LA Times: It's been a long but fast year for Jared Goff

nittany ram wrote:

Link: http://www.latimes.com/sports/rams/la-sp-rams-cardinals-20161231-story.html

Not everyone has full access to the Times so I will just post the article. (That’s not a “comment,” Nittany, you post how you post, I am just supplementing this one.)

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Jared Goff’s long, strange year, and Rams’ dismal season, come to an end Sunday

Gary Klein

link above

The Rams’ rookie quarterback led California to a bowl game victory on Dec. 29, 2015, immediately jumped into the NFL pre-draft evaluation process, attended the scouting combine, was selected No. 1 overall in the draft, participated in Rams rookie camp, organized-team activities and training camp and then worked to stay prepared through nine games before starting the last six.

All without much, if any, real break.

Goff’s 12-month whirlwind, punctuated by organizational tumult, ends Sunday when the Rams play the Arizona Cardinals at the Coliseum.

The Rams are 4-11. They have lost 10 of their last 11 games and have won only one home game.

The franchise in the next month or so will hire a new coach to replace the fired Jeff Fisher, but Goff said this week that he was not looking ahead to the impending changes.

“I’m just focused on beating the Cardinals right now,” he said.

A victory would qualify as an extraordinary achievement for a team that has not won at home since Week 2 against Seattle. The Rams have lost six games in a row since defeating the New York Jets on Nov. 13.

“We haven’t won a game in I don’t know how long,” middle linebacker Alec Ogletree said. “To get a win would definitely send everybody off in good spirits.”

The Rams were in position to win two of Goff’s starts at the Coliseum but let victory slip away in the final minutes both times.

In Goff’s Week 11 debut against Miami, the Rams led, 10-0, with about six minutes left. But the Dolphins scored a touchdown, the Rams’ offense failed to produce a first down, and the Dolphins scored again to win, 14-10.

Last week against San Francisco, Goff’s touchdown pass to rookie tight end Tyler Higbee early in the fourth quarter put the Rams ahead, 21-7. But 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick rushed for a touchdown, the Rams’ offense failed to produce a first down, and the 49ers scored again and added a two-point conversion for a 22-21 victory.

After the game, Goff, 22, pledged to fans that the Rams would fix their problems.

“It was just kind of what I was thinking at the time,” Goff said after practice this week. “I want the people that truly support us and the people that are truly supportive to understand that it’s growing pains — it’s not easy for us and it’s certainly not easy for them.

Rams will try one last time to let Todd Gurley run wild (or for 100 yards at least)
Rams will try one last time to let Todd Gurley run wild (or for 100 yards at least)
“We’re going to come out of it, though. I’m positive it’s going to happen. It may not be overnight, but it will happen and it’s going to happen with the people in this building.”

The Rams were riding high the last time they played the Cardinals.

A 17-13 victory in Week 4 at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., improved the Rams’ record to 3-1 and put them in first place in the NFC West. Case Keenum was the starting quarterback for a team that has won only one game since.

Goff was installed as the starter the week after the Rams defeated the Jets, 9-6, and he has struggled to put together a noteworthy performance in an offense that is ranked last in the NFL for the second consecutive season.

Goff has completed 53.5% of his passes, five for touchdowns, with seven interceptions.

Offensive coordinator Rob Boras mentioned Goff’s freshman season at Cal, when the Golden Bears finished 1-11, as an example of how Goff fought through and emerged from adversity.

“His freshman year at Cal didn’t define him,” Boras said, “and his rookie year in the NFL is not going to define him. I think he’s a real mentally tough guy.”

Arizona Coach Bruce Arians sees Goff as “a young guy getting better and better” and said he played “extremely” well in the first half of the Rams’ Dec. 15 loss at Seattle.

“With all young guys, you’ve got to learn from playing and learn from making mistakes — that’s the only way to get better,” Arians said.

Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer, who returns to the Coliseum for the first time since playing for USC in 2002, endured many of the same struggles as Goff early in his career.

“It’s so important to learn from them and not bury them away and be disappointed by them,” said Palmer, 37. “Not that you’re going to be happy with not having success, but use them as learning experiences.

“Bad throws, bad reads, bad choices, whatever it is that comes up, losses, struggling on third down in the red zone — all of those things are so important to learn from and improve from.”

Goff’s improvement and first-year progress will get a final measure on Sunday.

To finish with a victory “would be big” he said.

“Any time you win a game it’s nice,” he said. “But I think to end the season on a win would give us a good taste in our mouth and something we can kind of build on in the off-season.”