Matthew Stafford’s 70-yard touchdown pass to Puka Nacua against the Browns was a result of Stafford’s football genius, and Sean McVay’s belief.
The Los Angeles Rams, who went into their Week 10 bye with a 3-6 record, have won their last three games since then, and quite out of nowhere, are currently second in the NFC West, and are currently eighth in the NFC playoff race. It’s a new iteration of the offense orchestrated by head coach Sean McVay and personified by quarterback Matthew Stafford, and last Sunday, these Rams blew out the Cleveland Browns’ outstanding defense with 399 total yards in a 36-19 win. Stafford completed 22 of 37 passes for 379 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 110.1.
The most explosive play for the Rams in that game was Stafford’s 70-yard touchdown pass to receiver Puka Nacua with 4:08 left in the first quarter. As impressive as the play was (we’ll get to that in a moment), the interesting was how it came about because McVay and Stafford collaborated on a certain look they expected to see from Cleveland’s defense.
“That’s a check that he ended up making up where I’m saying, ‘Shoot, what the heck am I supposed to do? You know, you’re playing quarterback and you’re doing our job,'” McVay said of his quarterback. “But it just goes to show you what a special player he is to be able to say, ‘Hey if we get a certain look and I recognize it, how would this be to try to attack the back end of the coverage contour and what protection?’ And I’m sitting there saying, ‘That’s a pretty good idea. I should have thought of that earlier in the week.’ And he made it come to life. And then Puka being able to finish for a 70-yard touchdown was big early in the game. But Matthew’s a baller. He had another great game, and he’s going to continue to play really well for us.”
When Stafford was queried about the play, there was only so much he was willing to disclose.
“Can’t give away my secrets,” he said. “No, but that was something actually that we had talked about, Sean and I had talked about. I kind of wanted to try to get to something like that if I could feel that one coming and was able to bounce out back into the shotgun. Obviously, Puka did a great job of kind of late hands[ing] that thing, not letting the linebacker know the ball was coming and then finishing it off with the touchdown was huge, big momentum play. A team like that that’s holding teams to 100 and whatever it is, 15, 20 yards passing, anytime you can get 70 in one play is a huge one. It was great to get that one done.”
Here’s the play, and let’s get into how it may have popped open.
The Rams were in a 3×1 set with tight end Tyler Higbee to the right formation, Nacua in the slot, and Cooper Kupp wide. Nacua flew into his seam route off the snap, and caught the ball 21 yards downfield while linebacker Sione Takitaki tried to keep pace. Takitaki didn’t do a horrible job here, but Stafford made one his patented ridiculous Matthew Stafford throws, and that was that.
Now, I don’t know exactly what the check was here — what the look Stafford saw was — and I probably wouldn’t unless I talked to either McVay or Stafford with a bottle of truth serum handy. But there’s one thing to know about Jim Schwartz’s Browns defense — Schwartz likes to send defensive backs in blitzes from either side, and he did so on this play. Safety Juan Thornhill blitzed from the play side, and safety Grant Delpit did so from the other side. The Browns had inverted Cover-2 on the back end, with cornerbacks acting as the deep defenders.
Stafford saw something similar with 9:20 left in the first quarter. The 3×1 motion was to the other side after receiver Tutu Atwell motioned to it, but you’ll notice that Delpit and cornerback Martin Emerson were blitzing from each side. Notice also that with this defensive look, linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah was responsible for extending out as the flat defender to the offensive right side. Stafford still got the ball to Nacua on that side.
My guess is that when Stafford saw a defensive back in a blitz look again, he took note and recognized that the underneath defender to that side — whoever was playing linebacker depth — would have to take the flat right away. On the 70-yard pass, the responsibilities changed because it was a 3×1 to the right side. Now, Emerson was responsible for the flat, and Takitaki had to take Nacua wherever he went. Which was exactly what happened, with cornerback Kahlef Hailassie giving help up top. And that gave Nacua the room for his release.
It’s always nice when your quarterback has a rocket arm; it’s even better when he’s also a rocket scientist. Stafford’s vision of what Cleveland’s defense would do, and McVay’s trust in Stafford’s football intelligence, set up the most explosive play of the day for the resurging Rams.
