McVay's decision to run on 3rd and long under 3 min?

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Ellard80

Ellard80

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What are people's thoughts on this?

The field was slick and the passing game had not been very consistent all night.

However, I really wish McVay would get more aggressive in these situations and he just never has.
 
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Ellard80 said:
What are people's thoughts on this?

The field was slick and the passing game had not been very consistent all night.

However, I really wish McVay would get more aggressive in these situations and he just never has.
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There is not an NFL coach I would prefer to have over Sean McVay. No one is even close. However, I was hoping for some passing on the Rams' final possession of regulation, in an effort to put-the-game-away.

It occurred to me that if the Bears had scored on their OT possession, the Rams 2025 Season would have ended with Matthew Stafford NOT attempting a single pass on the Rams' final two possessions of the Season.

And ... THAT ... would have bothered me this off-season.
 
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Didn't make much sense to me. Two minute warning mere seconds away and Bears with plenty of time outs. That clock is stopping whether you run it or pass it. You have an MVP QB, Puka, and Devante. Why not try to get 1st down with a very low INT% passing play? It's not like running the ball is immune to a turn over. And a 1st down there might well ice it. McVay is a great coach but that was a head-scratcher. Evans then hit an absolutely awful punt, with the Bears starting at mid-field, which is forgotten about due to the win, but was egregiously bad by him. He needs to pick up his game. Way too inconsistent lately. I thought to myself, "that's what you get for playing scared, we might have just choked this thing away". Thankfully, this team is gritty as hell, and pulled out the W anyway.

EDIT - even weirder to not try for the 1st down there with how bad our special teams are. Almost burned us.
 
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Stl2La said:
I thought it made no sense bc a first down wins it and it was going to be the 2 minute warning anyways so clock was going to stop.
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If I remember correctly it was 2:07, that's not a guarantee 7 second run off on a pass play. I was debating too whether they should pass or run before they ran a play. 7 seconds is a long time for a non-scrambler like Stafford who was being pressured a lot yesterday. Obviously if its complete no problem but its unlikely 7 seconds run off on an incomplete pass unless he has all day to sit back there.
 
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Psycho_X said:
If I remember correctly it was 2:07, that's not a guarantee 7 second run off on a pass play. I was debating too whether they should pass or run before they ran a play. 7 seconds is a long time for a non-scrambler like Stafford who was being pressured a lot yesterday. Obviously if its complete no problem but its unlikely 7 seconds run off on an incomplete pass unless he has all day to sit back there.
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Even if they left a second or two on the clock they were going to punt anyway which would stop the clock regardless
 
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Ellard80 said:
Again I think McVay is on pace to be an all time NFL great,

but i don't understand his leanings towards being conservative in certain situations.
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I don’t get it either, I remember when we went for it at Seattle to win the division with gurley. I miss that Mcvay. He coached scared last night, Caleb bailed us out because that OT play calling was disgusting.
 
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According to Nate Atkins:

By the start of the fourth quarter, he’d (McVay) called 35 passes to 11 runs, despite averaging more yards per play on the ground. It played into the Bears’ defensive game plan as they lived in nickel and dime personnel and sent blitzes at Stafford to create sacks. And it saved the Achilles heel of a Chicago defense that had just lost starting linebacker T.J. Edwards for the season and ranked near the bottom of every run defensive statistic.

It led to two three-and-outs, including right after Durant’s second interception that set the Rams up at midfield in a tie game, only to punt 14 seconds later.

I wanted him to run more all game and then... he ran at the wrong time. Ugh.
 
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WestCoastRam said:
I wanted him to run more all game and then... he ran at the wrong time. Ugh.
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That's just it. If they expect you to run, pass.

I didn't get the three straight run plays after getting the initial 1st down by running twice. You're trying to win the game here.

And all that running only got rid of 2 time outs. Insane how McVay thinks when all the Rams need are a couple of 1st downs to ice the game.

.
 
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i'm not really criticizing his play calling overall - just in these situations.

One thing I say all the time that people just look past...

Stafford has the last say in the play call at the line. I've seen McVay mention a few times this year that they had run calls in but they were changed at the line.
 
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Psycho_X said:
If I remember correctly it was 2:07, that's not a guarantee 7 second run off on a pass play. I was debating too whether they should pass or run before they ran a play. 7 seconds is a long time for a non-scrambler like Stafford who was being pressured a lot yesterday. Obviously if its complete no problem but its unlikely 7 seconds run off on an incomplete pass unless he has all day to sit back there.
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I was thinking that too - seven seconds is a long time. Maybe a roll out and a bomb to Puka. Either it's caught, DPI, incomplete or picked. The seven seconds would be gone no matter.
 
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Balls/Brain Frozen = No Testosterone = No aggression.

And if you watched the game completing a pass was a challenge.

Not only for us on 4th down but would be for the Bears needing to drive 70 yards if the punt worked out.

So don't agree with the call but i get it.
 
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To me the play calling wasn`t bad but should have factored in the weather more.

Guys looked like they were playing in quicksand. No separation in the passing game. Not even Mr. Get Off The Line of Scrimmage, Hall of Fame WR Devonte Adams could get any separation.

I think we would have been better off just throwing jump balls off of 4-vert concepts. Just throw it up for grabs to whomever isn`t double teamed. That seems to be our advantage when route running is taken off of the table due to weather.

And for the record, we beat the Bears. They did not lose. They went down fighting, unlike the Whiners vs Seattle.

The Whiners went out like B#tches.
 
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