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NFL1000: Rams Offense Renders Jared Goff Invisible in NFL Debut
- Updated: November 22, 2016
For the Los Angeles Rams, Sunday’s 14-10 loss to the Miami Dolphins was historic in two ways. First, head coach Jeff Fisher ascended to his current status as the second-losingest coach in NFL history, behind Tom Landry, who accomplished quite a bit more than Fisher has in his long career.
Second, it was the first regular-season start for quarterback Jared Goff, the rookie from Cal drafted first overall after the Rams traded a king’s ransom of picks to the Tennessee Titans for the top spot.
Fans had been fairly apoplectic about Goff’s benchings, because starting quarterback Case Keenum has been what he’s always been—an unspectacular placeholder who can play in a mediocre fashion until your actual franchise quarterback has been procured and is ready to go. After the Rams beat the Jets in a 9-6 snoozer last Sunday, and Keenum completed 17 of 30 passes for 165 yards, Fisher finally decided that he had nothing to lose by throwing Goff out there.
I wasn’t one of the people wondering why Goff wasn’t on the field before Week 11. Unless there were miracles going on behind the scenes, I thought Fisher was making the right decision, because I didn’t see Goff as a quarterback who was ready to start in the NFL in his first season…at all.
When any collegiate quarterback is hailed as the next great NFL prospect, the bridge between perception and reality can be an interesting one to traverse.
In the case of Goff, reviewing his Cal tape was specifically enlightening. I did so pre-draft for the quarterback who had completed 341 of 529 passes for 4,714 yards, 43 touchdowns and 13 interceptions in 2015. Since I don’t generally watch college football in an analytical sense until the NFL season is over, I was a bit surprised that people were so high on Goff’s immediate potential once I caught up.
Right away, and through my analysis, I saw serious issues. Even taking his five-interception game against Utah off the table, there were too many examples of Goff throwing to the receiver’s wrong shoulder, making anticipation throws early or late and putting his receivers in peril over the middle, defaulting to his first read, and bailing from the pocket too early under pressure.
These issues are common among college quarterbacks, especially those who (like Goff) thrived in total spread offense environments that forced defenses to back off and avoid the kinds of complex reads and disguises seen in the NFL.
My conclusion? I thought Goff had a lot on the ball—a quick release and good mechanics, the arm to make any throw, and the mobility to keep plays alive past their breaking points. Goff excelled behind a subpar (to be kind) offensive line at Cal, so I wasn’t too worried about that when the Rams moved up to select him, despite their own glaring issues with pass protection.
What I did worry about was the stunted and regressive nature of the Rams passing game. And in his first regular-season start, Goff both benefited and suffered from his team’s conservative and risk-averse approach.
Jared Goff’s #NextGenStats:4.1 air yards/completionThrew 4.4 yards short of sticks on 3rd downs1.7 WR separation at target ranked last pic.twitter.com/GaC6aOaBL6
— Matt Harmon (@MattHarmon_BYB) November 21, 2016
The conservative approach manifested itself in the number of short passes Goff attempted. His completions consisted of in-cuts, quick outs and quick in-breaking routes that would give him an easy read. Goff finished his day with a 4.32 yards-per-attempt average, which tells you all you need to know about the overall game plan. And that’s not a bad idea for a young quarterback starting his first game—keep things easy, and build on his confidence.
Here’s the problem with that approach in his case: Goff suffered from route miscommunication with his receivers and struggled to complete those simple passes at times—just as he had in the preseason, and just as he had in college.
This …
