In the early going of Super Bowl LVI, Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay has called two impressive scoring drives to help the Rams build a 13-3 lead.
On the Rams’ second scoring drive of the game, McVay called two different plays that moved Stafford around in the backfield, both of which resulted in huge gains for the Los Angeles offense.
The first came on a fake toss, with Stafford faking the pitch to running back Darrell Henderson before rolling out to his right. However, instead of looking for a target to that side of the field, Stafford checks up on his drop and throws back to Henderson along the left sideline. Henderson pulled in the throw for a gain of 25 yards, giving the Rams a 1st and 10 inside the Cincinnati 20-yard line.
Then a few plays later, McVay moved Stafford out of the pocket again, rolling him out to the right. This time Stafford did throw in that direction, looking for Cooper Kupp:
SUPER KUPP.@CooperKupp #RamsHouse
📺: #SBLVI on NBC
📱: https://t.co/K02y40b5Nu pic.twitter.com/DrajgCmlYf— NFL (@NFL) February 14, 2022
What helps sell this play is the path that Kupp takes off the line. The Rams task their wide receivers with blocking on the edges of a lot of their base running designs, and Kupp flashes inside initially as if he is going to block, before releasing to the back corner of the end zone where Stafford finds him for six.
This replay angle gives another look at Kupp’s release, as well as the read and throw from Stafford:
OPOY putting up TDs. 😤
📺: #SBLVI on NBC
📱: https://t.co/K02y40b5Nu pic.twitter.com/SgKXMnAdTK— NFL (@NFL) February 14, 2022
During the regular season, no quarterback attempted more passes on designed rollouts than Stafford, according to Sports Info Solutions. Stafford used a designed rollout on 69 passing attempts, completing 43 of them for 524 yards and seven touchdowns, with just a pair of interceptions.
Given the success of those designs in the regular season, and so far in Super Bowl LVI, expect to see Stafford rolling out a few more times before Super Bowl LVI is over.
