Super Bowl Preview: Rams Offense/Bengals Defense

chess match back and forth on that side. Today we flipped the chess pieces around and we talked about Matthew Stafford, this Rams offense and a Bengals defense that probably hasn't gotten the headlines this season that maybe they deserve because of the terrific year that Joe Burrow and Jamaar Chase and all the weapons for the Bengals have had, but

they have been impactful so far in this postseason. They've got a couple of pass rushers on the edge that have gotten to the quarterback and have made noise and guys, maybe that's where we start this game. Always seems to be ultimately decided in the trenches. This is a much different offensive line in front of Matthew Stafford than Burrow has in front of him. Now he might be facing a different kind of pass rush, different kind of scheme

strategy from the Bengals this week as well. So, Scott, do you, when you look at this game see this as a blitz game for the Bengals? Is this just a we're gonna trust Hubbard and Hendrickson to get home, We're gonna rush for what? What do you think, at least at the start that we're gonna see schematically pass rush wise from the Rams are from the Bengals against

this Rams offense. I think it's gonna start out pretty vanilla, quite honestly, because you know lu Lu Ram rumo Um, their defensive coordinator is really he's a little bit reactionary. And I say that in the most respectful of ways. As we watch the Bengals defense this season, what they do an incredible job of is reacting and responding to

the game plan that the offense has. And I think what Lou does sometimes is he says, Okay, I'm gonna get the temperature, see what's going on, I'm gonna play some basic stuff, but then once I get a beat on what they're going to do offensively, then I am going to react. So truly, I've been fascinated watching him

this year. We saw even you know, last in the a f C Championship game, the Bengals come out, they're they're letting up a bunch in the first half, and second half they shut them down as the game every time this season are certainly in the second half of the season, it seems like Lou does something and he gets an idea. It's similar but different to working with

Romeo Cornell Bill Belichick. They get a beat on what the offense is doing and then they react and respond and play defense based on what the offense is doing. And I think that's what we're gonna see because right now, when you look at this offense and the number of weapons that they have offensively, starting with the trigger man, I mean, Matthew just keeps getting better. The more comfortable he gets with O'Dell, the more I mean, he's clearly

comfortable with Cooper Cup. Now they've got Sony Michelle and cam Akers. To me, I think that loose sits back and again when I say sits back. I don't think passively, but I think he gets a line on what they're doing and then reacts to it. I agree. I think it's a rolodex. That's what we used to call it. You just get a rolodex of calls, you know. And that's the challenge for Sean McVeigh in this offense. So this is probably the most fascinating part of this football

game for me. So let's go back a couple of years. Sean McVeigh goes into the Super Bowl against the the Newing the Patriots. Their offense is on goodly and all of a sudden, the Patriots go, this is what we're gonna do, and you don't know it, and we're gonna give you something that you're not ready for. And Sean just couldn't adjust. And then they went in the first half, they played one coverage, in the second half, they majored

in another coverage and Sean couldn't adjust. That's very much so Whulu in a rumo, the defensive Cornya for the Bengals that Scott talked about has become it's so game plan specific, and then it's so within the game specific. Now this isn't working, or this is what they're doing, this is what we're gonna go to, and it's he quickly makes changes, not know only not only of what they can't do anymore, but what they should do to

attack offenses. And I think that's the challenge for Sean is how ready is he going to be for things that he's not ready for and how quickly he can adjust into the things that they need to get to. And so when you do that defensively, what it forces us offensive people to do is guess rather than predict. And that's the worst place for us to be. It's third and six. I got no stinking clue but what they're gonna do? Do I need to go coverage? Do I needed to go concept? Do I need to go

middlefield open? Do I need to go middle field closed? Do I need to get crossers doing? And that's the challenge, candidly, and I think that you know, specifically, Bob, I, I do not think they are going to pressure. I think if you pressure, goodnight, Irene, because it's you don't you don't blitz this quarterback, you don't blitz this offense. It's bad bad news. I think this the second really interesting part of this matchup is Cooper Cup versus Mike Hilton.

You know Cooper Cup in the playoffs, guys, twenty five catches for yards and four touchdowns. Okay, that's on thirty three targets. He's playing in the slot predominantly. Mike Hilton, the nickel corner for Cincinnati, has given up three catches this postseason. We're talking good on good dog on dog, who wins that matchup. So I think you trust your

coverage guys. That the way that they've started to use Sam Hubbard as an off the ball player is fascinating, and that different places they're moving him around is giving those simulations and creating matchups for that. And I'd say this, Matthew Stafford will have to have his best game of the season when it comes to ball placement. The Bankers

are gonna play man coverage. Now. Their man coverage is positioned really well and they play with the great leverage and they dropped down guys from you know, you're constantly making the quarterback think mentally. But his ball placement versus where that sticky coverage is gonna be is is gonna be a big part. Yeah, you know, the other thing I think that I could see the Rams doing at some point in time. And this is just instincts because of the personalities of the folks involved in in the

Rams offense. They are going to target Eli Apple and they're gonna try to do something to get him because they know he can be gotten. We talked about matchups though, and kind of back to Hilton Cooper cup, is that a follow? Like? Is that just to follow the entire game the same way we talked about Jalen Ramsey and Jamaar Chase on Tuesday? If that is so, do you guys expect and is this something you're gonna have to see early on? Does everybody follow? Is this just a

that cat defense where you got that cat? You got that cat? Or can you maybe get an Odell Beckham matchup that you want? Or is this now Van Jefferson Eli Apple and that's the matchup? I have to try an attack? Like how how do you think the Rams will play it? And how do you think they'll you know, what kind of a matchup do you think they're gonna be looking for? Yeah, I don't think that we'll get

a followed by the Bengals defense. I think what will we will see from the Bengals defenses where they dropped down their help from, you know, like sometimes they drop it down from the boundary the guy closest to the sidelines. Sometimes they drop it down from the field and the guys underneath are playing in kind of respective positioning of that, you know, And so I think that could I see them dropping down to Cooper cups side Because here's what O'Dell has done for this offense is and you saw

it a little bit in the NFC title game. It's not only that I have a place to go to with the ball outside of Cooper. I have a person who can hurt you when I do it. And that's that. That's the challenge for Cincinnati is Okay, you want to play outside leverage on Cooper in the slot, and then you want to drop down from the boundary, and so

you're kind of vising him cool. I will say this definitively, if they tried to solo up Odell with either Ousia or Eli Apple for the majority of that game, Odell was gonna win m v P. That's how I feel like that. I just don't think they can do it over the court. He's too he's creating too much separation and he's too explode as if with the football still. So that would be one of the things to look at, is is how Sean DeShawn doal up the right way for guys to be running away from the help at

the right times. This would be my question. Then, Scott, play this from the Bill Belichick mindset, because Bill Belichick has always, i think, gone into games game plan specific and said, at the very least, I'm gonna make you play left handed. Robie. If you've got a Cooper Cup that has caught a million balls for a million yards and a million touchdowns this year, shame on us if he goes out and catches fourteen balls for a hundred and fifty yards and three touchdowns in this game, Like,

we're not gonna let that happen. So how do you game plan specific give Hilton help if he needs it, vice Cooper Cup and not have those matchups that you don't want to have happened on the other side of the field, Like how do you make the Rams play left handed and not give Cooper Cup the numbers he's had that we've seen all season long and even in the playoffs, And yet at the same time accomplished the

other goals. Yeah, and I still think the primary player you have to take away is Cooper Cup, and you have to so take away Cup. And you understand you can't take away everyone. And we're gonna try to deal with Odell Beckham however, and taking away Cooper Cup. That's what we're gonna do on the backside. On the front side, Matthew Stafford is too good when he's given time, he's too good. And then when given time, it becomes a problem. And what they need to do take away Cup and

figure out a way with what's up front. Pressure Matthew into making a mistake. Although you know I've gotten to this point now, you know when we talked a couple of weeks ago, the last couple of weeks, and again I said this, Dan, I don't know Matthew like you, but I just see this this look in his eyes of peacefulness that he's just not going to make those mistakes that he has made at other times because he just knows it's like this bliss he's playing with house

money and he doesn't tighten up anymore. Yeah. I think there's a couple of things to that, Scott. I think when we're talking about in relation to Cooper and shutting down Cooper, I think the challenge of that is he has such freedom in his routes, He has such the ability they give him those choice routes, and he's so smart and it's not sometimes he runs it off leverage and then sometimes he gets you, gets you in the leverage that he wants, you know. And so I think

that's the challenge. In relation to Matthew, I would say this, I don't think that he loses this football game. Um, I know this isn't sports talk radio fire, and I just don't. I just don't think the guy has gone on the life journey that he has gone on and got to this moment and doesn't get it done. This is the same guy that in high school committed to Georgia because he didn't want to go on the recruiting

visits anymore. You're so sick and tired of it. And then this is the same guy that has a sophomore at Georgia when they went on the road and lost to Tennessee. On the field after the game, his dad put his arm around him and said, don't worry, son, We'll get him next time, and his debt, looked up at his dad and said, Dad, there ain't gonna be the next time I'm gone, you know. And so it's the same guy that for twelve years in Detroit, you know,

never got the credit. And I think that Um, to your point, Scott, one of the things that has always been undervalued about him because he's so physic physically talented, how intelligent he is, and he's a very very smart guy, and I think he's very aware of if he plays clean football, the talent is there and it will shine over the course of seventy plays and he'll be a Super Bowl champion and probably a Hall of Famer as

it's all said and done. And one other point, you know, Dan, you mentioned Um Cooper cup being free, and to Bob's question, you know, if it's Bill Belichick, I think what's happening is that they beat the heck out of people, right, they get physical, because let's remember this too in the Super Bowl. In the Super Bowl with as we get to the championship games and the Super Bowl, there are fewer and fewer penalties called and pay attention to that.

And you know, it was part of our mindsetting, our mentality when we started getting physical against the Colts in a f C Championship games and then physical against the Rams in Super Bowl thirty six. Part of it was with the knowledge of we could be physical and maybe get away with a little bit more on the releases. You know, it wasn't just at the corners on the receivers. It was knocking the heck out of Marshall Falk coming out of the backfield. So that may be one of

the tactics to that. Lou Uses, I have one more big schematic question to ask these guys from an offensive standpoint for the Rams, defensive standpoint for the Bengals, and then some keys to the game. We're gonna do that and we continue our preview of the Super Bowl here on Tapeds. We are back on tapeds as we get your set for the Super Bowl, Bobo Shoes and Scott

Pioli and dan Or Lobsky and guys. We kind of did this on Tuesday with the Bengals offense, Rams defense, flipping it around with the Rams offense and the Bengals defense today as we preview the Super Bowl. And we spent so much of the Tuesday show talking about Burrow, talking about Chase talking about coverage, is talking about weapons, and now to this point we've talked a lot about Matthew Stafford, how do you take Cooper Cup out of

the game, odell Um coverages and pass rush. And we wrapped up Tuesday show asking the question Joe Mixon in the run game and how much of a factor that had to be for the Bengals for them to win this game. And I'll flip it back around and wonder of these two teams, if one Scott, as you alluded to, can get physical and can run the football like the Bengals don't have that two headed monster. It really seems

to be mostly just Joe Mixon. But this is sony Michelle Camakers want to punch potentially that we're gonna see in this game. So if one of these two teams has to at some point just flat out get physical with their run game, am I right to think that the Rams of the team that's much more likely to be able to do that. And will they have to do that to win this game? I don't know if they'll have to do that to win the game, but

if they need to, they will. But here's what I'll say, though, I think that their their toughness was challenged midway through the season. You know that they weren't physical enough up front on the offense. They weren't physical enough on defense. They were a finesse team, a scheme team people were talking about on the outside. We weren't here, but what I think we saw was I think that affected them. I think it affected Sean because it wasn't accurate. They

were playing as tough as they needed to. But then it ramped up after that moment when the outside world was kind of calling into again, calling out their toughness, they got tough, they got physical. I'll tell you this. Austin Corbett, Bryan Allen, those are tough guys, right, and they can play tough. You know you mentioned Cam Akers, He runs tough, Sony Michelle. He knows how to run tough. They are a tough football team. And I think sometimes

because of because they have so much skill. I mean, look at their you know, flip it around and look at the other side of the ball. You know that's a tough group over there. I mean Aaron Donalds is real tough, Greg Gaines von Miller. So I I think that they were Sometimes when you're so skilled, you get labeled something unfairly, and I think that was happening to

the Rams. Yeah, you know, that's why in the middle of this season, you know, the because I don't think Scott they were given the opportunity to be physical, you know, because they played such empty drop back football and kind of challenged Sean. It was a little bit like the Bucks were last year. You know, the Bucks midway through the season's like he you guys aren't doing stuff to help the football team. It's just quarterback centric. And I

think that's what the Rams made the switch. I can say this, if the Rams are unable to run the football well, they can still win this football game. And I feel comfortable saying comfortably. I think their offensive line has protected so much better here because Sean will run it a little bit um, but I think that they've

gotten so much better within their protection. I also think that the way that they're got quick passing game, the underneath passing game, and how convicted they've been and executing it at a high level is something that is a big part of the offense. And also they're as good a perimeter screen as their perimeter screen team as we have in football, and so I don't think that this needs to be a heavy dose of Sony Michelle and cam Akers game. And when it comes to the run game,

I think they'll be part of it. But I've said this before on the on the pod, you know every offensive you know, coach should go into every game with the number one question, can we block them? And I think they can. You know, Hubbard and Hendrickson are great, and I think that they you'll you'll have to go help those cats a little bit on the edges, but I think they can block them pretty good on the perimeter, specifically if they do some of their chips and whatnot

and there on their edges. And I just think, all right, if you guys are gonna line up and play your man coverage as much as you want to. The difference that between Patrick Mahomes two weeks ago. In the end, it's a f C title game and Matthew is Matthew will play boring football. The reason I know is because I watched him do it. That This is where you

know a plethora of reps in your career comes. Vic Fangio, one of the best defensive minds in football, used to constantly he was in Chicago for a long time, constantly three man rush Matthew, constantly three man rush Matthew. And I remember one of the first times we played him, Matthew didn't play well and we watched the table and there's completions underneath. Dude, you just and he would be like, well, I don't want to take him. I don't I don't care.

You know, like, that's what the defense is telling you to do. And I think Matthew has learned over the years because of that experience with Vic Fangio. It's not what you want to do. There's a difference between taking what the defense gives you and taking what you want.

And he's got enough empirical data repetition that he can go back in time and say, Okay, if you guys are gonna do that defensively, then I'm going to take some of those, if not all of those underneath completions, because then that's gonna help her offense and where we don't have to get into this. Okay, third and eight plus every play, you know, and Dan, this is part of what I refer to as the peacefulness that you

see with him as a player. And to me, what is boring football checkdowns to pick up four or five yards, or that's not boring to me. And again, I was around these teams that coached and encouraged the checkdown. Again, it goes way back to Ron hair Earhart and Bill Parcels having Phil Sims build his confidence and build the team's confidence. It was then we had any Testaverdy doing it, you know at the Jets, and Brady made a career out of it. You know, you look at Brady's game.

Isn't sexy, right, it's it's checkdowns, it's all of this stuff. For years we heard him being called, well he can't Yeah, but he can't throw the deep ball. What does that mean? Who cares? He's winning games? Again, here's a guy who won seven Super Bowls and has only been m v P three times because his game isn't big, it's not flashy,

it's just winning. And Matthew has his piece now, Dan, and again or he appears I can't speak as if I know, but he appears out his piece to do the exact thing that you just talked about, Dan, when Randy Moss showed up all of a sudden, Tom Brady could throw the deep had a human to do it. Yeah, like I called a couple of those. But all right, Dan, every time this we're gonna wrap it up this way. Every time you and I do a college football game,

we talked to the offensive defensive coordinator's head coach. You always wrap up our production meetia with each of those guys with I think a really good way to wrap up this podcast, and that is like we're not in the sports radio predict a score. We don't do that. What you always ask those guys is, all right, Sunday morning, you go back and look at the tape of this game, give me one or two things that have to happen for you as to why you win the game. So

both of you guys do that dance start. What are one or two things that have to happen for each of these two teams to win the game. On the Bengals on the Rams the day after the Super Bowl, I go back and look at the tape. This happened. That's why I want it has to Yeah, I'd say for the Bengals offensively number one, figure out what's going on with Jalen Ramsey and Jamaar Chase and either use it as strength for Jamar or use it as strength

for the other pieces. The second thing is on first down, either run the ball with your outside zone game for at least four yards a clip or get the ball out of the quarterback's hands and two point five seconds or less. And then on third down, you've got to make sure that you start with protection first. And if

if they do that, I think they got a chance. Defensively, for the Bengals, number one, you are going to have to make sure that the ball doesn't go over your head, you know, make this team methodically marched down the field. Number two, I would move Sam Hubbard around as much as possible and obvious passing situations. And then number three, when those backs are carrying the ball, punch and they put it on the ground, punch steal possessions. That way,

I think the Rams win defensively. Let your domination dominate, you know, let that front four and let those pieces that you've acquired win the football game for you. Make sure that Jamaar Chase doesn't have any anything more than fifteen yard complete a single fifteen yard completion. And then the third thing would be that Troy Readers should be used as a pressure guy, not a coverage guy. Uh And then for the Rams. Offensively, I would take shots early on. I would take at least one shot take

and make take at least one shot a quarter. Make sure that if they are going to minimize Cooper Cups production, that oh b j and or Van Jefferson are ready for their opportunity. And I would be very focused on using jet sweeps to make this defense. See a lot of different moving parts we think. Scott to me, I'm gonna be a little bit more simple here. And if

you're the Bengals, protect Joe Burrow. You've got to find a way to protect Joe Burrow again, whether that's through the offensive line play or scheme the thing defensively for the Bengals, you better adjust quickly. Don't think that you're gonna be able to hold this offense back in the second half and be able to come back if you

let them get up early. If you're the Rams, you know, I would say use that rotation more often early in the game, talking about the defensive upfront rotation this way in the second half, that that the important guys, the best guys are fresh to get the pressure on because they're gonna need that pressure from Miller, from Donald, from Greg Gaines, from Floyd, so use the rotation more often early so they can unleash it in the second half.

It's gonna be a fascinated game, and hopefully you out there, you'll rate, you'll review, you'll subscribe, hit us up on social media, because the next time we tape tape Heeds, we are going to be breaking down what actually happened in the Super Bowl. And as these guys have given you, I think as good of a football nerd menu to look at when we're watching this game, both sides of the ball coming up on Super Bowl Sunday. So hopefully you've enjoyed our entire season of tape Heeds. We're not

done yet. We will be back next week and we will break down what happened in the Super Bowl. Thanks for being a tape