks to start all of their drives at the 35 yard line - something that we foolishly did in overtime against the Seahawks in the second game and in the 4th quarter of the Atlanta game.
So, it should have been a pre-game decision to punt the ball out of bounds to avoid giving Shaheed the chance to bust one against our shoddy special teams coverage.
Sorry, the head coach should been the ultimate decision maker there and should have made that call.
I almost busted my TV when Shaheed was passing the goalline during that punt return, it's inexcusable that we kicked to him.
There is no way we should have been 10 point favourites.
Forget about the Panthers' poor record. It's a matchup league, and our small, non-physical defensive backs are overwhelmed by their big, powerful receivers, and we simply can't contain running quarterbacks.
But my main concern coming into the game was really McVay's bone-headed in-game decision making (game management).
In spite of his first rate offensive scheming, most of our losses in the McVay era have actually been a result of McVay's poor game management/situational decisions. Considering that he is one of the very best coaches in the NFL, it's an area that has not improved.
McVay almost cost us another game today by not taking the chip shot field goal before halftime, resulting in a 4th down stop and an immediate momentum-swinging Panthers TD going into halftime. Considering that the Panthers are a tough matchup for us and that their secondary is very tough, you have to take the points.
Not enough is made about McVay gambling on 4th down twice against the Falcons a few weeks ago when we were in easy field goal range, against a defence that was totally stopping our offence. We lost the game by 3 points on a last second field goal.
Going for it on 4th down twice was questionable in the first place, going for it twice with 2 backup offensive linemen playing was suicidal. Naturally, both gambles failed.
In the 2nd Seahawks game, with a 16 point lead and with the NFC number one seed on the line, we punted the ball to Shaheed who returned it for a momentum changing TD and an eventual backbreaking overtime loss that prevented the Rams from obtaining the bye, the NFC first seed, the NFC West title and guaranteed home playoff games.
Many posters noted that Ethan Evans' punt to Shaheed was low. The special teams coach was fired after the game.
The fact is that the Rams should have been fully aware through their pregame prep and film study of the threat that Shaheed poses, hence the Rams' decision to kick all the kickoffs through the end zone and allow the Seahawks to start all of their drives at the 35 yard line - something that we foolishly did in overtime against the Seahawks in the second game and in the 4th quarter of the Atlanta game.
So, it should have been a pre-game decision to punt the ball out of bounds to avoid giving Shaheed the chance to bust one against our shoddy special teams coverage.
Sorry, the head coach should been the ultimate decision maker there and should have made that call.
I almost busted my TV when Shaheed was passing the goalline during that punt return, it's inexcusable that we kicked to him.
A lot of y'all are stuck in the old way of thinking on fourth downs. I'm glad McVay has broken away from that in recent years. The analytics are generally right. There is, of course, a human factor of knowing your team. Maybe you deviate from the analytics when your OL is getting dominated or your defense is smothering the opposition, so it's smarter to take the points. But when McVay went for it, our O was rolling. He was right to go for it. And we'd have converted if Stafford had made a better throw to Higbee.
Analytics are not as relevant to game situations as are the specific flow and dynamics of the game, the matchups, the confidence and psychology of your team and your opponents, and the ebb and flow of momentum in the game.
At the end of the day, the Panthers don't fear the Rams.
We had the same issue with the 49ers in the past, when they would physically pound us on the ground with their superior size.
Too much is made of the comparative records of the teams. We have a better record than the Panthers mainly because our top offensive players are significantly better than theirs. They have no equivalent match for Stafford or Nakua.
But head to head their secondary is significantly better than ours, they have a very mobile quarterback who is able to exploit our weakness in contain, and a running game that exposed our tackling.
The size, speed and strength of Panthers receivers overpower the comparative weakness of our secondary. We are athletically unable to contain their receivers and we are susceptible to explosive plays and being beaten in individual matchups.
Their secondary and particularly their cornerbacks were providing extremely tight coverage. Since Nakua was our only productive receiver for much of the game, we struggled in converting 3rd downs and in sustaining drives.
As a result points were going to be hard to get, so we should have taken them when they were there.
Given the weakness of our defensive backfield, you just knew that the Panthers were going to be able to score, and you knew that we would have to slog for any points against their superior secondary.
Unlike a lot of posters who get caught up in criticizing McVay for not running the ball enough, I believe that a coach has to be fluid and to be quick to assess the game dynamics to inform their decision making.
Since many games are decided by a field goal or less than a touchdown, coach's situational decisions are often the difference between winning and losing games.
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Analytics are every bit as relevant. The other factors you named might give a coach reason to deviate, but my first resort would always be, "What does the data say maximizes our chances of winning?" Once I know that answer, I can then decide whether I think it's the right decision based on the other things I'm seeing.
Points were not hard to get. We scored 34 of them. And at the time we went for the fourth down, our offense had already scored 17 points on five possessions, with Stafford missing a wide open Davante for a TD on the one of the two possessions where we didn't score.
At that point in the game, the Panthers had scored once (a TD) in five possessions.
And that's why coaches should know what statistically maximizes their odds of winning.
Voting is completed already. They announce the winner right before the SB but the voting was long since completed
