Genius Footballer Brandin Cooks Intentionally Dropped A 3rd Down Pass That Would Have Lost Yardage On The Rams' Game-Winning Drive In OT

ProFootballTalk- “Brandin Cooks, talk about a smart football player” McVay told reporters, via NFL.com. “Having the presence when I give him a terrible play call on the third down to drop it, knowing that it would have been a terrible play where he intentionally drops it.”

Goff didn’t realize it was an intentional drop until later and said he should have thrown the ball at Cooks’ feet. Cooks saved him.

“I think it’s one of those things where you see what happened, one of the D-ends and Marshon, the way that they played it, being able to be in the backfield before I technically really was able to catch the ball and get upfield,” Cooks said. “I think it was more important to save those yards, not that Greg needs them, but rather play it safe than sorry.”

Sean McVay said Brandin Cooks made a heads up play by intentionally dropping this pass before Greg Zuerlein’s game-winning FG pic.twitter.com/Khy919RhTa

— Cameron DaSilva (@camdasilva) January 24, 2019

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As it turns out, the person that coined the phrase "to the victor goes the spoils" didn't account for the rare instance in which the victor was determined by a miscarriage of justice.

So, I guess my hands are pretty tied in how I respond to the extremely gracious fluffing of a receiver who shoo-fly'd what theoretically could have been a key 3rd pass as soon as he realized it was doomed to fail. I guess I can't bring up that Brandin Cooks, as evidenced by both his tenure in New Orleans and his early exit from last year's Super Bowl, is as objectively smart at playing football as he is objectively bad at breaking tackles. I guess I won't mention that Sean McVay, and apparently anyone that's ever shared a toilet seat with him, is so far beyond reproach as a play-caller that we've turned even his worst decisions into opportunities to praise his personnel. I guess I don't have the liberty to say that Greg and his preposterously powerful leg really saved a phenom of a head coach and and an intelligent wide receiver (no sarcasm in this sentence, by the way) from looking like the ring leaders of a situational circus. 

​If - and only if - I were offered the leeway, I'd really love to point out the lengths we are going to applaud an intentionally dropped screen pass by a speedy, but not-so-slippery wide receiver that was inevitably going to result in an absurdly long FG attempt that, had it been missed, could have cost the Rams both field position and a Super Bowl berth. 

Unfortunately, the Saints lost so I'm required by the law of retrospect to instead shame Sean Payton. How dare he actually play to win? Calling two pass plays that would have resulted in first downs or touchdowns if not for the most accurate QB in NFL history short-arming a wide-open slant to the most sure-handed wide-receiver in football and the absence of a yellow flag following the most egregious uncalled penalty in playoff history? What was he thinking?! He should have changed his entire approach to the sport and played it insanely safe, like McVay, in hoping a kicker and a clock would bail him out with a gift basket of brilliance to spoil his players with for the next two weeks. 

In all seriousness, Brandin Cooks balled out against his former team and smacking the ball down was the smart play. Falling into the trap of fawning over it like forcing a 57 yard field goal instead of a 60 yard field goal is some big-brained chess move, on the other hand, is the convenient play.