First Three Drives of the Game

[Spider2YB]

Opening play Gurley gets 4 on the ground. Two incomplete passes followed. Punt.

Next drive, Gurley gets 8 on first down on the ground. Two incomplete passes followed. Punt.

Third drive, Gurley caught a pass on first for 3 yards. Two incomplete passes followed. Punt.

McVay is a HELLUVA coach, and we are lucky to have him. But he’s gotta learn. His inability to either establish the run or stick with the run cost us most of the games we lost this year.

 

[Merlin]

You can play that game in every way imaginable, questioning playcalling. Bottom line is the Rams didn't execute well enough on offense or teams, and the defense got gassed. And the Falcons played well, had a great plan, and ate that clock up along with taking advantage of Brock bein out. Ballgame.

Them's the playoffs man.

 

[Spider2YB]

You can play that game in every way imaginable, questioning playcalling. Bottom line is the Rams didn't execute well enough on offense or teams, and the defense got gassed. And the Falcons played well, had a great plan, and ate that clock up along with taking advantage of Brock bein out. Ballgame.

Them's the playoffs man.

No, the playoffs are establishing the best running back in football early in the game, and not letting up. That’s the benefit of having a work horse like Gurley. You ride him until they stop him.
Look, I’m not crapping on McVays future as a head coach, I’m just saying he has to learn.

 

[Merlin]

No, the playoffs are establishing the best running back in football early in the game, and not letting up. That’s the benefit of having a work horse like Gurley. You ride him until they stop him.
Look, I’m not crapping on McVays future as a head coach, I’m just saying he has to learn.

Wrong brother. Patriots did the same BS to us in the 2001 Super Bowl: they took away Faulk.

If you want to be a champion in this league, you have to be able to adjust and players gotta execute. Everyone nukes playcalling. But there's just a lot more to it than that man.

 

[Spider2YB]

Wrong brother. Patriots did the same BS to us in the 2001 Super Bowl: they took away Faulk.

If you want to be a champion in this league, you have to be able to adjust and players gotta execute. Everyone nukes playcalling. But there's just a lot more to it than that man.

Dude—seriously what game were you watching? How did they take away a Gurley in the running game? What are you talking about? He averaged 7 yards a carry!!

 

[Merlin]

Dude—seriously what game were you watching? How did they take away a Gurley in the running game? What are you talking about? He averaged 7 yards a carry!!

They took him away in the passing game. Sorry man but I just don't agree that running the ball more would have resulted in a dominating offensive performance. I get it, you think running Todd more would have changed everything. I don't agree man cheers.

 

[Montanaramfan]

Opening play Gurley gets 4 on the ground. Two incomplete passes followed. Punt.

Next drive, Gurley gets 8 on first down on the ground. Two incomplete passes followed. Punt.

Third drive, Gurley caught a pass on first for 3 yards. Two incomplete passes followed. Punt.

McVay is a HELLUVA coach, and we are lucky to have him. But he’s gotta learn. His inability to either establish the run or stick with the run cost us most of the games we lost this year.

My exact thoughts. Second and two and you run the ball, keep the sticks moving, keep the clock moving, keep your defense off the field. This is the second or third game McVay did this. I thought he'd learn from his past mistakes but he's young. I guess he's still learning. When he looks back and sees that Gurley averaged 7.2 ypc on only 14 carries, he won't be happy with his play calling.

 

[jrry32]

McVay has a nasty habit of abandoning the run when he gets nervous. He's gotta shake that. When we stuck with the run, Gurley was looking great. When we abandoned it, our offense stalled. The Falcons' DBs were covering well all night. Goff was having to make a lot of tough throws. McVay could have really helped Goff out by riding Gurley like he knew he should have. I don't know what he was thinking.

 

[Spider2YB]

McVay has a nasty habit of abandoning the run when he gets nervous. He's gotta shake that. When we stuck with the run, Gurley was looking great. When we abandoned it, our offense stalled. The Falcons' DBs were covering well all night. Goff was having to make a lot of tough throws. McVay could have really helped Goff out by riding Gurley like he knew he should have. I don't know what he was thinking.

Exactly! Make things easier for Goff by getting Gurley going early. Goff converted some big third down throws tonight, but we could have put him in easier situations.

 

[Memphis Ram]

Would have been nice if they ran Tavon in motion to help keep the defenders honest in the running game, but I'm not sure he even took the field.

 

[nighttrain]

McVay has a nasty habit of abandoning the run when he gets nervous. He's gotta shake that. When we stuck with the run, Gurley was looking great. When we abandoned it, our offense stalled. The Falcons' DBs were covering well all night. Goff was having to make a lot of tough throws. McVay could have really helped Goff out by riding Gurley like he knew he should have. I don't know what he was thinking.

McVay is also a rookie
train

 

[XXXIVwin]

#1 scoring offense in NFL...

McVay is just not a ground and pound coach

 

[PhillyRam]

No, the playoffs are establishing the best running back in football early in the game, and not letting up. That’s the benefit of having a work horse like Gurley. You ride him until they stop him.
Look, I’m not crapping on McVays future as a head coach, I’m just saying he has to learn.

Falcons did not establish the run in the 1st half.... got a lead then started pounding and if Ogletree makes that 3rd down tackle on the opening 2nd half drive, might be a diff 2nd half.

 

[Ram65]

Next drive, Gurley gets 8 on first down on the ground. Two incomplete passes followed. Punt.

That one was puzzling. Running on second down to get the first could have at least gotten the Rams three more downs and rested the defense.The Falcons were playing 8 in the box. They got pressure early on Goff when he did pass. I think that was the surprise. Pressure and tight coverage early in the passing game made things difficult. Give the Falcons some credit here. Later on the Falcons were clogging the middle on run plays.

 

[SoCalRam78]

Laid an egg tonight. Call it inexperience. Outplayed. Whatever. Rams have done better all year even against better competition.

Arguably their worst game this season under the playoff bright lights.

Sucks, but what it is.

 

[fearsomefour]

McVay has a nasty habit of abandoning the run when he gets nervous. He's gotta shake that. When we stuck with the run, Gurley was looking great. When we abandoned it, our offense stalled. The Falcons' DBs were covering well all night. Goff was having to make a lot of tough throws. McVay could have really helped Goff out by riding Gurley like he knew he should have. I don't know what he was thinking.

It's easy to judge things in hindsight. Some of the pay action stuff made sense and I liked. Some seemed odd. Two big chunk runs off to the left side then passes. This was later second half, make them stop it at that point.
I think you are correct about him having a certain default. He senses the game is getting away or things aren't flowing and he goes into pass mode...:for a lot of play callers their default is to attack. Attack means being aggressive in the passing game. Better chance of a big play, attack, attack, attack....that is the default. Problem is that approach is not always the best.
Versus New Orleans it made sense to stick with the pass almost regardless of the situation. Tonight, I agree with you, should have run more. There was yardage there to be had.

 

[jrry32]

It's easy to judge things in hindsight. Some of the pay action stuff made sense and I liked. Some seemed odd. Two big chunk runs off to the left side then passes. This was later second half, make them stop it at that point.
I think you are correct about him having a certain default. He senses the game is getting away or things aren't flowing and he goes into pass mode...:for a lot of play callers their default is to attack. Attack means being aggressive in the passing game. Better chance of a big play, attack, attack, attack....that is the default. Problem is that approach is not always the best.
Versus New Orleans it made sense to stick with the pass almost regardless of the situation. Tonight, I agree with you, should have run more. There was yardage there to be had.

My friend, you know I respect you, but we're not judging this in hindsight. Almost every single Rams fan went into this game saying that McVay cannot abandon the run. He did exactly that. We should have come out in the first half and ran it down their throats until they stopped it. That should have been the plan.

 

[JackKirbyFan]

Where were the checkdowns to Gurley all evening? Gurley has to be our workhorse like he was all season long.
I believe both McVay and our OC need to improve the playcalling. McVay will learn. He's a fantastic HC, one of the best in the game. But he is partially to blame for tonight's heartbreaking loss. Let's get em' next year, Sean!

 

[fearsomefour]

My friend, you know I respect you, but we're not judging this in hindsight. Almost every single Rams fan went into this game saying that McVay cannot abandon the run. He did exactly that. We should have come out in the first half and ran it down their throats until they stopped it. That should have been the plan.

I had in mind a specific series (not the overall concept).
The (I think) second possession. Gurley gets 8 yards on first down. 2nd and 2 they run a play action with a cross to Kupp. Ball was there and he dropped it. Would have been an 8-10 yard play (going off memory). I liked that play call a lot. It made sense and the play was there. Now on 3rd and 2, I agree about running it. I base that on the Rams having some success running early and Goff looking a little off. I do contend if Gurley ran for one yard a bunch of folks in the game thread would be screaming about him being predictable.
There does seem to be this sense with his play calling at times, in fact I said it to my wife tonight after the two long runs in the fourth quarter "here comes three straight passes".
One thing I did notice tonight was Atlanta stacked the box quite a bit on first down. More often than not (earlier anyway) the Rams ran into it instead of checking out of.
Also, lack of offensive plays may have made him feel a pressure that wasn't there.
Not making excuses, just a thought. I agree with what you're saying.

 

[LACHAMP46]

Opening play Gurley gets 4 on the ground. Two incomplete passes followed. Punt.

Next drive, Gurley gets 8 on first down on the ground. Two incomplete passes followed. Punt.

Third drive, Gurley caught a pass on first for 3 yards. Two incomplete passes followed. Punt.

McVay is a HELLUVA coach, and we are lucky to have him. But he’s gotta learn. His inability to either establish the run or stick with the run cost us most of the games we lost this year.

Thanks for some partial truths here...I am going to watch the game now...but...this is telling..

McVay put the game in the #1 overall pick....Early....To set the tone...and the guy that a bunch of people keep attacking me in here for dropped the ball in the big game...again....doesn't win the big games...doesn't compete well against the best competition....Matt Ryan isn't going anywhere for several years....Cooper drops a couple punts I'm reading....PICK him up....move the ball...nope....

I'll just say this....Trailer....plain and simple...good player...Matt Ryan-ish...probably needs several years to get the nuances of the offense down like Ryan did...still not guaranteed to have such a golden opportunity to win it all.......and the silly reliance's on Kupp and Higbee and you got Sammy fucking Watkins on the damn field....attack this all you want Ole school....he didn't LOSE the game...but he didn't get us started either...it gave the opponent hope...confidence...and it eventually gave us a LOSS. And, the reason I continue to revisit this...we could have had a Tractor...a guy that can over come mistakes...looks for and FINDS the correct targets...IN BIG GAMES....

You gotta score TD's early in the playoffs....#1 scoring offense huh....and some of yall wanna get rid of Watkins?:shocking:

I'm gonna go watch now...probably come in here for a few minutes to reply to my east coast Ram brethren....and debate what should be obvious to most....you need great players in the playoffs to win...not good....we've had good before and lost just like this...better team....at home....

We won in the playoffs when we had a great QB...Kurt Warner.