Sunday evening’s title showdown between the Bengals and Rams featured the youngest head-coaching matchup in Tremendous Bowl historical past. It did not essentially characteristic the finest head-coaching matchup in Tremendous Bowl historical past, no less than based mostly on the 2 sides’ in-game decision-making. Make no mistake, Zac Taylor deserves plenty of credit score for main Cincinnati to its first Tremendous Bowl look in additional than 30 years, and Sean McVay has rightfully made historical past for successful Los Angeles a trophy.
The 2 coaches additionally had their justifiable share of strong calls in Tremendous Bowl LVI, just like the Bengals’ halfback-pass landing from Joe Mixon, or Cincy’s deep-ball pictures in opposition to Rams cornerback Jalen Ramsey. However the officers weren’t the one ones with just a few questionable choices on the massive stage, both. Listed below are a number of the most notable iffy calls from Tremendous Bowl Sunday:
Quick-yardage play calls: Whereas Taylor obtained regular manufacturing from Joe Mixon when the Bengals ran the ball, he twice fed backup working again Samaje Perine on essential third-and-one performs, together with one within the course of Rams All-Professional Aaron Donald within the waning seconds of the sport. With 55 seconds left, dealing with a second-and-one with field-goal vary in sight, he additionally dialed up a throwaway deep shot that ended up going out of bounds, losing a down.
Refusal to run: Regardless that Taylor and the Bengals made uninspired selections on the short-yardage alternatives, they may’ve afforded to lean on Mixon extra all through the sport. Each time he touched the ball, he moved ahead. Sure, it was simply as necessary to get Joe Burrow in a rhythm, however when Mixon is averaging virtually 5 yards a contact and Burrow is absorbing strain on each different drop-back, the good play might be to maintain the ball on the bottom, even when it is slower and never as attractive.
Operating on the whole: Whereas the Bengals discovered success on the bottom and simply wanted to be extra selective with their short-yardage hand-offs, the Rams had the alternative drawback: they wanted to run much less. Clearly Sean McVay could not completely abandon the bottom recreation, however his three-man rotation of Sony Michel, Cam Akers and Darrell Henderson simply by no means discovered daylight in opposition to Cincy’s D-line, and but too typically, L.A. opened drives with first-down carries up the intestine earlier than asking Matthew Stafford to throw them out of a gap.
Ignoring Cooper Kupp: Perhaps the Bengals have been simply blanketing the Rams’ finest receiver instantly following Odell Beckham Jr.’s absence on account of damage, however we doubt it, contemplating Eli Apple’s constant struggles with Kupp on the ultimate drive. Why did not McVay do his darnedest to maintain the ball in Kupp’s fingers because the offense floundered for drives at a time after Odell’s departure? Rams followers can no less than take solace understanding Kupp was, actually, the point of interest of the ultimate sequence, which sealed the victory.
