The MVP really should have gone to someone on the D. What a game these guys pitched! 3 points! In the modern NFL that is just so impressive. No matter how much this is noted, it is not noted enough. Hell, Phillips had an incredible plan too!
Cooks must have had about 50 yards on that last drive but they were catches in the middle of the field with no timeouts and less than 2 minutes. Those plays basically closed out the game for the pats.I knew that Edelman would get it, but Gilmore was incredible. Cooks had the most hollow 120 yards in Super Bowl history, and he didn’t Asante Samuel the interception. He was a machine.
It was a weird game. The O wasn't helpless, Brady averaged 7.5 YPA, but they couldn't translate it into points. Hekker I think was LAR's defensive MVP; the Patriots had four drives that went for 40+ yards and got zero points, because three of them started inside their own 20. The offense was doing enough to flip the field and the D was stifling the Rams, but they couldn't advance the field position because Hekker was killing them.For a “crummy” offensive game, the Pats still racked up 22 first downs and 407 total yards.
I wouldn't necessarily put goat horns on Cooks, but he could have caught those two TD passes and been a hero and didn't.Brandin Cooks.
OTOH, there's no way we win the AFCCG without him. Jacksonville had no answer for him, and they have some great corners.Cooks played like an idiot against the Eagles last year. First the brain dead leap in to the defenders arms, followed up with running around in circles inviting a defender to level him.
He seems like a great guy and teammate. But if he'd come back to haunt us this year, that would've really sucked.
Totally. Much as I adore Edelman, the more I think about it the more I think Gilmore needed to get the MVP on behalf of the defense.I knew that Edelman would get it, but Gilmore was incredible. Cooks had the most hollow 120 yards in Super Bowl history, and he didn’t Asante Samuel the interception. He was a machine.
I thought Allen out punted Hecker. Hecker had some great numbers but got the benefit of some lucky rolls. Allen was nailing them inside the 10 all night.Allen had 5 punts for 215 total yards, with 3 inside of the 5.
Not the MVP by any means, but very important player in this game.
Hecker flipped the field twice from inside his 5 twice. Roll or not he kicked it so it couldn’t be caught. Twice it seemed we would have really good field position only to have him flip it. Both punters were damn good.I thought Allen out punted Hecker. Hecker had some great numbers but got the benefit of some lucky rolls. Allen was nailing them inside the 10 all night.
14 total punts, 8 inside the 20, 0 touchbacks. Both punters and both punt coverage teams were great.Hecker flipped the field twice from inside his 5 twice. Roll or not he kicked it so it couldn’t be caught. Twice it seemed we would have really good field position only to have him flip it. Both punters were damn good.
Had not seen the actual stats. That’s terrific.14 total punts, 8 inside the 20, 0 touchbacks. Both punters and both punt coverage teams were great.
That was a great adjustment but the playcalling seemed off all night up until that point. Very little creativity and frustrating that they didn't lean on Michel more who was the best RB on the field last night. I remain mystified why they don't ride that kid in the power I formation more often.McD needs a little more love. Belichick and the players credit him with changing the scheme in the fourth quarter to jumbo 22 package with Jules, Allen, Gronk, Devlin, and Burkhead, which lead to TD. They had not practiced that formation leading up to the game (though they used in in KC) and McDaniels went on instinct to make the call, which forced the Rams out of their sub defenses.
Hard to just pick one guy though.Totally. Much as I adore Edelman, the more I think about it the more I think Gilmore needed to get the MVP on behalf of the defense.
They gave up 3 points. 3!! In the Super Bowl!
When the Broncos gave up 10 to Cam in 2015, Von Miller got the award.
When the Seahawks gave up 8 to Peyton in 2013, some random LB got the award.
When the Ravens gave up 7 to Kerry Collins in 2000, Ray Lewis slashed his name in the history books.
Someone on our defense deserved this one.
McVay’s decision not to practice with piped in noise until Friday should go down in infamy. Of all the things you can’t control about football, expecting crowd noise and preparing for silent counts and audibles is so obviously something you need to prepare for.Could you guys hear the crowd on TV? It was LOUD for a lot of the Rams plays pre-snap.
My gameball goes to Allen.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2019/02/02/rams-waited-until-friday-to-use-artificial-noise/amp/“Typically what we do is we’ll really blare it depending on if we’re at home or away,” coach Sean McVay told Charean. “If we’re on the road, it’ll be blaring during offensive periods. If we’re at home, it’ll be during defensive periods. Now, in a static environment, we just kind of had it in the background. Hopefully there will be more Rams fans than Patriots, but you never know.”
Hekker (not Hecker) had beat out Allen at Oregon State.I thought Allen out punted Hecker. Hecker had some great numbers but got the benefit of some lucky rolls. Allen was nailing them inside the 10 all night.
The announcing crew pointed it out and gave you all a lot of credit for helping out.Could you guys hear the crowd on TV? It was LOUD for a lot of the Rams plays pre-snap.
My gameball goes to Allen.
Develin straight up created the hole for MichelThese have pretty much all been mentioned, but indulge me with some picks beyond JE11, Gronk, and Gilmore:
1) Hightower and Van Noy...responsible for the amazing lack of production from RBs and TEs in passing game.
2) The refs... I reread the game thread and saw of ton of whining about calls that looked pretty reasonable to me. They let them play. Only egregious call was the hold on the Rams center.
3) JMac. He was terrific all game, even beyond the play on Cooks. Speaking of which...
4) Cooks. Nothing personal, I like him, but he left points on the field.
5) Develin and David Andrews. I call out Andrews after just about every game. Who’s a better center?
6) Flo. He don’t know that the boy he loves is Romeo.
7) Matt Slater. Great ST play made up for fucking up the coin toss.
8) Ryan Allen. Beyond the great punting, he made a great catch and hold on a terrible snap from Cardinal to nearly save the missed FG.
9) the SoSHer who stayed put in the couch.
To have lost how they lost last year and come back and pitch a near shut out is just staggering. This was also not a case of massive offensive drives keeping the defense off the field with 8 minute drives.
Patriots we 3-12 on third down conversions. They kept giving the ball back and the defense never fucking broke.
It is one of the greatest achievements in modern football that I have ever seen.
Belichick is simply the GOAT. These players go in the books as the most resilient defensive Patriots ever.
On Gilmore, it should also be noted how on the interception he made the quick decision to INTERCEPT the ball rather than knock it away because he knew at that point the game was about POSSESSION. So he wisely went down and stayed down rather than advance.I knew that Edelman would get it, but Gilmore was incredible. Cooks had the most hollow 120 yards in Super Bowl history, and he didn’t Asante Samuel the interception. He was a machine.
Yeah, the closest performance I can remember is the 2004 AFC Divisional Round game against Manning (Pats win 20-3) that basically got the rules changed.THIS.
Given the rules changes, this is arguably the greatest defensive effort in the history of the super bowl.
It was hard to hear because of the broadcast but it looked like for much of the game the Rams were signaling the snap with the guard which is generally a hostile environment thing and had to have helped get off the ball.Could you guys hear the crowd on TV? It was LOUD for a lot of the Rams plays pre-snap.
My gameball goes to Allen.
The run game really stalled out after the first drive, up until the last drive.That was a great adjustment but the playcalling seemed off all night up until that point. Very little creativity and frustrating that they didn't lean on Michel more who was the best RB on the field last night. I remain mystified why they don't ride that kid in the power I formation more often.
I knew that Edelman would get it, but Gilmore was incredible. Cooks had the most hollow 120 yards in Super Bowl history, and he didn’t Asante Samuel the interception. He was a machine.
Totally. Much as I adore Edelman, the more I think about it the more I think Gilmore needed to get the MVP on behalf of the defense.
They gave up 3 points. 3!! In the Super Bowl!
When the Broncos gave up 10 to Cam in 2015, Von Miller got the award.
When the Seahawks gave up 8 to Peyton in 2013, some random LB got the award.
When the Ravens gave up 7 to Kerry Collins in 2000, Ray Lewis slashed his name in the history books.
Someone on our defense deserved this one.
Hard to just pick one guy though.
I have it as Edelman. In a field position game, he dominated. It’s one thing to be great in the slot where you have an over the top option or a great outside the numbers threat. The Patriots had neither. He was the only game in town other than Gronk for large portions of the game and was beating multiple guys over the middle where every route is a huge hit or interception waiting to happen.
The defense as a unit was the story of the game. But Edelman was the most valuable single player.
Even if viewed in part as a lifetime achievement award it is well deserved.
After that 4 yard gain by Michel on the 3rd drive (3 minutes left in the first quarter), he got one carry (4 yards) until a minute left in the 3rd quarter, when he ripped off that 19 yarder. We got too spread happy there for a while.The run game really stalled out after the first drive, up until the last drive.
First drive: 13, 6 (jet sweep), 5, 3
2nd: 1, -4, 5, 2, 3
3rd: 4
4th: 1 (jet sweep)
5th: 3
6th: 3
7th: -1 (kneel-down)
8th: 4, 2, 8 (jet sweep)
9th: 2
10th: 1, 19, 5, 1
11th: 2 (TD)
12th: 1, 26, 3, 26, 4, 5, 0
So only two carries of more than 5 yards between the first and the last drive, and one of those was by Edelman. In the moment, I thought they were too patient with the run for most of the game, though it seemed to pay off late.
So? I mean, are we in danger of getting too much?BB gave credit to McDaniels for making the adjustment to force the Rams to a 3-4 before the last two drives.
https://nesn.com/2019/02/josh-mcdaniels-brilliant-adjustment-leads-to-patriots-lone-super-bowl-touchdown/
EDIT: already said
I know Romo said this but that couldn’t actually have been what was going on could it? All we hear all week is to get Goff for McVay to tel him what to do. If that was actually what they were trying to do that’s insanity.Have to give a nod to Sean McVay for his clever idea to outsmart the Patriots by letting the play clock run down to 15 seconds before having Goff set the formation - it didn't work against a savvy veteran D like ours and it let precious minutes bleed off the clock to boot.
I heard the announcers mention the 15-second thing a few times but did not understand. Do the in-helmet earpieces turn off at 15 seconds? Does the system prevent the coaches from talking with players when there are less than 15 seconds remaining on the play clock?Have to give a nod to Sean McVay for his clever idea to outsmart the Patriots by letting the play clock run down to 15 seconds before having Goff set the formation - it didn't work against a savvy veteran D like ours and it let precious minutes bleed off the clock to boot.
I disagree. The spread was what saved them (almost all of the game-winning TD drive was from spread). The run game wasn't gaining consistent enough yards to avoid third downs; they moved the ball much better through the air. I guess they could have given Michel more reps than Burkhead in that stretch, but they weren't running the ball well with anyone for a big chunk there, so it made sense to ride the better pass-catchers (White did very little; Burkhead wound up third on the team in receiving yards but with just 15).After that 4 yard gain by Michel on the 3rd drive (3 minutes left in the first quarter), he got one carry (4 yards) until a minute left in the 3rd quarter, when he ripped off that 19 yarder. We got too spread happy there for a while.
Yes. Usually the conventional wisdom is that if a QB can get to the line quickly he'll have the advantage of getting to have the coaches see the defense while they can still communicate to the QB.I heard the announcers mention the 15-second thing a few times but did not understand. Do the in-helmet earpieces turn off at 15 seconds? Does the system prevent the coaches from talking with players when there are less than 15 seconds remaining on the play clock?
With 15 seconds left on the play clock, the communications between coach and player is cut off.I heard the announcers mention the 15-second thing a few times but did not understand. Do the in-helmet earpieces turn off at 15 seconds? Does the system prevent the coaches from talking with players when there are less than 15 seconds remaining on the play clock?
I said it in the game thread. I said it again afterward. I'll happily say it again here. You are right on the money.THIS.
Given the rules changes, this is arguably the greatest defensive effort in the history of the super bowl.