I had read about how Sean McVay was putting a lot of new wrinkles into his offensive scheme this year, with Mike LaFleur, the former 49ers assistant, leaving the Jets to become the Rams OC. But what I saw on Sunday was the same old McVay scheme, the slants and crossing patterns that were killing us play after play. Was the problem scheme or personnel? Defensive play call or lack of effort? It's hard to say.
Certainly, the inablity to get pressure was not schematic. We made the Rams O-line look like it had HOF players at all five positions. We had no sacks and just 5 pressures. And that was on 38 drop backs! JFC! If that's going to be the trend, then we're not winning many games this year. Maybe we just don't have the horses up front to do the job, maybe it's hard to do that in this league without a Nick Bosa or a TJ Watt or a Chris Jones. Dre'mont Jones, who we are paying a ton of money, was a non-factor. Derick Hall was a non factor. I didn't even know he played until I saw the box score. Nwosu was okay, but he's just one player.
We were definitely better against the run. (92 yards on 40 attempts, or 2.3 yards per carry.) But time after time, on third and long, Stafford would find the someone on a crossing pattern, with one of our DBs trailing behind, not close to anywhere that he could make a play. This was a familiar sight because we've been watching that movie for the last few years. Again, this didn't seem schematic. I mean it wasn't always a soft zone--there was the DB covering the receiver but only if you define "covering" as running a few steps behind.
I hope we weren't scheming to take away the deep ball, because then we're defending against a play they're not even attempting. Oh, and by the way, the couple times Stafford did go deep, I think he completed it, like the 45-yarder to Tutu Atwell on that first drive of the second half.
Just because it wasn't necessarily a schematic issue doesn't mean it's not a coaching issue. A big part of coaching is preparation, teaching, and getting the players ready to play. On those fronts, Clint Hurtt failed his first test of the season.
What's my point? I don't know if I have one, just ranting, I guess. Let's hope this was just one bad game. Two years ago, the Packers got blown out by the Saints in their first game, 38-3. The Packers finished 13-4. Of course, losing your two tackles bodes ill for the future. That's a tough obstacle to get around.