Rams had no answers for Belichick’s defense
ATLANTA — Inside the New England Patriots locker room, Julian Edelman pulled on his shoes and chomped an unlit cigar that had aged for 50 years, a gift of gratitude from team owner Bob Kraft.
The Super Bowl MVP turned toward fellow receiver Matthew Slater and softly captured the conclusion the rest of America had come to.
“I can’t believe they didn’t score a touchdown,” Edelman said to Slater.
The Los Angeles Rams’ offense had been dominant all season, so glorified it made coach Sean Mcvay an exemplar of modern football, causing envious owners to trip over themselves trying to hire any coach who lifts weights and uses hair gel. The Rams ranked second in the NFL in points and yards in the most offense-crazed season in league history.
Then came the Super Bowl. Then Mcvay confronted a football savant who had 33 years and five Lombardi trophies on him. Then came a defensive throttling almost without precedent. Then came clarity at the top of football’s coaching hierarchy: Mcvay may be a young wiz, but he’s no Bill Belichick.
One of Belichick’s defensive game plans already is on display in the Hall of Fame, from his days as a New York Giants defensive coordinator. The one he and linebackers coach Brian Flores designed for the Patriots’ 13-3 victory over the Rams on Sunday may join it.
One year after the Patriots allowed 41 points in a Super Bowl loss to Philadelphia, they yielded the lowest output in the game in 49 years.
The Patriots confused quarterback Jared Goff, dismantled the Rams’ offensive line, shut down their skill players and left Mcvay without answers.
Belichick surprised the Rams by starting in a zone defense after playing manto-man all season and by switching Jonathan Jones’ role from cornerback to safety. He unleashed a torrent of pass rushes despite barely blitzing. He did nothing the Rams expected and everything to specially stifle a high-powered attack.
Belichick made Mcvay his latest high-profile victim, a fact Mcvay lamented in both ornate vernacular and plain English.
“It was a great game plan,” Mcvay said. “There is no other way to say it but, I got outcoached.”
This Super Bowl was a victory for wisdom over phenoms. The Rams were obliterated statistically, gaining just 260 yards, recording 14 first downs and punting nine times. The only reason the Rams had a chance in the fourth quarter was the defense of 71-year-old coordinator Wade Phillips, who had Tom Brady off-kilter all night.
But one coach dwarfed the others, and it was the one who now has eight Super Bowl rings as coach or coordinator.
“Bill’s the best to ever do it,” Patriots secondary coach Josh Boyer said.
The biggest spectacle in American culture staged Belichick’s opus, but it began two weeks ago on a field in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
In their first practice after the Patriots beat Kansas City in the AFC championship, when other coaches might have rested players after an arduous, emotional game, Belichick put the Patriots in full pads and went fullbore. He added extra drills. Mistakes were met with coaches demanding, “Do it again.” Then players toiled through an extra 12 sprints.
“It felt like we were running forever,” Slater said. “It was like, ‘What are we doing here?’ We knew Bill meant business. It prepared us for what we needed to do.”
New England’s schemes flummoxed Goff in the first half as the third-year quarterback completed only 5 of 12 passes for 52 yards. As a unit, the Rams totaled only 57 yards in the first half.
The Rams made some adjustments at halftime and Goff hit some throws, but he also had two notable misses.
One was late in the third quarter, when receiver Brandin Cooks slipped through the Patriots’ zone and broke wide open in the end zone. At first, Goff didn’t see him. By the time he did, Patriots safety Jason Mccourty was able to race over and break up the pass.
“I tried to get it to him as quickly as I could,” Goff said. “Unfortunately, it was too late.”
Later, with the Rams trailing 10-3, Goff found a groove and drove the Rams to the New England 27-yard line with less than five minutes remaining. The momentum proved to be short-lived.
First, safety Duron Harmon combined with cornerback Stephon Gilmore to break up what would have been a touchdown pass to Cooks.
Then, on the next play, Belichick called for a rare maximum blitz, leaving Gilmore alone on Cooks. Harmon pressured Goff into an early throw and Gilmore intercepted the pass before Cooks could turn around, all but sealing the game.
“It was an easy pick for me,” Gilmore said.
The Patriots finished the game with four sacks of Goff and 12 hurries, and tied a Super Bowl record for the fewest points allowed (Dallas beat Miami 24-3 in Super Bowl VI).
“We ain’t stars over here,” linebacker Kyle Van Noy said. “We just come to work and keep grinding and grinding and grinding. It shows. Look at the scoreboard again. We’re champs, baby.”