Plan against Matthew Stafford worked for Rams

This A little Fire opened against Williams, who was fired by Patriots nine times last week The Bears’ offense was held to 142 yards in one of the most unfortunate and hopeless offensive performances you will ever see.

There are no knocks for Maye, whose youth occasionally belies him (on Sunday he made the interception that, for all intents and purposes, ended the game, for the second time in three weeks) but otherwise appears to be the Real Deals’ realist.

Maye was 40/30 for 282 yards with two touchdowns and one interception, and his command and poise were more impressive than his statistics. Oh, and a prominent football podcaster also mentioned him at the same time as John Elway last week, specifically for his skills. Go ahead, geek out, if you’re not there yet.

Getting back to the point, I can’t understand why the Patriots coaches thought this was a good idea to put together. A blitz-happy, zone-heavy game plan – Lockdown corner Christian Gonzalez was forced to defend the edge instead of the Rams’ pick-the-poison duo of Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp, against a quarterback with Stafford’s knowledge and experience.

The blitz-’em-to-submission approach could work against an inexperienced QB. That’s what happened just last week. But the Patriots were demanding to be burned against Stafford, who entered the league in 2009 when Maye was 6 years old.

He happily complied with the request, completing 18 of 27 passes for 295 yards and four touchdowns. In the second and third quarters alone, Stafford was 13 of 17 for 226 yards and all four touchdowns. Overall, the Rams had 402 yards of offense.

A go-get-him game plan like the one used to frustrate Williams turned out not to be as effective against a quarterback with a Super Bowl ring, two excellent receivers and 224 NFL games of experience. Let’s see.

Some additional thoughts after immediate review. . .

Cast suggested in Unusual Preview: Jared Verse, Rhamondre Stevenson, Jeremiah Pharms.

Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp: Okay, we’re cheating here by playing doubles. But both of these guys deserve a nod for tormenting the non-Gonzalez portion of the Patriots’ defensive backfield while keeping New England fans dreaming of the day when Maye will have a receiver as good as any of these guys.

Nakua did the damage early, catching six passes for 117 yards and the Rams’ first touchdown of the first half. He had a catch for 6 yards on the second, but that was partly due to it being Kupp’s turn to torch the Patriots after halftime…. immediately In fact, during halftime.

He beat Jonathan Jones against the Patriots’ zero-coverage defense on the second play of the third quarter and advanced 69 yards untouched. It was his second goal; He got hot in the second quarter with a 5-yard TD catch. He finished with six catches for 106 yards and a pair of scores.

Kendrick Bourne: A week after the eight-year veteran was a healthy scratch against the Bears, Bourne returned with five receptions for a team-best 70 yards, including a 9-yard TD reception for the game’s first points. Bourne’s break, ordered by Mayo, was justified; He has been rusty and lacking in attention to detail since returning from the knee injury that ended his 2023 season. Against the Rams, he looked like the version of Bourne that has been missing the past few weeks; positive energy and chain motion captures. What we saw Sunday was a great example for the Patriots’ young receivers of how a true pro puts disappointments behind him.

Kamren Kinchens: The Rams rookie safety, taken in the third round of April’s draft (31 picks after the Patriots took Caedan Wallace, no matter what), was everywhere on Sunday. Kinchens made eight tackles, including one for loss, breaking up a pass, forcing a fumble on Stevenson, and beating Maye on the final last-gasp Patriots possession. It may not have been his best game as a pro — he intercepted two passes and returned one for a touchdown against the Seahawks in Week 9 — but it’s talked about, too.

Wow, we have lots of options. There was a thwarted extra point, multiple wasted good field positions, Ja’Lynn Polk’s inexplicable penalty for the week, a strange passivity on offense in fourth down situations… and yet the answer here is pretty easy.

The Patriots were driving down the field on their third possession of the game, up 7-0 and threatening to extend their advantage. On third-and-8 at the Rams’ 32, Maye found Hunter Henry for a 17-yard gain… until the play was called off due to an illegal formation penalty on left tackle Vederian Lowe.

this one terrible The call is the kind of thing that could be called on every pass play, on every play, every Sunday, Monday and Thursday. The decision to call it there was as arbitrary as it gets, and it changed the course of the game for the Patriots, who opted to punt instead of kicking a 55-yard field goal from Joey Slye.

Predicted final score: Rams 23, Patriots 20

Final score: Rams 28, Patriots 22

Marcus Jones got his first offensive touch since Week 15 of the 2022 season, running down the left wing for a 5-yard gain on the Patriots’ scoring drive midway through the third quarter. The possession ended with Slye’s 25-yard field goal, cutting the Rams’ lead to 21-13. Count me in as someone who likes the idea of ​​Jones being involved in the offense, even if limited, given the value he places on defense and return play. He’s a much more dangerous offensive player than Tyquan Thornton… Left tackle Lowe, who capped off a 10-play, 70-yard drive with a 4-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter, apparently has better hands than several receivers the Patriots have. It was prepared in recent years. Although Maye couldn’t have made a more precise pass to the football if he had stuffed it with feathers and called it a pad… The stat sheet shows Christian Barmore had three solo tackles in his first game of the season. What the stat sheet doesn’t tell us is how confident and triumphant Barmore feels as he returns to the field for the first time since being diagnosed with a blood clot during training camp. It was great to see him there for reasons that had little to do with football.

Chad Finn can be reached at [email protected]. follow him @GlobeChadFinn.