I've gotten to see the Josh Morgan TD catch that won the game for the 49ers Sunday, and it's remarkable just how badly the veteran Rams secondary played it.
Jeff Gordon has repeatedly described the Rams as blitzing on the play. I guess he's considering Will Witherspoon at LDE as a blitzer out of a 3-4 look, but I don't see anything really special about the Rams bringing 4 on a pass rush. Will was rushing out of that position all day; I don't really think of what he was doing as blitzing. Pisa was up on the play but dropped back and picked up a receiver out of the backfield.
Meanwhile, the Ram secondary has given Josh Morgan AT LEAST TWELVE yards of cushion. There is no Ram DB in sight on the left side of the field. So the first thing they've done is give Morgan a free run. All that space is supposed to save the secondary from getting burned, but that fails miserably when Brown bites like a rank rookie on the double move by Morgan, who IS a rank rookie, and he beats Brown downfield by 3 or 4 yards. Great coverage, Brown!
Then, proving he never watched NFL PrimeTime over the years, or at least never heeded Tom Jackson's timely advice, OJ Atogwe gets over in time to break up the play, leaps, AND TRIES TO CATCH THE BALL. It goes through his hands and into Morgan's. What does Jackson say, Atogwe? KNOCK IT DOWN!
Atogwe could have knocked that ball down, or at least tipped it, and saved the game. But the guy who was voted team MVP for his ability to create showy turnovers (certainly not for his coverage skills, which are mediocre), the guy who's gunning for a big new contract after this season because of his showy turnovers, went for the statistic instead of the fundamentally sound play that would have won the game. Consciously or not, he made the selfish play, and selfish play sinks a team.
It sure sank the Rams Sunday. It should be a mark against Atogwe when the Rams are deciding what to offer him next season.
Knock it down, O.J.
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