After outplaying Tom Brady the previous week, Jared Goff looked much like that version of Brady in Week 12 against the San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers. The team you really need to beat if you’re a Los Angeles Rams quarterback.
With the added pressure of the city of Los Angeles having two champions in the Lakers and Dodgers, Goff’s taking a beating on social media this week. Both the fans and head coach Sean McVay grow increasingly frustrated with his off-and-on play and poor ball protection.
Will Jared Goff Keep The Rams From Greatness Long Term?
Jared Goff’s handling of pocket pressure is not his strength, this we all know. Furthermore, most indications point to him never being compared to Russell Wilson in this area. That’s a glaring truth head coach Sean McVay will have to face head-on sooner or later. That is, if he wants the Rams offense to be consistent and capable of returning to a Super Bowl. A Super Bowl, something the current crop of core players deserve, something not said lightly.
Robert Woods, Cooper Kupp, Andrew Whitworth and certainly Aaron Donald, if not more, have given their all as Rams. Add Jalen Ramsey version 2020 to this list without a doubt. Rams fans can’t help but to believe that these players deserve better. In time, do the players feel this way, too? We know there is only a brief window of time in which they will play together.
As a unit, this season’s defense looks to be the best in years with the potential and youth to stay at or near the top for awhile. They’ve mostly carried the team so far this year but they can’t be expected to carry the team the length of an entire season to total success. They are too young and inexperienced as a whole.
Say they make the playoffs. How far can they go playing this inconsistent, best case? So then the annual question returns in the offseason. What can we do to make our team better? It’s particularly interesting because the Rams seemingly now have fewer weaknesses and the ones they have shine bright under spotlights. But decisions like the one currently staring the Rams offensive coaches in the face are part of the job. It’s a job they’ve been pretty good at so far.
McVay and Staff: No Strangers to Making Big Changes
A look at major reality checks in the Sean McVay era:
Spring, 2017: After several losing or mediocre-at-best seasons, ex-Rams head coach Jeff Fisher is fired during the 2016 season. In the process of preparing to coach the first football team completely on his own watch, a young but astute McVay discovers there is not enough to work with and must first re-teach them before attempting to coach them.
Post Super Bowl LIII (53) 2018: McVay succeeds in turning his team around overall but appears massively outcoached by Bill Belichick on the biggest stage (possibly, with a lesser team). This sparks a flurry of new, more experienced veteran additions, including Eric Weddle, Clay Mathews, Dante Fowler and Jalen Ramsey.
Post 2019 NFL season: Running back Todd Gurley’s arthritic condition arises and obviously affects his play. It’s expected to be chronic and progressive. McVay soon faces one of his hardest decisions he will ever face as a head coach, moving on from one of the most-liked, unselfish superstars of all-time.
Also post 2019 NFL season: The Wade Phillips years of contribution and expertise run its course and McVay, having learned a great deal from the brain of his ultra-experienced defensive mentor, now knows enough to believe his team can achieve better with offseason upgrades all around in both physical talent and thinking.
Has Jared Goff Reached His Ceiling?
“Man’s got to know his limitations.” This Dirty Harry quote fom the 70s is one of those quotes that transcend time and will always be true. In this case, the Rams coaching staff has got to know Goff’s limitations and see them for what they are.
At 6’4” and a deceiving 222 pounds (looks more like 88 pounds soaking wet), he’s extremely limited physically. This could possibly be the reason the breaking of pocket pressure appears to break him. What’s more, in watching Jared Goff closely, one might also notice that he doesn’t initially or always have happy feet but simply tunnel vision. It’s because he’s a pure passing quarterback. Like another ex-Rams first overall pick quarterback, Sam Bradford, he sees receiver routes in play and their passing outcomes with laser focus. He becomes so locked in that all outside noise is silenced, making him oblivious to the collapse taking place around him. The occasional results, a slapped arm and fumble from his temporary trance.
It might not be a question of his ceiling at this time and certainly he has improved every year since McVay came to town in one way or another. It may be more a question of the coaching staff’s ceiling as coaches and teachers. By now, the Rams know what and who their franchise quarterback is. Everyone else knows, too.
The Ball Is In Your Court, Coach
The experts that once tabbed McVay a young genius or boy wonder in year one only to second-guess him in year two are coming around again with praise. This cycle may continue but along the way some will learn just who they’re dealing with. In short, Sean McVay is not Mike Martz. He’s tenacious, not arrogant in regards to how he runs his team. He’s extremely confident but not overconfident and set in his ways. Heck, he’s still learning what his ways are. He’s honest and flexible in his thinking so his ways can, have, and will adjust on the fly.
This season may still be a mystery but the future of the Los Angeles Rams is not. It still looks bright with staff in place. As for answering the question of Goff holding the Rams back, it’s complicated. But is it really? They better solidify the offensive line to be among the NFL‘s best year in, year out. That or go mobile or go home.
Main photo:
Embed from Getty Images
