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.
“That was a sh--ty play-call on the no-look pass,” McVay told Breer. “But Matthew finds a way to move the hook player right as he drops down right into the window that we’re hunting up, and he makes the 22-yard completion on what probably was one of the worst play-calls that you could have for that coverage that [Bengals defensive coordinator Lou] Anarumo dialed up right there.”
On the play, Stafford looked off the safety and made Bell bite, giving Kupp an opening. With his eyes still on Hopkins, he completed the dart to Kupp for the big gain. Los Angeles eventually got to the end zone to take the lead and the rest is history.
