That one stings. The Buccaneers almost completed an improbable comeback after being down multiple scores late in the game against the Rams, but fell just short after a dagger from Matthew Stafford and Cooper Kupp that gave the Rams an easy field goal to advance to the NFC Championship game.
Somehow, Kupp found himself wide open running past Bucs safety Antoine Winfield Jr. on the penultimate play of the game. How could the best wide receiver from the season, who led the NFL in catches, yards and touchdowns, wind up in one-on-one coverage on a safety with the season on the line?
Well, it appears to be a very aggressive call from defensive coordinator Todd Bowles — one that was probably a little bit too aggressive.
9️⃣ TO 1️⃣0️⃣ TO SET UP THE WIN! pic.twitter.com/1hrjkOa4lQ
— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) January 23, 2022
Shortly after the game, we got a clearer image at what went wrong for the Buccaneers. Bowles called an aggressive Cover-0 blitz (the “zero” literally means zero defenders playing deep), which put Winfield Jr. in the unenviable position of being one-on-one with arguably the best wide receiver in the NFL.
KUPP 44-YARD DOTS pic.twitter.com/myLnBXlaDN
— Seth Walder (@SethWalder) January 23, 2022
Live by the blitz, die by the blitz. No one would have been complaining if they got home for a sack there, but that’s an unreasonably risky playcall in that situation. Keep the offense in front of you, try to tackle, try to get to overtime. That’s the playbook there.
This doesn’t mean that Todd Bowles is a bad defensive coordinator — he is almost objectively one of the best defensive minds in this era of football — but this was a bad moment for them.
A learning experience, but a painful mistake all the same.
