FOXBOROUGH - Call it a curious decision at best and a terrible one at worst.
When the Patriots crafted their defensive game plan this week, they decided that instead of having Christian Gonzalez follow Cooper Kupp or Puka Nacua, the team's best cornerback would play the boundary side of the field and not shadow either player. That meant trusting Jonathan Jones, Marcus Jones, and Marco Wilson to handle a Rams duo that, when healthy, is one of the best in football.
Never mind, this would also require a pass rush to smash - or at least marginally disrupt - a Sean McVay offense that, while not humming like it has in years past, is still plenty dangerous. That was especially true during their previous game, a loss Monday night to the Dolphins in which the Rams went without a touchdown.
"Look, Kupp had the one reception, which was a huge chunk of those yards," said Jerod Mayo after the game. "Look, going into the game, we have a plan, and we're always willing to change that look. Like I said earlier, I felt like we were going to be okay. I thought we could outlast them."
So that was the Pats' plan against one of the best offensive minds in the game? To outlast them? Newsflash - it didn't work.
Matthew Stafford threw for 295 yards and had four touchdown passes against zero interceptions (the Pats don't get any of those this year), Nacua caught 7 of his 9 targets for 123 yards and a score, and Kupp reeled in 6 of his 10 for 106 yards and found the end zone twice. There were no substantial adjustments to derail Stafford when he got locked in.
"I saw them whenever they came - (when) they were on my side," said Gonzalez. "I was playing the boundary for this game. So, I can't really focus on the other side. I got to focus on the person in front of me and just make the plays I gotta make."
He did just that, as he has done for most of the season. But with the rest of the group, it was a lot more miss than hit. Especially baffling was how limited the scope of the Pats' plan was.
There were no double teams, at least as best I can tell from watching the game live. Can you imagine facing a team with these two wideouts and then, essentially, nothing else at that position - DeMarcus Robinson and Tutu Atwell had six targets combined on the day - but not changing your approach, with McVay - and passing game coordinator Nick Caley (remember him?) - on the other side? Gonzalez, one of the top cover corners in football, was basically twiddling his thumbs and singing zippity doo dah for three quarters? Did trying some doubles even get discussed?
"Nah. No, we didn't," said safety Kyle Dugger, who returned to action for the first time since week 7 (ankle).
While defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington and the defensive-minded Mayo stuck to their obviously not working plan - the Rams had five drives in a row that ended in touchdowns (4) or the one missed chip shot field goal before the half - because McVay quickly recognized what the Pats were doing and altered his approach (imagine that).
"Gonzalez is the real deal, does an excellent job," said McVay. "There were some instances where we said if you can avoid him, let's go ahead and do that."
After punting on their first two possessions of the game, the Rams saw that Gonzalez was stapled to a side and not trailing one of their two big dogs. So on that first TD drive, McVay constantly motioned wide receivers to the field side, leaving Gonzalez eyeballing the tight ends while the rest of the cornerback crew had to deal with Kupp and Nacua. Kupp found the end zone on a short completion into the red flat when the Pats were sitting in zone and had Sione Takitaki, a linebacker, directly across from the wide receiver and rookie safety Dell Pettus positioned about five yards deep in the end zone. Gift wrap it, why don't you?
The second scoring drive - 9 plays, 80 yards - saw more of the same and was capped when Jonathan Jones got worked over by Nacua at the top of the route. The second-year pro made a beautiful diving catch to break the tie and put the Rams up 14-7.
There could have been more points on the board just before halftime. Stafford floated a perfect ball over the outstretched arms of Dugger to Nacua for 10 yards to kickstart a drive in the final two minutes. Then Nacua got isolated one-on-one with Wilson and turned that into a 21-yard gain that put L.A. on the doorstep. If not for Stafford missing Kupp on a corner route, the rout would have been on, and the kicker then pinged the upright to keep it a one-score game at the half.
Two plays into the second half, it was 21-7. After affecting Stafford once with the rush in the first half, Covington went all out, dialing up a zero blitz. It had zero success. Stafford hit Kupp in stride (with Jon Jones in his hip pocket) on a seam route for 69 yards and a touchdown. Jones should have played for the tackle there, but he went for the ball and came up empty.
"It was an off-the-ball kind of base defense, late-hitting zero a little bit," said Stafford. "They're trying to hold it and get to us. I kind of alerted right away to Coop, that's kind of the route that he's running. He did not change it too much. Did a really nice job of kind of making something happen at the top of it."
The Pats approached the ensuing possession with their big nickel grouping (three safeties), but McVay turned to running back Kyren Williams for runs of 12 and 9 yards, eventually forcing Covington to go back to his base defense. That was exposed on Stafford's 4th touchdown pass, this one to tight end Colby Parkinson, who left linebacker Christian Elliss in his wake.
"I think they kept doing what they were - they did what they do," added Dugger. "Their game plan was the same. They came back back to the plays that they had success on, and we just weren't stopping it. So it just came down to us, you know, each individual doing their job every play consistently, and we didn't do that."
The players didn't, but the defensive coaching staff is the guilty party in this subpar performance. Gonzalez's skills were wasted in a one-score game. One play — just one — could have made the difference, but when your best defender isn't thrust into a primary role and thus watches the paint dry almost all day, that falls on Mayo and Covington — no one else.
