from PFF: https://www.profootballfocus.com/news/pro-the-top-101-players-from-the-2018-nfl-season?utm_source=cj&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=cjaff&cjevent=75be073e2bc311e9810801130a1c0e11

The top 101 players from the 2018 NFL season

1. AARON DONALD, LOS ANGELES RAMS
Top 101 appearances: 5

In the 2018 NFL season there really is no question who the best player in the game was, and what is remarkable is that he took his game to another level from an already ridiculous starting point. Aaron Donald was the single most destructive force in the game from his interior alignment on the Rams defensive line, earning an overall PFF grade of 95.2 and recording a staggering 113 quarterback pressures, both the best marks of any player in the league.

Belichick's game plan was even better than we thought, why Gurley was a non-factor, and the real MVP was on defense (but it wasn't who you think)@Andy_Benoit breaks down the Coaches' Film of Super Bowl LIIIhttps://t.co/Wjj2lwvjDj pic.twitter.com/bL6q9ucTvx

— The MMQB (@theMMQB) February 7, 2019

Ross Tucker@RossTuckerNFL
Zac Taylor not already having a defensive coordinator in the fold and the Bengals now struggling to find someone to take the job seems problematic .

Rams Q&A: Vinny Bonsignore

They didn’t have a whole lot of 1st downs to utilize but of them, the Rams ran it eight times between Gurley and Anderson and once more with Woods. So they definitely tried to run it on first down. They threw it 15 times on first down. It wasn’t like it was completely out of whack. They just couldn’t get any traction no matter what they tried to do. They averaged 3.7 yards per carry on those first down runs. That’s not going to get it done.

I was surprised about the lack of screen passes and adjustments. I think that kind of stuff will eat at McVay for awhile.

And yes, the Patriots offense was not that much better. Which is why you have to be careful about over-reacting.

I think the way both teams were playing defensively it really came down to who could make the two or three plays necessary to win it. Schemes had nothing to do with Jared not seeing Cooks in time on that pass to the end zone. Or the DB breaking up a very well thrown ball to Cooks near the goal line. Or the bad throw Goff made up the sideline that got intercepted. That was all about execution. Sean is smart enough to make some adjustments to have the sort of in-game options he can turn to if a similar situation comes up. But again, it was one game that literally came down to a couple of plays that the Patriots could convert and that the Rams didn’t.

I do not think Gurley was 100 percent. But I do think he was fine enough to play. The Rams couldn’t block consistently, and even when they did get him off or get off a positive play, it always seemed a penalty or sack or negative play soon followed. Important to remember, too, it was one bad game against a very good team being coached up at the highest level. Can’t get too freaked out that you make dumb decisions out of overreactions.

I think the biggest concern is how the offensive line got handled and the response from Jared Goff to throwing against a zone defense. Goff has some work to do in that regard,Goff definitely needs to sharpen up against the zone. But also, he has to play better under pressure. Of his 42 dropbacks he was pressured 18 times and, in those situations, he was 4 of 14 for 47 yards, a pick, and sacked four times. Part of that is Goff maybe holding onto the ball too long – also credit the Patriots, their coverage was incredible – but part of it was the offensive line got their lunch eaten both on pass blocks and run blocks. From coaching to blocking to throwing the Rams got beat on Sunday. But I do think they’ll learn from it and be better off for it

24 years old. Has gotten better every year. Just helped get his team to the Super Bowl in his third season. Two straight division titles. He’s a keeper. And yes I do believe he gets even better

I still wonder how much of all that was the result of Gurley simply not being able to do some things he normally can, and how much it really affected the game plans. I think the splitting the carries part is a clear sign that, while Gurley was physically fit to play, he probably wasn’t fit enough to carry the whole load.

I don’t see a lot of bg changes offensively – unless Whitworth retires and Saffold leaves via free agency – but I do see changes defensively considering there are so many FA’s. I think Joyner is gone. I could see Barron leaving too in order to direct his money elsewhere. It’s going to be a busy offseason defensively

Noteboom and Allen are future starters – Noteboom potentially this year at left guard or tackle depending what happens with Whitworth and Saffold. But yes, they definitely need to add more pieces to the line for development purposes.

transcript by RamBill, Bill Polian’s break down from Late Hits- NFL Radio

Bill Polian:

RamBill

Same, cont’d…Polian

The Pats D-linemen in run D would go straight up the field rather than moving laterally and they were getting frequent penetration. That is the best way to defeat the Rams zone blocking scheme. The counter to this is to “gap and trap”, but he didn’t see a lot of that. The Rams stuck with the Zone scheme. Surprised the Rams weren’t able to adjust better at halftime…but that’s sometimes easier said than done.

=============

The Rams D did a phenomenal job…holding a team to 17 or less equals victory about 90% of the time….the Rams D delivered a winning performance in a dominant fashion. The only thing they didn’t do was shut down Edelman…the only thing you could criticize them for was not doubling Edelman…but if you do that you’re probably getting Gronk one on one…..that you don’t want either….if Edelman is going to beat you….I’ll take those odds most of the time…even with Brady. The did a terrific job of pressuring Brady….Brady had a very average game…bottom line….the Rams D deserves a lot of credit…it was an outstanding job by Wade and the players….the Pats were 3 of 12 on 3rd down.

The Pats augmented their defense with phenomenal kicking game execution…backing the Rams up deep in their own territory many times.

Excluding special teams plays…the Pats ran 20 more plays than the Rams in the first half: 42-22. Fatigue finally caught up with the Rams in that final TD drive for the Pats.

The Pats D-Line punched out the Rams O-Line

The Rams D played as well, or better than the Pats D….when you have a great D, it keeps you in the game….and as badly as the Rams offense was playing…
and as badly as Belicheck was controlling that game with respect to his defense….the Rams were one poor pass and one drop …Cooks has to catch that in
the Super Bowl. Those 2 plays likely win the game for the Rams….it’s a different game.

Goff was a beat late virtually all night….he was not hitting people on time.

I think Goff has a good future….what we saw in the Super Bowl was a very good coach and very good players who execute perfectly confused him…he didn’t see
things as quickly as he should have…he wasn’t getting rid of the ball as quickly as he should have….often he was under great pressure where his timing was
thrown off because physically people were in his face…..you can’t put the whole blame on him….when you’re getting batted around the whole game… it really bothered Goff, as it would any QB. It wasn’t that the game was too big for him…..it would have happened if the game was played in LA or anywhere….Belicheck just took him to the cleaners. Welcome to the NFL…you’re not the only one.

Part of the reason Belicheck was able to execute his plan is that without Kupp, the Rams really don’t have a go-to guy in the passing game.

The other thing is that Belicheck figured out and banked on the fact that their techniques, the power, and aggressiveness of his D-line would physically dominate the Rams O-Line and that’s EXACTLY what happened. BTW, whoever named the Rams O-Line as the best, didn’t watch very much film.

Bottom line, the Pats figured they could win the battle vs the Rams O-line and they did handily…and as a result…they were winning the physical battles up front and if you do that the Offensive scheme almost doesn’t matter…..and when you add a sophisticated blitz and pass defense scheme against a group that was missing it’s go to WR…it was a real struggle for the Rams offense. It was great coaching by the Pats.

jrry32

McVay was outcoached. Goff struggled. The OL struggled. The WRs made some costly mistakes. The running game never got going. Simply put, Belichick used the two weeks to devise a strategy that went against his tendencies. McVay needed to do the same. He didn’t. That’s what made our defense so effective. Wade went against his tendencies and confused Brady. Well, Belichick did the same thing. McVay didn’t counter.

They played more M2M than any other team this year. In this game, they came out and played the sort of zone defense the Bears used against us. We got fooled, and McVay didn’t do enough to adjust (or adjust until it was too late). It was a brilliant plan. It had us confused all night.

On offense, I didn’t like where we failed to adjust. McVay made an adjustment when he realized they were using dummy looks to slow our offense down. The problem is that he never adjusted away from his tendencies. That’s the one thing he needed to do. Wade understood on defense that you beat Brady by confusing him with looks he’s not expecting based on your tendencies and what you’re showing pre-snap. McVay just didn’t do enough of that.

Gurley was clearly hurt. It was unfortunately obvious watching the game. He didn’t have the cutting ability that makes him such a threat in the passing game. You could see him visibly limping. On that throwaway Goff made where Gurley lined up at WR, you could see that he didn’t have much juice coming out of his break and was limping on the way to the sidelines. He might have a partial tear of a ligament, but that sounds scarier than it is. It sucks that we essentially lost both him and Kupp. Kupp would have shredded that zone defense. Goff was down his two most important blitz/pressure-beaters with Kupp and Gurley’s injuries. You can’t just scheme that away. We did our best to cover it up, but with the OL struggling, it got exposed. Oh well.

Goff is one of the youngest QBs to start a Super Bowl. If you go through and look at the other youngest guys, none of them played well. In fact Goff is the FOURTH youngest QB to start a Super Bowl behind Dan Marino, Ben Roethlisberger, and David Woodley. All three of those QBs played poorly in the Super Bowl. Ben is the only one who won the Super Bowl, and he posted worse numbers in his first SB than Goff.

Goff was a tick late on some throws. Yes, that’s what happens when the opposing defense has you not trusting what you’re seeing. He also threw multiple 50/50 balls. Our WRs didn’t catch them.

Peyton Manning was crapping bed against New England at 27 and 28 years old. I can’t even imagine how many observers and fans would have been ripping him apart.

Simply put, a QB making the Super Bowl at Goff’s age is rare. A QB playing well in the Super Bowl at Goff’s age is unheard of. It’s extraordinarily difficult to play well as a young QB in the Super Bowl. However, the good thing about this is that it’s a learning experience for Goff. He gets to come back stronger next time for having experienced this already.Even Brady didn’t play well in his Super Bowl against us when he was Goff’s age. Nevertheless, when we were down 10-3 in the 4th quarter, Goff threw a perfect pass to Cooks for what should have been the game-tying TD. Cooks failed to catch it. He threw the Int on the next play. Had Cooks caught that first ball, Goff is being celebrated as a hero and a clutch QB. We might even have won that game.

IMO, a big reason why our OL struggled the way it did is because they were getting fooled just like Goff was. The Patriots were purposefully showing one look before the snap before changing the defense post-snap. Belichick sent in two plays. The first was a dummy look to show before the snap. The second was the real play to run after the snap. They were putting a bunch of bodies around the LOS and rushing 5 with stunts. Our OL seemed to be confused all game, which left free runners going after Goff.

I was happy with how we competed. I wasn’t happy with how our offense played, but they freaking competed.

Peter King@peter_king
Good point. McVay is smart, a good motivator, has a good handle on his team. He’s 26-10 since taking over a flailing team. Much more likely than not that he’ll overcome this clunker and the Rams will be good going forward.

trey wingo@wingoz
That game was a defensive coaching masterpiece on both sides. The Pats were so confused by Wade early they burned 2 timeouts with 6:00 to go in the 1st quarter. The Rams were so out sorts Goff was feeling things that weren’t there.

Andy Benoit@Andy_Benoit
Another benefit of the Patriots playing a 6-1 front: it negated L.A.’s jet sweeps so thoroughly that Sean McVay abandoned them in the second half. With only one stack linebacker, there was no one for the jet action to impact.

Found it interesting everyone is bashing Goff, but check out these numbers , I thought you’d find this interesting. The stats of these 3 QBs , playing against Belichick in the playoffs for the first time pic.twitter.com/77aWyIe6Gw

— Justin (@justinlewen) February 6, 2019

Bucky Brooks@BuckyBrooks
There is a lack of appreciation for defensive players and good defensive play in the media ranks. Defensive tactics are harder to comprehend for the casual observer so it’s harder to praise individual defenders or the collective unit w/o eye-popping stats (sacks/INTs)

JackPMiller wrote:

So I won’t be alive to see them win another Super Bowl? I’m sad

Not sure what you;re saying Jack. Are you okay? Don’t be coy, speak up.

JackPMiller wrote:

I’m still hoping I will be alive to see the Rams win another Super Bowl before I ever die.

I don’t see it that way at all.

I see them going a couple of times in the next 4-5 years.

They have some work to do but they also have a core of top players.

Deadpool

I have said this over and over. Goff has never read a defense a day in his life before the NFL. He had no idea what Belichick was showing him. Goff will grow from this. He apparently is a film junky. And he is growing. Last year he doesn’t win without McVay in his ear. The year before that, he couldn’t read more then 1/2 the field. It will come, he’ll get more confidence in what he sees, and his decisions will be quicker and with more confidence.

heck, even the goat was confused by what Wade’s defense was showing him last night. its what great defensive minds do.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 6 months ago by zn.

.@RamsNFL v @patriots. 5 on 5; Big on Big. #patriots twists were a problem all night. #BaldysBreakdowns pic.twitter.com/l9YIrrOXS7

— Brian Baldinger (@BaldyNFL) February 5, 2019