FOXBORO, Mass. — Sean McVay stood on the visiting sideline here at Gillette Stadium with a red pen in his left hand and the Los Angeles Rams’ play sheet in his right. The young coach has come a long way since the humiliation at the hands of Bill Belichick in Super Bowl LIII, redeeming himself in the big game three years later.
Now, here McVay was early in the second quarter Sunday, the stakes significantly lower, about to school the New England Patriots’ new coach. He’d spent the first-quarter break focused on a tablet, flipping through dozens of pictures to figure out how Jerod Mayo’s team had stifled his potent, tough-to-solve offense. And now he had an answer.
The Patriots, he learned as they forced the Rams to punt on each of their first two drives, were keeping shutdown corner Christian Gonzalez on the boundary side of the field. Since the Rams have two great receivers in Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp, New England’s idea was to commit Gonzalez to one side of the field rather than to one receiver.
But starting with the Rams’ third drive, McVay found an answer that Mayo never countered, schooling the rookie coach as the Patriots defense was gashed. It became the main culprit in a 28-22 loss that dropped them to 3-8 on the season.
As the Rams set off on a nine-play, 80-yard drive that showcased how they’d solved what the Patriots presented, they motioned or kept Kupp and Nacua away from Gonzalez’s side of the field on every passing play. Then they scored a touchdown again on their next drive, and again on two of the three after that.
“There were some instances,” McVay admitted, “where we said if we can avoid (Gonzalez), let’s go ahead and do that.”
PUKA. NACUA.
📺: @NFLonFOX | #RamsHouse pic.twitter.com/YqWw9l9ikK
— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) November 17, 2024
McVay’s tweaks against Mayo’s defense led to a dominant performance. The Rams averaged 8.4 yards per play on offense (not counting kneeldowns). They averaged 10.9 yards per dropback. They only faced third down eight times.
There was plenty for the Patriots to be positive about afterward, namely that rookie quarterback Drake Maye (30-of-40 passing for 282 yards, two touchdowns and an interception) continues to improve and looks like the real deal. But it’s hard to ignore how the Patriots’ coaching, particularly on defense, cost them a winnable game.
Just like Maye will have some rookie mistakes this season, perhaps an optimist would chalk this one up as a rookie mistake from Mayo. A learning moment. Maybe it was bound to happen against McVay, easily one of the top five coaches in the league.
But the coaching mismatch Sunday was obvious, both in the decisions and in the phase of the game where each specializes.
Mayo, perhaps not understanding how easily the Rams had solved his defense, seemingly tried to play a field position game. Early in the second quarter, he passed on a 54-yard field goal and punted to try to make the Rams go the length of the field to score (which they did). In the third quarter, he passed on a fourth-and-goal try from the Rams’ 2-yard line while down 11 (only for the Rams to again easily march down the field and score a touchdown). It felt like he was coaching the game as if it were a low-scoring defensive struggle, not a matchup with one of the league’s elite offenses when Kupp and Nacua are healthy.
“Every game is unique,” Mayo said. “It’s one of one, and I just felt like when I made those choices, it was the best thing to do for our football team today. Like I said, (I’m) proud of the way those guys competed. Just got to clean up a few things.”
Free, daily NFL updates direct to your inbox.
Free, daily NFL updates direct to your inbox.
Sign Up
His young staff, led by defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington, seemed to have that unit headed in the right direction coming into Sunday. The group had put together three straight impressive performances. But the big question was whether that was due to significant improvement on their end or whether they were benefitting from playing three bad offenses (in the Jets, Titans and Bears).
If Sunday was any indication, it was the latter.
After notching nine sacks against the Bears, the Patriots didn’t record a single one against the Rams. It felt like they never got close, and when they did try to boost the pass rush with blitzes, it only made things worse.
Fifty seconds into the second half, the Patriots sent an all-out blitz at quarterback Matthew Stafford. At worst, it should’ve yielded a quick, short pass. Instead, he had a perfectly clean pocket and effortlessly threw it to Kupp, who beat an overcommitted Jonathan Jones for an easy 69-yard touchdown. That blitz meant man-to-man coverage against each receiver — and Gonzalez was on neither Kupp nor Nacua.
a nice way to start the second half
📺: @NFLonFOX | #RamsHouse pic.twitter.com/syIB0F7CT9
— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) November 17, 2024
“Look, going into the game, we have a plan, and we’re always willing to change that look,” Mayo said. “Like I said earlier, I felt like we were going to be OK. I thought we could outlast them.”
But the Patriots didn’t.
Instead, the defense wasted another encouraging performance from Maye with another stinker that leaves you to wonder just how good Maye could be if he had more talent around him. Maybe the Patriots will turn things around. Maybe Maye keeps getting better and keeps raising expectations, and they do a great job of building a team around him this offseason.
But Sunday, the defense didn’t give them much of a chance. They were constantly pushed around up front and mismatched on the back end. It was just one game in the first true year of this rebuild, but that’s little solace after McVay coached circles around Mayo.
“Look, you win or you learn,” Mayo said.
After that one, there’s a lot to learn.
(Photo: Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)
