Thread: How the Patriots' defense stymied Sean McVay in Super Bowl LIII

ATLANTA -- The NFL plans, Bill Belichick laughs.

The future of football is offense, we've all been told for months. NFL scoreboards spent September, October and November like a pinball machine on tilt as innovative coaches and favorable rule changes laid waste to the offensive record books and sent a half-dozen teams scurrying to hire clones of Rams coach Sean McVay.

Then, Sunday night, came Super Bowl LIII, in which Belichick's New England Patriots throttled McVay's high-scoring Los Angeles Rams 13-3 to win the lowest-scoring Super Bowl of all time. It was Belichick's sixth Super Bowl title as a head coach to go with the two he won as a defensive coordinator. That it came against McVay and the 11th-highest-scoring team in NFL history sent a message that defense isn't dead after all. And who better to send such a message than the all-time coaching master who was already a defensive mastermind way back when McVay was still in diapers.

rest - http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/2...uper-bowl-liii

We should all be very thankful that the Broncos went with a defensive-minded HC (who by all accounts is damn good at schemes) instead of one of the "up and coming" or "offensive innovators".

People always say that the superstar offensive player "so-and-so" will be figured out eventually, and rendered ineffective. Why? Because the defensive masterminds have the upper hand and adapt to changes in the offensive schemes.

#Sundaywasproof

Originally Posted by BroncoJoe

We should all be very thankful that the Broncos went with a defensive-minded HC (who by all accounts is damn good at schemes) instead of one of the "up and coming" or "offensive innovators".

People always say that the superstar offensive player "so-and-so" will be figured out eventually, and rendered ineffective. Why? Because the defensive masterminds have the upper hand and adapt to changes in the offensive schemes.

#Sundaywasproof

To be fair VJ is a DC. Just saying.....

Originally Posted by Northman

To be fair VJ is a DC. Just saying.....

Yeah, well... history/accomplishment matters. VJ was a huge mistake. I like the dude, but he was a joke as HC and DC.

Originally Posted by Northman

To be fair VJ is a DC. Just saying.....

He was for one year and he failed at it

Originally Posted by slim

He was for one year and he failed at it

I'm still trying to figure out what Elway saw in him.

By recording the Ram's practices?

Originally Posted by BroncoJoe

I'm still trying to figure out what Elway saw in him.

Yeah, me too. Terrible decision by #7

Defense.




Wins.





Championships.

Scores of the two Super bowls prior to this:

41-33
34-28

Top 4 offenses in 2018: Chiefs, Saints Rams, Pats

Y'all get too hung up on one game. Yes, it's great to have an awesome defense, but the league is trending more and more toward having a great offense being needed to win.

That said, I'm glad we hired Fangio instead of the 6th best offensive coach on the market, but if he doesn't put a solid offense in place, we probably aren't going to be competing for many championships.

Originally Posted by BroncoWave

Scores of the two Super bowls prior to this:

41-33
34-28

Top 4 offenses in 2018: Chiefs, Saints Rams, Pats

Y'all get too hung up on one game. Yes, it's great to have an awesome defense, but the league is trending more and more toward having a great offense being needed to win.

That said, I'm glad we hired Fangio instead of the 6th best offensive coach on the market, but if he doesn't put a solid offense in place, we probably aren't going to be competing for many championships.

Speaking of getting hung up on one game... I remember everyone saying that the Chiefs vs Rams game was a sign of things to come with teams battling to 50+ in a show of offensive firepower. Then the same thing that happens every year happens in the playoffs. The game slows down, butt cheeks are clenched, and the defense and run games come out to play. Aside from the Chiefs and Pats I don't think two teams playing each other scored over 30 points each in this years playoffs. To me it seems like you need to light it up in the regular season on offense, slow it down for the playoffs, then be balanced to win the Super Bowl. That being said, I am curious to see what another Rams/Chiefs match-up would've looked like in the Super Bowl.

Originally Posted by NightTrainLayne

Defense.




Wins.





Championships.

Originally Posted by BroncoWave

Scores of the two Super bowls prior to this:

41-33
34-28

Top 4 offenses in 2018: Chiefs, Saints Rams, Pats

Y'all get too hung up on one game. Yes, it's great to have an awesome defense, but the league is trending more and more toward having a great offense being needed to win.

That said, I'm glad we hired Fangio instead of the 6th best offensive coach on the market, but if he doesn't put a solid offense in place, we probably aren't going to be competing for many championships.

Yea, i was going to point out last year's SB but even in that game the Eagles haggled Brady enough to stop them from winning. Even in the SB against GB Denver's defense did just enough to stop Favre and the Packers even though our offense did the heavy lifting. Its a tough argument to be had which i still think it all comes down to the QB The Foles, Diflers, Johnsons, are generally an out lier and not the norm when it comes to the SB champions. Even Manning who was dogshit in 2015 became the winner over Newton who while ok is not really considered one of the NFL's best.

I'm not saying it's not valuable to have a good defense. I just think in general, having a great offense and a decent enough defense is going to take you further than having a great defense and a decent enough offense. There are obviously exceptions, like our 2015 team, but in general, I'd rather have an elite offense and a decent enough defense to just get enough stops here and there to win.

Originally Posted by BroncoWave

I'm not saying it's not valuable to have a good defense. I just think in general, having a great offense and a decent enough defense is going to take you further than having a great defense and a decent enough offense. There are obviously exceptions, like our 2015 team, but in general, I'd rather have an elite offense and a decent enough defense to just get enough stops here and there to win.

I wont debate that too much, i think a lot of the Rams issues were lack of experience from the HC to the QB. If the Pats had faced a guy like Payton and Brees i think we see an entirely different type of game. Pats may have still won but i think the scoring would have been a lot different.