There’s no question that Jerod Mayo and the coaching staff have faced their fair share of criticism in recent weeks, but Sunday’s decision to isolate Christian Gonzalez to the boundary was a gamble that unfortunately for the New England Patriots didn’t pay off.
The thought process was apparently to keep Gonzalez on the outside for the sake of trying to limit deep sideline throws, forcing the remainder of their secondary to handle plays in the middle of the field. The only problem was that the Rams eventually caught on to that, and they attacked that part of the field.
Obviously, they made a key adjustment at halftime and immediately took a shot to begin the second half, which resulted in what proved to be a game-turning touchdown after Matthew Stafford connected with Cooper Kupp for that 69-yard scoring strike.
That was the longest pass play allowed by the secondary all season, and it came just two plays into the third quarter after the Patriots had closed the gap, trailing the Rams 14-10 after kicker Joshua Karty hit the right upright on the final play of the first half.
Instead, Kupp’s touchdown put the Rams up by 11 at 21-10, forcing the Patriots to have to continue chasing them.
Part of the issue on that touchdown play was that the Patriots also brought a blitz on quarterback Matthew Stafford but weren’t able to get there fast enough to disrupt the play. The Rams’ offensive line immediately picked up the rush, and Kupp was then able to get a step on Jonathan Jones, with Stafford throwing a strike that hit Kupp in stride up the seam, and he was off to the races.
“When that happened on that big play, it was just we didn’t get there in time,” said Mayo. “And it was poor coverage the outside.”
Both Kupp and Puka Nacua were a problem yesterday, with Nacua finishing with 123 yards on 9 receptions, while Kupp ended up with 6 catches on 10 targets for 106 yards. Despite Kupp’s final total, save for that one play, the secondary had done a reasonable job keeping him in check given his success in lieu of his number of targets. That was the argument Mayo made after it was over.
“I don’t know. I mean, look, Kupp had the one reception, which was a huge chunk of those yards,” said Mayo when he was asked about their decision not to adjust with Gonzalez following the loss. “But going into the game, we have a plan, and we’re always willing to change that plan. Like I said earlier, I felt like we were going to be okay. Thought we could outlast them.”
Rams coach Sean McVay was asked after the game about Gonzalez, and he admitted that the plan was to try and avoid him.
“It kind of just worked out that way,” said McVay when asked if their scheme allowed Kupp and Nacua to avoid New England’s star defensive back. “There were some instances where we got a lot of respect for them. I had a lot of respect for the secondary, the different things they could do. Gonzalez is the real deal, does an excellent job, and I think it worked out that way. There were some instances where we said if you can avoid him, let’s go ahead and do that.”
Granted, you can make the argument that save for Kupp’s touchdown and Drake Maye’s second qaurter strip-sack, which led to a touchdown one play later, that’s a 14-point swing that had they avoided those two plays, this game might have seen a different outcome.
Instead, the Rams ended up being the ones who made the plays when it counted, which saw the Patriots drop a frustrating 28-22 loss at home, putting them at 3-8 with six games left to play.
“We just thought that was the best thing to do,” said Mayo on their plan against the Rams. “It’s a mix of man and zone. We thought that was the best thing to do.”
Unfortunately, it didn’t work out, which leaves the Patriots having to spend this week trying to turn the page as they prepare for a trip down in Miami next Sunday.
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
Fair question to ask Covington or Mayo how the pats could allow Nacua and Cupp to not have Gonzalez on one of them each play. Gonzalez certainly has been shadowing receivers throughout the season.