The “Rams” defense initially lined up with four players on the “Boundary” (grey quadrilateral) and three on the “Field” (grey triangle), adapts by reversing the number of defenders between the two portions of the field by moving Landman (#53), who will become responsible for the “low” tracks of the “#11”.
It is a “Quarters” (zone-match) scheme on both sides of the field, in which the “CB” Durant (#14), in “Man Outside Deep – MOD” mode, has to cope with the deep tracks of the outside “WR” (Shaheed “#22”), while the “S” Curl (#3) should support Landman on the “vertical” tracks of Smith-Njigba.
The initial “cut” towards the outside of the latter could have thrown the readings of the LA secondary into crisis: both Durant and Curl in fact, concentrate on Shaheed’s “Post”, ignoring the “Corner” of “#11”, leaving it “wide open” directly in “End Zone”.
This 14-yard “TD” along with the following one, resulting from a rather serious mistake by the “Special Team” of the “Rams” on the opening drive of the third quarter, will bring the score differential to “+11” in favor of the home team.
After the immediate response from the Stafford-Adams-Parkinson trio, which shortened the gap to “+4”, the counter response came from the former “Rams”, the veteran Kupp.
On a “3&9” situation, to defeat the “Tampa 2” coverage again, Darnold, unlike the situation analyzed previously (ref. Img. 2), takes advantage of the extra attacker on the “Field” by “hitting” the “Flat” area. In fact, both “S” Lake (#37) and “CB” R. McCreary (#25) are put in a conflict situation by “OC” Kubiak: the former, responsible for the “Flat” area, is “stretched” vertically due to the track “Corner” by Smith-Njigba (#11), while the latter is “forced” to choose whether to “match” the latter or whether to provide the necessary support from above to Curl (#3) on Shaheed’s “Seam” (#22). [Immagine 4 sotto]
