Where was the defensive adjustment on Puka Nakua?

[oldmanfan]

Just now, Sojourner said:

To some extent I get the logic behind that thinking but sitting in zone literally requires you to be doing one of 2 things, either getting to the quarter back by your default 4 or 5 or sending a blitz that’s usually disguised. 
 

That zone was getting eaten alive. As was the man coverage. 
 

Exactly like you said, the pass rush was what we needed. 
 

Credit to McVay and Stafford, it was a borderline clinic of taking advantage what they were given. I hate to say the word because a lot of factors go into failures but legitimately our defense got abused. Straight taken out to the wood shed or train tracks. 
 

Usually can find some respectability in the press conferences Sean does but yesterdays post game left pretty much everything in a questionable state. 

I give them a ton of credit.  Their offense was great yesterday.  And if I’m the D line coach I read our guys the riot act today.  

[boyst]

1 minute ago, Simon said:

 

All true and you have to give some credit to McVay too.

Watching the Bills secondary trying to deal with the route combinations he was throwing at them was sort of embarrassing.

He had them spinning on circles all day while his players were executing with serious precision.

The work McVay put on the field was a masterclass in coaching against an opponent he fully exposed. 

[Simon]

1 minute ago, boyst said:

The work McVay put on the field was a masterclass in coaching against an opponent he fully exposed. 

 

I swear a couple times he looked like even he was stunned by how effectively they were operating.

[VW82]

This game is why we drafted Elam but McD is so in love with his zone concepts that there just isn't room for a man specialist (unless he's also a ST ace), and so we get caught in games like this without viable coverage answers and a coach who'd rather go down with his scheme than make an adjustment. 

Edited December 9 by VW82

[Sweats]

How about a D plan for Stafford?.........i mean, he had all day in a lounge chair in the pocket to pick us a part and we created zero pressure.

 

The plays began and ended with Stafford. As long as he had the time in the pocket, he was dropping dimes to Nacua.

[mbowman14]

Two things can be true at once and apply here.  The Rams were on fire yesterday and have a top echelon offense when healthy.  The Bills defense was also very bad and the scheme was too predictable.  We showed all of our blitzes way too much pre-snap.  The screen TD to Nacua, I thought for sure from the look that the Bills were bluffing and dropping into coverage.  Hell Stafford saw it, audibled to the screen, and we still blitzed exactly where we were aligned.  Really poor against weapons and a QB that smart and talented.

 

Another issue that is driving me nuts is the obvious holding (jersey grabbing) by our DBs.  Way too many times they are in fine position but grab needlessly.  The officiating was suspect but our DBs are putting themselves in the situation to be called.  The free 1st Downs from this are killers.  The main reason I wanted McD to decline the late holding penalty was because it would only give our DBs one chance to give them a free 1st down.

[GASabresIUFan]

37 minutes ago, 26TrapDraw said:

Nakua is not that good and he looked like a hall of famer.

Considering he had nearly 1500 yards as a rookie last year and has over 700 yards this year in 7 games, I think your assessment of him as a player may need to be re-thought.  We should be so lucky to have a receiver who has averaged over 100 years per game since the start of his career.

Edited December 9 by GASabresIUFan

[Buffalo_Stampede]

Watching back they did try some man and the DBs were still getting beat. I probably would’ve preferred more man because maybe you force a mistake.

 

But Stafford was hot guys. He’s as good as our guy when he’s hot. Plus they have elite weapons.

 

[Sweats]

4 minutes ago, mbowman14 said:

Two things can be true at once and apply here.  The Rams were on fire yesterday and have a top echelon offense when healthy.  The Bills defense was also very bad and the scheme was too predictable.  We showed all of our blitzes way too much pre-snap.  The screen TD to Nacua, I thought for sure from the look that the Bills were bluffing and dropping into coverage.  Hell Stafford saw it, audibled to the screen, and we still blitzed exactly where we were aligned.  Really poor against weapons and a QB that smart and talented.

 

Another issue that is driving me nuts is the obvious holding (jersey grabbing) by our DBs.  Way too many times they are in fine position but grab needlessly.  The officiating was suspect but our DBs are putting themselves in the situation to be called.  The free 1st Downs from this are killers.  The main reason I wanted McD to decline the late holding penalty was because it would only give our DBs one chance to give them a free 1st down.

 

 

 

I thought the officiating was rather respectable yesterday.......i mean, at times they were the only ones trying to stop the Rams O

[BuffaloBillyG]

I think we were hoping in the spirit of the holiday season Puka would take the 4th quarter off and stop the public abuse of our defense. He did not.

[TheyCallMeAndy]

36 minutes ago, 26TrapDraw said:

I sat at SOFI with 30k of our Bills brethren and watched this guy Torch our defense and Babich never made any adjustment to account for him. never slid help and I watched him find soft spots in our zone because there was no pass rush whatsoever.

Nakua is not that good and he looked like a hall of famer. The worst part is our zone is now exposed and teams have a blueprint.

 

To be fair, if our All-World slot CB couldn’t cover him, no one else really stood much of a chance. Bad game Taron Johnson is still better than Cam Lewis. 

[VaMilBill]

22 minutes ago, Jauronimo said:

The Rams offense has scored 30 points once all season.  They typically struggle to get over 20 points.  They are not a good offense.  

I honestly think all both Stafford and Puka were in the zone and unstoppable. Nothing we could really do. Just one of those games 

[TheyCallMeAndy]

5 minutes ago, Buffalo_Stampede said:

Watching back they did try some man and the DBs were still getting beat. I probably would’ve preferred more man because maybe you force a mistake.

 

But Stafford was hot guys. He’s as good as our guy when he’s hot. Plus they have elite weapons.

 

And they are desperately fighting for their playoff lives, we are not. 

[The Firebaugh Kid]

1 minute ago, TheyCallMeAndy said:

And they are desperately fighting for their playoff lives, we are not. 

Bingo. Who wants it more. That's who usually wins. See Buffalo/KC a few weeks ago for example. 

The physically dominant team wins, every time. 

Edited December 9 by The Firebaugh Kid

[DaVinci]

5 minutes ago, VaMilBill said:

I honestly think all both Stafford and Puka were in the zone and unstoppable. Nothing we could really do. Just one of those games 

Could have scored a field goal or TD before or after the half.

[Jauronimo]

8 minutes ago, VaMilBill said:

I honestly think all both Stafford and Puka were in the zone and unstoppable. Nothing we could really do. Just one of those games 

That was by the far the best offensive performance the Rams have managed with Puka and Stafford ever.  

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

Puka has like 7-10 catches every game really against any team. I was also so impressed at his ability to run those jet sweeps. what a player.
 

That said, the bills have a system to cover tyreek Hill And Jaylen Waddle. I am curious why that system couldn’t work against Puka and Kupp. 

[oldmanfan]

6 hours ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

Puka has like 7-10 catches every game really against any team. I was also so impressed at his ability to run those jet sweeps. what a player.
 

That said, the bills have a system to cover tyreek Hill And Jaylen Waddle. I am curious why that system couldn’t work against Puka and Kupp. 

That’s an interesting point.  I suspect we get more pressure against Tua.  Plus I think Stafford  is way better than Tua and McVay is way better than McDaniel.

Edited December 10 by oldmanfan

[Simon]

4 minutes ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

That said, the bills have a system to cover tyreek Hill And Jaylen Waddle. I am curious why that system couldn’t work against Puka and Kupp. 

 

There are multiple parts of the field you don't necessarily have to worry about when dealing with Tua; that is not the case with Stafford's arm.

[947]

Stop with the "Rams WRs are the best in the league, they played a great game" nonsense.

 

Don't get me wrong, they are great- but we actively allowed them to do whatever they wanted by playing the defense we did & refusing to adjust. We ALLOWED Puka & every other WR to sit in the holes in our soft zone & get first downs, all night.

 

The Rams only scored 21 points the week prior vs a terrible Saints team, Puka has 5 catches for 56 yards. He's not unstoppable.

 

Going into the game, Stafford was the #1 QB in the league vs zone coverage. If Stafford got to choose which style of coverage he faced, he'd have picked exactly what we did. He didn't even have to try. We should've had an answer ready after that first drive.

 

The D got destroyed because allowed the Rams to do what they wanted, and didn't adjust or disguise anything. It was a joke. Even if the punt block hadn't happened & we squeaked out a win, our D was utterly embarassed.

Edited December 9 by 947