On his way to leading the Rams to a 23–20 victory in Super Bowl LVI, quarterback Matthew Stafford completed one of the flashier plays a quarterback can do: the no-look pass. Stafford pulled off the completion during a critical fourth-quarter drive that ultimately won Los Angeles the game.
However, Rams coach Sean McVay told Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer that his play call for that crucial sequence was a massive mistake.
McVay says the play was designed to attack underneath coverage in a two-high defense, which the Bengals showed presnap, with a high-low concept. In McVay’s play, Brycen Hopkins runs his route underneath, while Cooper Kupp’s deeper in-cut makes the defender there choose between two options. Unfortunately, Cincinnati safety Vonn Bell was all over Kupp and cut off his angle.
