Analysis of Seahawks stopping Rams on 4th down

[RiverDog]

It was a bad decision to go for it in the first place. 4th and 4 is an obvious passing situation, and with the ball on the 6-yard line, the field is compressed, making coverages tighter. There was 4:54 left in the game with the Rams down by 4 and with all their timeouts. You gotta trust your defense, that they can stop us and get the ball back.

Even if the Rams had scored a TD, their defense was going to have to stop us anyway as we'd be down by just 3 points with all our timeouts and the possibility of winning the game on a TD.

I'm not sure what analytics had to say about that dilemma, but it was pretty clear in my mind. Someone please tell me how F-up I am.

 

[BDD222]

And honestly, is DLaw going to be able to cover Williams? If Love wasn't on him all he has to do is break outside.

I think Tank had better coverage on that than Love. Tank dropping into the passing lane was what caused Stafford to check off of that read. Love was in a trailing position in that if memory serves.

 

[Grahamhawker]

I think Tank had better coverage on that than Love. Tank dropping into the passing lane was what caused Stafford to check off of that read. Love was in a trailing position in that if memory serves.

I think you're right about that. Love was trailing, but I think he managed to take away the easy outside toss.

 

[TwilightError]

So McVay says Seahawks Lucked in on 4th & 4 and that he knows that having two guys on Kyren Williams can't be by design. Florio and Simms discuss it here (3:40 min onwards) and you can see the whole play here (2 min onwards).

What do you think? Did they luckily botch coverage or was it designed? To me it looks that either it was designed so that Love fakes pass rush and then gets to Kyren if he runs that way or that Love just makes a great adjustment when he sees Kyren take off. Either way, Love and Lawrence take away Stafford's first read and he needs to pivot to throwing in the middle, where Spoon is in great position to make the play he makes. Nothing seems "botched" to me... The Rams had already thrown a touchdown to Kyren near the goal line once in that game, on the 2nd quarter, so it does not appear to be a great element of surprise anymore...

It does not matter, but it's fun to speculate.

 

[Atradees]

Botched call. Should have been OPI

 

[Jac]

What I don't understand about the "botched coverage" theory is that this seems like good design. It's so annoying to give up easy swing passes to running backs for touchdowns. And the intended design was to defend Williams with Lawrence? That seems crazy, but I'm not a X's and O's guy.

 

[Mick063]

The imagery of McVey's anguished face slowly rising above his call sheet is most definitely iconic. There is no question that this clip is going to be referenced far into the future. We all get tired of seeing Wilson getting intercepted at the one against the Patriots. Ram fans are going to grow weary of reliving McVey's nightmare. Witherspoon is creating lore.

 

[Atradees]

Die by the Sword. You dont try Devon with a sorry receiver on 4th down in the nfc championship game. They should have kicked. We faked the blitz and dropped into coverage. A good call by Mac.

 

[Dolomight12]

Hard to say, but I thought it was weird that McVay said we got lucky. Stafford threw it directly into coverage. Unsure how he missed that.

I am normally aggressive, but with 4:59 left I felt like McVay should have kicked the field goal and then tried to stop us and kick a game-winner. It's weird - McVay is a GREAT coach, as is Sean Peyton. And I was already buzzed when Peyton made his decision, triply buzzed when McVay made his. But I thought at the time that they both made mistakes. If McVay had gotten the touchdown, we had 4:30 left to drive down and win. If he was afraid to kick the field goal because he couldn't stop us, then what did he think would happen if he got the touchdown?

I don't know if he got out schemed - has McDonald spoken about the play?

1000%

 

[Dolomight12]

I've said it a thousand times, or at least it feels like it................why are so many coaches allergic to just taking points? It has cost teams countless games. It makes NO sense to me and never will.

Seriously. Turning the ball over on downs in the red feels worse than getting picked off. I generally feel like "WE made it all the way down the length of the field, I'm not leaving without at least a FG." (situational)

 

[cymatica]

Hard to say, but I thought it was weird that McVay said we got lucky. Stafford threw it directly into coverage. Unsure how he missed that.

Williams was the primary read, Stafford was starting to throw there then stopped as soon as he saw him doubled. McVay was certain that play would work, oh well

 

[chrispy]

Macdonald hinted it didn't go the way he designed, but didn't admit anything specific. If I'm Macdonald, I want it ambiguous. If I schemed it, I want McVay to think it was blown coverage and bad luck so he tries again next year (seems like the actual scenario). If it was a blown coverage, I'd probably be definitive that we saw it and expected it...to force McVay to alter his playbook.

These 2 guys are a couple steps ahead of all of us in this thread. They know we think we know what they each know....

 

[Grahamhawker]

If it's blown coverage that implies someone's not covered or the coverage can be exploited.

Personally I think Lawrence and Love adjusted when they saw Williams immediately fly out on his route. That is literally the opposite of blown coverage. The only thing blown was McVay's narcissistic ego.

 

[JPatera76]

What’s crazy is I saw I believe on Facebook a back field camera angle of spoons stop.. spoon almost has it intercepted. It was in his hands lol

 

[Shane Falco]

What’s crazy is I saw I believe on Facebook a back field camera angle of spoons stop.. spoon almost has it intercepted. It was in his hands lol

Yeah, and he wanted pass interference on the receiver too. Which on the replay looked like he had a case.

 

[MontanaHawk05]

Spoon ran his receiver's route for him.

And yeah, if I'm Mike, I've got no inclination at all to confirm whether or not the coverage was intentional, even though it's not really going to matter in the future.

 

[Seattle Person]

It's been confirmed.

On that play, you can hear Mac yell, "Where is the Edge?"

D-Law either dropped when he was not supposed to drop or he free-lanced. Good play for us.

 

[GemCity]

Macdonald hinted it didn't go the way he designed, but didn't admit anything specific. If I'm Macdonald, I want it ambiguous. If I schemed it, I want McVay to think it was blown coverage and bad luck so he tries again next year (seems like the actual scenario). If it was a blown coverage, I'd probably be definitive that we saw it and expected it...to force McVay to alter his playbook.

These 2 guys are a couple steps ahead of all of us in this thread. They know we think we know what they each know....

Ngl…MMs reaction and calling out ‘END’ right before the play leads me to believe that it was indeed a ‘fortuitous bust’.

I think the ‘bust’ part is a bit harsh. D-Law sensed that Love was initially beat. Things that happen during a game aren’t always schemed.

Additionally, who’s to say D-law wouldn’t have got to Stafford or tipped the pass?

It would be interesting to hear Tanks side. He’s a vet…and smart. I have a feeling that nothing was ‘busted’. Tank knew Stafford wasn’t running it in from that far out and made a savvy, veteran move.

 

[rjas77]

It was a bad decision to go for it in the first place. 4th and 4 is an obvious passing situation, and with the ball on the 6-yard line, the field is compressed, making coverages tighter. There was 4:54 left in the game with the Rams down by 4 and with all their timeouts. You gotta trust your defense, that they can stop us and get the ball back.

Even if the Rams had scored a TD, their defense was going to have to stop us anyway as we'd be down by just 3 points with all our timeouts and the possibility of winning the game on a TD.

I'm not sure what analytics had to say about that dilemma, but it was pretty clear in my mind. Someone please tell me how F-up I am.

McVay trusts his offense and plays to win..I respect that

 

[IndyHawk]

Ngl…MMs reaction and calling out ‘END’ right before the play leads me to believe that it was indeed a ‘fortuitous bust’.

I think the ‘bust’ part is a bit harsh. D-Law sensed that Love was initially beat. Things that happen during a game aren’t always schemed.

Additionally, who’s to say D-law wouldn’t have got to Stafford or tipped the pass?

It would be interesting to hear Tanks side. He’s a vet…and smart. I have a feeling that nothing was ‘busted’. Tank knew Stafford wasn’t running it in from that far out and made a savvy, veteran move.

My thought as well, it was instinct from years of playing.. There is no play
drawn up for that.