At the end of the Rams-49ers game, Los Angeles led 12-6 and San Francisco had the ball at the 50-yard line with 6 seconds remaining in the ballgame. With no timeouts remaining, the 49ers called a classic Hail Mary play.
The standard operating procedure for the defense is to line up three defensive linemen and drop eight defenders in coverage. The theory is that once the ball is in the air, the likelihood of a catch is nonexistent due to the amount of bodies going for the ball once it comes down.
In years past, several teams have attempted to sway from the norm by blitzing the quarterback, hoping to get a rushed throw or a sack. While it has worked in the past, it has also failed as in the case of the Aaron Rodgers Hail Mary against Arizona in the 2015-2016 playoffs.
Shula decided to change up how defenses cover Hail Mary plays by rushing five instead of three. That’s not a revolutionary concept, but the big difference was in the Rams’ personnel. Usually, teams like to blitz with more physical linebackers in this scenario. Shula went with a dime look that replaced Omar Speights with Kam Curl.
Shula had Jared Verse and Byron Young attack from the outside to force Brock Purdy to step up in the pocket. He then used Kobie Turner to draw the double-team. The 49ers called six-man protection so at this point, both tackles for the 49ers, along with their left guard and center, were being occupied by pass rushers. This left the right guard and running back as San Francisco’s only remaining blockers.
The guard took on Christian Rozeboom, leaving the speedy and physical Curl one-on-one with the running back. Rozeboom and Curl would bring Purdy down for the game-ending sack.
The @RamsNFL end it with a sack! pic.twitter.com/7GBU3uEt4a
— NFL (@NFL) December 13, 2024
It takes receivers at least 4.5 seconds to reach the endzone from the 50-yard line. Purdy was wrapped up in 3 seconds.
By deploying Curl as a linebacker, it forced the 49ers to use their running back to block him as the guard could easily get run past. Rozeboom, on the other hand, is also too quick for the guard to handle so no matter what, the QB doesn’t have enough time to get the ball off.
In terms of numbers and time, it’s better to rush five players instead of three in Hail Mary situations from 50 yards and beyond. A proper pass rush will get the QB on the ground before his receivers even reach the endzone. Expect more teams to deploy “hybrid linebackers” in the future like Curl in order to stop last-minute heaves before they can happen.