Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris breaks down the five defensive plays that won Super Bowl LVI in AlbertBreer’s MMQB column
“Aaron is kind of to himself, he’s really quiet, he goes about his business, he works really hard, he makes people follow with his leadership, he makes you follow with his examples,” Morris says. “But he really got vocal when Eric got back, in the playoffs. When the playoffs started, it was a whole different feel for how Aaron Donald addressed the football team, how he addressed the defense, how he called us up after and before walkthrough.
But a day later, before he and Morris made off to Cabo for a couple days away, McVay made the point that it also illuminates Morris’ greatest strengths as a coach, and why he was such an easy hire a year ago after the Rams lost Brandon Staley to the Chargers. McVay then recounted his fiancé Veronika saying, “Raheem, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen him have a bad day,” to drive home how people gravitate toward his DC.
“It was, we have to control their empty, and we have to control our own empty answers,” he says. “Meaning, whatever we were willing to check to versus empty, we had to be on the same page, and same screws, in order to get those things accomplished across the board.” “They talked about spreading it out, they talked about getting the ball out of his hand, using a lot of quick game and things of that nature,” Morris says. “So I wasn’t going to be lulled to sleep pressuring him, or putting extra people in the backfield, and allowing them to screen us to death.”
“That play, I go back to my experience working with Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay being on the offensive side of the ball, and knowing those premiers we look for from an offensive standpoint. It was a great playcall and great execution by the Cincinnati Bengals. But it was better execution by Jalen Ramsey.”
That came into focus with Jessie Bates’s pick of Stafford at the two-minute warning. Burrow followed with three quick completions. The Bengals then used their first timeout ahead of the third-and-6. Another first down would get Cincinnati going, with two timeouts left, and reprise visions Morris had burned into his head all week, of a catch Higgins made on the Ravens, and one Chase made on the Packers in two-minute situations to swing games.
And that allowed for Morris and the position coaches to work through a plan. First, the Bengals had started to take his invitation to run the ball—and Mixon was averaging 5.7 yards per carry—so Morris talked to defensive line coach Eric Henderson on showing more 5-man fronts to bottle that up.
Interestingly enough, the adjustment to play more dime worked there, too, where Taylor Rapp was in at a linebacker spot to cover Boyd’s choice route—“He absolutely did a great job in coverage, moving his feet, sitting tight, being patient on the route, and absolutely taking away Joe Burrow’s first read,” Morris says.
“We were able to get to one we really liked, one of our pressures,” Morris says. “And we get to that pressure and then I watched Aaron Donald again take a man, hold him up with one arm, switch his mindset from pass rush to playing the run, just because of the call, be able to push the man back, and not only push the man back into the hole so he couldn’t get through there, he’s actually able to grab the running back with one hand and pull him back across the line of scrimmage.
“That’s what I mean by this thing is done by the players. That wasn’t any genius call that I made. That was the players going out there and executing their job at the highest level.” Could he help the players? Of course Morris could, and did. But another part of the deal was always going to be knowing when to get out of the way, and let his defense be just that.That would be to get Trevor Lawrence right, after Lawrence’s rookie year went about as wrong as it could possibly go. And one thing that should help is that this won’t be Pederson’s first rodeo.
Now, the job will be to be there for Lawrence and the rest of the Jags, and he’s refreshed for it and ready to roll. “Just getting back with the players, that’s what I missed,” he says. “Being a former player, you miss the locker room, and being a coach and trying to be a player’s coach, whatever, you miss the guys. You miss the work, you miss the grind, being around your coaches, but the guys, that’s what I miss the most about it.
• Players will be restricted to secure combine venues for the entirety of their stay in Indianapolis. Players who break this restriction will be sent home.• The medical support person must be fully vaccinated and have all applicable boosters.of prospects because they generally have support systems built around them—nutritionists, trainers, strength coaches, massage therapists, etc.—to maximize what they can do for teams in Indianapolis.
• I look forward to the post-Super Bowl wires shows—Inside the NFL, Turning Point, and Mic’d Up—every year, and this year’s didn’t disappoint. Great work, again, by NFL Films. • Evero is a really good get for the Broncos. Denver’s new defensive coordinator is almost defiantly a non-self-promoter, but the guys in L.A. know how good he is.