Zac Taylor began the Super Bowl with a crucial mistake that the Bengals never quite recovered from. On the Bengals’ very first drive, they reached midfield and faced a 4th and 1. He should have punted. The Bengals had shut down the Rams’ running game, and pinning them deep was the right thing to do. Interception Machine Matthew Stafford is at his worst when he’s in his own territory. Even if the Bengals picked up the first down, they still were 50 yards away from the end zone. There is no guarantee that an risky, unnecessary 4th down play will get you any points. He made the wrong call.
But that series was doomed on the play before that. The Bengals had a 3rd and 1. They called the same running play that would doom them later on 3rd and 1 from midfield on their final series of the year. Too many times–and the Dolphins are the worst among them–on 3rd and 1, the team has this mentality of “it’s only a yard. We go this.” I’m not saying they don’t try, but the intensity is not as great as it needs to be. And then back it up a play further. On that opening drive, the Bengals faced a 2nd and 2. They ran a lazy handoff for one yard. So on 2nd and 2 and third down and 1–both in short yardage situations–the Bengals ran some extremely basic plays. With zero urgency. They were feeling out the Rams instead of trying to beat the Rams. By the time 4th down came up and Taylor incorrectly went for it, then they decided to try a fancy pass play.
I saw the Dolphins face a huge number of third and shorts this past season. Getting a first down is the most important thing to keep a drive alive, and keeping a drive alive, of course, is the most important thing to get your team points. The Dolphins consistently settle for 7 on 2nd and 8. They settle for 3 on third and 4.
If anything, I hope Mike McDaniel instills an emotion of urgency on every single play. You have to treat each and every down like it’s the last play of the game. You must dive for an extra yard. Lower your shoulder for an extra yard before running out of bounds. Keeping a drive alive early in the first quarter does not seem overly important…but it is. First quarter points count just as much as 4th quarter points. Do NOT wait until the 4th quarter of a close game to think “now or never” or “do or die.” You must be prepared with that mentality throughout the entire game. There was a lot of lazy playcalling during the Dolphins’ 7-game losing streak. Too many opportunities where the coaches settled for “We’ll get them next time.” Let’s hope McDaniel has learned from the mistakes of other coaches.
Also, this just in…
The Rams are a one-man team. Maybe the Bengals should have covered Kupp on the final drive. Didn’t they see the memo that Beckham was hurt?
Actually the bengals D was pretty stout for much of the game especially run D. They also hemmed in Kupp for the most part but you are right on the last drive everyone knew where they were going. Now the rams did a great job of disguising the plays. I saw some analysis of their plays and they ran plays where Kupp was blocking but at the last instant he sluffed the block and ran his route. The D couldn’t recover in time or held him. Basically the plays were set up up to help either the run or pass even when the run wasn’t working. I don’t think the Fins ever set teams up for big plays or to create an open receiver that’s why no one was ever wide open! I believe we will see more of this next season as MM gets it.
” don’t think the Fins ever set teams up for big plays or to create an open receiver that’s why no one was ever wide open!”. True that because the coaching on the offensive side of the ball has been run by complete idiots the last 20 years.
That’s really interesting to me. Decoying the opponent is so important, but the Dolphins’ play design doesn’t do anything like that at all. As WestCoast just said. Our receivers run their routes, and that’s about it.
Like on a flea flicker, it does no good for the WR to spring down the field, because the CB and safety will immediately sprint with them. INSTEAD, the WR needs to stand still and look in the backfield. Make believe you are simply watching a handoff. The CB sees the handoff and sees the WR standing still, so he races toward the handoff. THEN the WR can take off. That’s why you see flea flickers going for 10 yards instead of TDs for Miami. No innovation.
Yep but it’s also not hard to watch great plays that have already happened you don’t have to be Einstein to copycat someone else! But you do have to set them up properly which has been over the head of our OC’s for decades. All Kupp would do is pretend to block and the play looked like a run then bam wide open 20 yard pass play. Time after time but the Fins can’t do it once.