It is fascinating to me how the "Jet Sweep" formation/play action has become a regular (if not foundational) part of McVay's offense.
But it doesn't work without Tavon Austin. The announcers in the London Game were talking about how because it's Tavon Austin, the defense MUST honor the possibility that Goff will hand the ball to Austin. And that is because he is one of the fastest most dangerous playmakers in the NFL with the ball in his hands. So there are all kinds of fakes, passes, handoffs, even end arounds that the Rams have run off of the Jet Sweep formation/motion.
I point this out because many say we don't need Austin. I think we do. You can't just plug any regular WR or slot player into Austin's position and expect the same results. It is ONLY because of Austin's quickness, speed and big play ability that the Jet Sweep motion works. A defense is not going to sweat it if Kupp runs it; or if Woods runs it; not even if Pharoah runs it because although they're all good runners, Austin presents a whole new level of speed and quickness.
Don't get me wrong; I'm not saying that no other player in the league could man that position in that formation; I can think of a few who could and produce the same results. But they aren't on the Rams.
So while the Rams were idiots to spend that kind of money to retain Austin, now that they have him I'm glad that McVay sees that he has as much decoy value as playmaking value and can actually represent the cornerstone in an often used formation that can deploy many counters from it.
