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On paper, the Rams looked like the better team than the Dolphins. They boast stars such as Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey, with the offense featuring an outstanding trio of Cooper Kupp, Robert Woods and Darrell Henderson.
But as they always say, games aren’t won and lost on paper. That’s why they play them on the field – and it’s also why coaching matters.
On Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium, the Rams were outplayed and outcoached. Arguably their most important people, Jared Goff and Sean McVay, laid an egg against the Dolphins and it cost the team a win.
Essentially, the Dolphins dared Goff to beat them and neither the quarterback nor the coach had any answer. Brian Flores, who was on the Patriots’ sideline calling their defensive plays in Super Bowl LIII, once again stymied McVay’s offense and made Goff look like he was a rookie seeing ghosts.
The Dolphins’ plan was fairly simple, too: attack Goff and make him beat us.
Spoiler alert: He couldn’t.
Emmanuel Ogbah says "the key to the game was attack Jared Goff."
— Armando Salguero (@ArmandoSalguero) November 1, 2020
Miami was relentless with its pressure on Goff. A staple of Flores’ defense on Sunday was zero blitzes. He would essentially send five-plus rushers at Goff from all angles and leave his cornerbacks on an island against the Rams’ receivers. Oftentimes, there was no safety in the middle.
The Dolphins forced Goff to make quick decisions and release the ball earlier than he wanted, and the Rams had no answer. There were no screens, no draws and very few route combinations to take advantage of the single coverage outside.
Miami could afford to test Goff like this because of its talented cornerbacks. Xavien Howard and Byron Jones are two of the best in the league and they showed why on Sunday. Very rarely were they beat in coverage and they allowed almost nothing deep down the field.
This game primarily falls on the shoulders of Goff, McVay and the offensive line. None of them executed the way they’re expected to, and as a result, the offense stalled all game long. But to the Dolphins’ credit, they came up with a game plan that the Rams weren’t ready for.
Michael Brockers, for instance, said after the loss that he’s never seen a defense use zero blitzes as much as the Dolphins did.
that before where a team just zero pressures you every play. It was tough.”
— Jourdan Rodrigue (@JourdanRodrigue) November 1, 2020
McVay is one of the best coaches in the NFL, but similarly to the way he coached in the Super Bowl, he failed to adapt on Sunday. He couldn’t come up with plays to beat what the Dolphins were doing over and over.
It’s like a player in “Madden” who uses the same play repeatedly. At some point, you have to counter and find a way to beat it. But McVay had no answer for Flores’ attack, and neither did Goff.
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