Sunday night’s Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams was considered one of the most boring of all time for those who did not have a rooting interest, and no one is more to blame for that than Bill Belichick.
As ESPN’s Seth Walder noted in the week leading up to Super Bowl LIII, the Patriots ran more man-to-man coverage on defense than any team in the NFL this season. They played that way 62 percent of the time. So, naturally, the Rams and head coach Sean McVay expected to at least see a good portion of that same man defense on Sunday night. To put it simply, it just didn’t happen.
90% zone from NE
— Dan Orlovsky (@danorlovsky7) February 4, 2019
Sooo the team that played more man-to-man defense than anyone in the #NFL this year, naturally comes out in #SuperBowl53 and runs 80-90% zone coverage???!?!? @Patriots
— Dan Orlovsky (@danorlovsky7) February 4, 2019
On some level, the Rams should have seen it coming. Even Walder figured out that 12 of Goff’s 13 interceptions this season came against zone coverage, so Belichick was obviously well aware of that. Even still, McVay probably didn’t expect Belichick to completely change a defense that worked well enough to get him to another Super Bowl.
To his credit, McVay openly admitted he got outcoached by Belichick. He certainly isn’t the first one to have that happen, and it makes sense that the game unfolded the way it did given the experience gap between the two coaches. Of all the reasons we listed for why the Patriots emerged victorious, Belichick’s defensive game plan is by far among the most important.
