informal poll–how will Goff do this game?

Zooey wrote:

C) Since slump Goff

Okay. Do you personally think that’s good enough to win on the road against the Saints?

canadaram wrote:

I think that if the Rams win it will not be because of an outstanding game by Goff it will because the defense and/or ST will have played well enough to get the Rams offense at least one extra possession. I see Goff as the same way as I saw Bulger. That’s not to say I think that they have the same physical traits or style. I think that, like Bulger, Goff is capable of putting up some good stats from time-to-time, but usually it’s going to be about him not doing anything stupid to give the game away. As long as Leonard Little or Aaron Donald gets a few sacks, or forces a turnover or two. Bulger/Goff can be depended on to throw a couple of beautiful passes to win help win. A nice onside kick by Wilkins, or a fake punt by Hekker might be needed to get an extra possession as well.

I have a much higher estimation of Goff than you do. I think he’s better in terms of raw pure talent than Bulger, and I liked Bulger. (In fact it also sounds like I might have a higher estimation of Bulger than you do.)

Now it may take the off-season for him to shake off whatever’s going on now and return to the high level we saw from him before the bye. But it’s not unusual for a third year qb to stumble.

…

Zooey wrote:

I will say this about that.

Somewhere in the Cowboys’ autopsy report, I saw that they played 8 in the box on less than 10% of the snaps, iirc.

I can’t see the Saints looking at that, and deciding to emulate that strategy.

I think Goff got tripped up a little in the Slump Games, and does not have exactly the same level of confidence he did before the bye. But I also regard it as a “development stage” thing. Why do I have that kind of faith? Cause he was positively awful and beat the hell up his first year at Cal and developed anyway, same with 2016 and he came out of it in 2017. So I just assume he survives his speed bumps.

And that’s not to say that post-Slump Goff is not a good qb, he absolutely is. Among his “what the hell was that?” throws against Dallas there were also some of his just fantastically accurate throws.

But if this were pre-bye Goff, there would be no contest.

I just assume that because he COULD do that, he will do it again…more consistently. It just might take an off-season.

For the record I happen to think that Slump Goff was not Goff in himself or even Goff reacting to pressure, it was Goff playing against A LOT of pressure in games where the OL had regressed a bit. But as we know games like that can erode confidence and so I just don’t see post-slump Goff as being quite as confident as pre-bye Goff. I encountered responses to that claim (it was Goff reacting to an unaccustomed level of pressure) where guys said, so he needs things to be perfect. Sigh. No. The idea is that the pressure in those games was WAY beyond the norm and only rare qbs are not affected by that (Wilson might be one … but then we have seen him crack under Rams pressure before so maybe it’s nobody).

Again though you don’t just stumble into playing like he did pre-bye. That’s in him. It’s just a matter (I think anyway) of time and seasoning drawing it out as a more consistent thing.