Why did Tavon hardly play yesterday.

[Tano]

Was he in McVay's doghouse?

Usually when he plays we give the ball to him a couple times a game to keep defenses honest and also do fake jet sweeps to fool the defense. Some of our best plays were off of fake jet sweeps.

I don't remember one Jet Sweep or even a Fake Jet Sweep yesterday.

What happened?

 

[FrantikRam]

Yea it's a bit odd. I think that Tavon impacts the run game more than people think...and while the Vikings have a very fast defense, we really needed him yesterday to take some of those jet sweeps, even if they didn't gain anything.

I knew Tavon was either hurt or in McVay's dog house when we ran that fake jet sweep/wheel route with Gurley and we faked it to Robert Woods..

 

[Psycho_X]

I don't know but it's something I'd like to know too. It seemed like we completely abandoned our usual forte of misdirection and keeping the defense off balance and just started whipping it down field against a stout pass rush/defense. Was hoping to see more Tavon and get Dunbar involved even. It was a very poorly called game imo and I think McVay will realize that after looking at tape. It seems like when everything is working he uses everything. And when nothing is working he starts trying to force one thing until it does. Idk, good learning opportunity for players and coaches.

 

[Adi]

Thought the same myself , hard to believe that a genius like Mcvay can not find a posiive way to use Tavon.

Wish they could of traded him for something before the deadline .

 

[Boston Ram]

Was wondering the same thing

 

[gabriel18]

After the first drive it looked like last year's offense . The play calling was questionable at best . I hardly remember seeing TA on the field and running Gurley up the gut didn't work . Take a look at how many times the Vikings played 10
yards off Watkins and not one time did they quick pass to him. That's at least a 5 yards gain and break a tackle and take it to the house . See how many times Keenum did it to our CB's ? McVay better get back to work because it will take 35 to win against the Saints . The schedule is 5 times harder moving forward.

 

[Dxmissile]

Sometimes it’s as simple as a coach outsmarting himself and getting away with what works. I think he saw something on film and thought those plays wasn’t going to work. So he did have those plays in the gameplan.

To me though you have to stick with what works and what got you to this point. There was no passes to Gurley out the backfield when he was open and could have picked up big yardage. It looked to me that they wanted that home run ball on every play.

 

[shovelpass]

I don't know but it's something I'd like to know too. It seemed like we completely abandoned our usual forte of misdirection and keeping the defense off balance and just started whipping it down field against a stout pass rush/defense. Was hoping to see more Tavon and get Dunbar involved even. It was a very poorly called game imo and I think McVay will realize that after looking at tape. It seems like when everything is working he uses everything. And when nothing is working he starts trying to force one thing until it does. Idk, good learning opportunity for players and coaches.

After the first drive it looked like last year's offense . The play calling was questionable at best . I hardly remember seeing TA on the field and running Gurley up the gut didn't work . Take a look at how many times the Vikings played 10
yards off Watkins and not one time did they quick pass to him. That's at least a 5 yards gain and break a tackle and take it to the house . See how many times Keenum did it to our CB's ? McVay better get back to work because it will take 35 to win against the Saints . The schedule is 5 times harder moving forward.

Sometimes it’s as simple as a coach outsmarting himself and getting away with what works. I think he saw something on film and thought those plays wasn’t going to work. So he did have those plays in the gameplan.

To me though you have to stick with what works and what got you to this point. There was no passes to Gurley out the backfield when he was open and could have picked up big yardage. It looked to me that they wanted that home run ball on every play.

I had the same thoughts. In both this game and the Seattle game it looked like the Rams went away from what they normally do on offense. Gurley gets 4 carriers and 1 rec in the first drive and then 11 carries for the rest of the game. No other rushing attempts, no Tavon sweeps. The sweeps also affect the passing game as does running, play action is a big part of this offense. They made themselves one dimensional.

 

[PhillyRam]

They did seem to play sideline to sideline well...their defense has good D speed on that turf. Makes me think they were almost afraid that Austin could turn it over or something and this was a game they did not want to have any turnovers. probably thought if they could stay turnover free, they win. Maybe they would have even without that one TO, but the CBs getting hurt sunk the Rams D in the end.

 

[I like Rams]

Sometimes it’s as simple as a coach outsmarting himself and getting away with what works. I think he saw something on film and thought those plays wasn’t going to work. So he did have those plays in the gameplan.

To me though you have to stick with what works and what got you to this point. There was no passes to Gurley out the backfield when he was open and could have picked up big yardage. It looked to me that they wanted that home run ball on every play.

Not using Gurley as a receiver was another head scratcher. He is just as dangerous in the back field as he is when its handed to him, if not more.

 

[Corbin]

I never get fellow Ram fans.

They will bitch, moan, and complain about Tavon on how we should trade him, he is half our salary cap, he is trash, he sucks, :blah:

and now people complain that he isn't playing enough?

I remember earlier in the season people were saying he shouldn't even play and should be the 5th or 6th WR.

SMFH

 

[Bootleg]

the Vikings played 10
yards off Watkins and not one time did they quick pass to him. That's at least a 5 yards gain and break a tackle and take it to the house .

This!

That first drive where the Rams scored was full of quick passes (I remember at least one or more to Watkins). After that successful drive, McVay went to deep pocket passes and running Gurley up the gut.

They've got to get Watkins involved!

 

[shovelpass]

I never get fellow Ram fans.

They will bitch, moan, and complain about Tavon on how we should trade him, he is half our salary cap, he is trash, he sucks, :blah:

and now people complain that he isn't playing enough?

I remember earlier in the season people were saying he shouldn't even play and should be the 5th or 6th WR.

SMFH

There are quite a few rams fans here, not all of us were against Tavon.

 

[Corbin]

There are quite a few rams fans here, not all of us were against Tavon.

I understand that but the endless Tavon threads and Tavon comments are tiring and the same people wondering where he is now. :banghead:

 

[Tano]

I understand that but the endless Tavon threads and Tavon comments are tiring and the same people wondering where he is now. :banghead:

I have never been against Tavon.

But this game, it appeared that McVay completely abandoned him. I was wondering if he was in the doghouse or something.

I think they needed to try it more this game.

 

[Psycho_X]

According to McVay it's just because they couldn't get into a rhythm for a place to use him at. I can understand that all though I think they could have still found a way. But his abandoning of the run overall at times is the bigger issue.

 

[12intheBox]

I'm sure McV is second guessing his game plan at this point, as well.

I'd like to see more Tavon snaps and fewer deep targets to Higbee. I'd also like to avoid any plays where Goff rolls to his left but I recognize that McV knows more than I do.

 

[99Balloons]

I give credits to the Vikes Defense. They were shadowing Gurley in case he slipped by the middle of the field. When the pass was thrown to the middle, Anthony Barr (55) was there for the tackle and Gurley did not get much YAC after that.

Once Gurley was stopped via the run and pass, the Rams went pass-heavy thereafter to the WRs. And with the Vike's CBs playing mainly zone defense against our WRs, they were waiting to lay the wood on WRs after the catch. The hit against Rober Woods can attest to that. And the pass where Kupp missed, maybe he was anticipating the pop from one of the Vikes Safeties. Vikes Defense was similar to what the Seahawks played against the Rams.

Good Defense with fast LBs and Corners will present problems for the Rams WRs. Just my observation.

 

[dieterbrock]

I never get fellow Ram fans.

They will bitch, moan, and complain about Tavon on how we should trade him, he is half our salary cap, he is trash, he sucks, :blah:

and now people complain that he isn't playing enough?

I remember earlier in the season people were saying he shouldn't even play and should be the 5th or 6th WR.

SMFH

Calling BS here
TA has made major contributions and his absence was puzzling
The fact that he is wildly over paid as a gadget player is irrelevant. He averaged 4 rushes per game leading up to yesterday.
In fact, no RB got a carry yesterday other than TGIII

Very strange indeed

 

[Ramlock]

Factor in Time of Possession to the playcalls for Tavon, as well as Gurley.

Minn - 37:22
Rams - 22:38

Looks like Minn ran 73 offensive plays, Rams 54 offensive plays; 7 fewer than the past 2 games.

Against the Texans

Rams - 31:31
Texans - 28:29

Rams 63 plays
Texans 61 plays

Giants game

Rams - 30:30 - 61 Off Plays
Giants - 29:30 - 64 Off plays