Super Bowl 56 pt. 2

Raphael y10

Before I reveal such atrocities to the Bengals, we must congratulate them on their courage of taking on this Rams Super team at home.

But what’s even more super was the halftime show, with hip hop and rap music finally being represented on a major American sport platform. The lineup of Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Mary J. Blige, Eminem and Kendrick Lamar proved to be alright. With 50 Cent making an unscripted appearance to shock the SoCal crowd.

Now that I look back, I feel like the design of the stage is controversial, seeing to that, the stage, was a lint of buildings opened up on one side, and the artists performing either on top or in the building, blocking the sight of the other 50% of people sitting in SoFi. However the brightness was undimmed.

Out of the half, Burrow threw one to the end zone for a touchdown. But it is worth noting here how Burrow finds space. What both QBs in a way failed to do was to mobilize themselves. How Burrow made the throw was by rolling out of the pocket. This creates an open space, but with defenders occupied, you gain more time to think of who you’re going to throw to, or do what neither QB did, which was to rush the ball for yardage themselves.

I have mentioned that the QB throws to effectively gain more yards, and the running back typically is used the most when it is snowing, and it is risky to throw, but the QB himself rushing sometimes can be more efficient, since he is closer to the line of scrimmage (where the play starts).

The Bengals then carried the momentum over to make an interception of a Rams pass, and proceeded to score a field goal.

By then I was by myself, lights were out, lying on the couch, wondering what the Rams would do.

And of course they went to their MVP. Not QB Stafford, not their running back. The mentioned offensive player of the season Cooper Kupp.

It is worth noting here that I, as well as many people would have perhaps thought that this was nuts. With only one main receiver, the defense could collapse in on Kupp!

But somehow yard by yard, the Rams didn’t MARCH upfield, they crawled, and they crawled their way to the red zone. Both QBs had gone down, but fought their way back. The Rams just had a larger cannon.

In my opinion, the loss of the Bengals was not on the defense. It was on time management. 35 valuable seconds were wasted in just 10 yards to the end zone. This left Burrow with little time, and even a player as clutch as him, gave in to Aaron Donald’s line, and failed to come up with anything before time ran out.

When I look back, there was nothing the Bengals could’ve done. Even without a star receiver in OBJ, they still won, and who knows what the score would be if the Rams were all healthy and ready to play?

But this won’t be the end for the Bengals. The young link of Burrow and Chase are 25yo and 22yo respectively. Who knows? If they improve their O-line to actually give Burrow a chance to stand up and look at his options, they’ll be back.

And by then I’ll be back to review the Super Bowl.