Goff … praise, questions… w/ MUST SEE vid: Peyton Manning on Goff

The ‘perfect throw’ that showed how much progress Jared Goff has made

Vincent Bonsignore

https://theathletic.com/1124120/2019/08/07/the-perfect-throw-that-showed-how-much-progress-jared-goff-has-made/

NAPA, Calif. — On a day when Jared Goff shredded the Oakland Raiders in the first of two joint practices, the Rams quarterback’s very best play wasn’t scripted, programmed or relayed to him. And it wasn’t part of Sean McVay’s deep and creative play call sheet.

In fact, the situation called for Goff to go off script and tap into his footwork, vision and improvisational skills to create a big play when it appeared there was no play available.

That area of Goff’s game has been knocked by critics over his first three seasons. It’s the source of the backhanded compliment often paid to him as a “system quarterback” who is capable of carrying out orders when the pocket is clean and everything is perfectly flowing on schedule. However, the unsaid implication of that label is that Goff is much more compromised the second things go awry and he has to become a playmaker.

It’s not an entirely unfounded complaint; it’s just a bit overplayed. In a league in which quarterbacking under duress is a way of life, Goff has stacked up the necessary numbers and victories to undisputedly solidify his place among the elite quarterbacks in the game.

He will never be Patrick Mahomes when it comes to using athletic ability and one of the great throwing arms in all of football to make Houdini-like plays. But Goff’s precise footwork, feel for a pocket and ability to keep his eyes focused downfield — even on the move — allow him to make things happen when he has to make a play.

Three years into his partnership with McVay, Goff’s command of the offense is fueling the rising confidence in that part of his game. So far in training camp, he is taking more chances. And instead of simply throwing the ball away or taking a sack when under pressure, Goff has been a bit more daring in being a playmaker.

“It just continues to keep growing like I always talk about,” he said. “I can’t specifically say anything in particular, but just me and Sean continue to get on the same page, I think it’s continuing to grow. And then, just my understanding of everything will always continue to grow with Sean as well.”

Which brings us back to the play Goff made in Wednesday’s practice with the Raiders that quickly turned into a highlight reel for the 24-year-old.

Maybe it was the fact that his parents were in attendance. Or perhaps it was the comfort of being home in the Bay Area. Whatever the reason, the former Cal star had his strongest day of training camp.

In a spectacular 11-on-11 red zone period, Goff came up with multiple scoring throws, the best of which was the laser beam that split two Raiders defensive backs for a touchdown pass to tight end Gerald Everett in the back of the end zone. With so much going into the play, not the least of which was the mutual intuition between Goff and Everett, the Rams gave themselves a second or two to celebrate the touchdown.

“No doubt,” Goff said. “Especially an off-schedule play like that where it is just so much chemistry and so much trying to feel each other out. For us to make a play like that — we’ve been making plays for a couple years now but continuing to make more and hopefully do some this year.”

The throw and catch drew ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ throughout the Raiders’ training camp site, but it wasn’t even the best part of the play. The real highlight moment was how Goff manipulated the pocket, after the Oakland defense threw everything off rhythm with a big pass rush, and then used his eyes to guide Everett off his original pattern to cut back across the end zone.

Goff not only showed that he had the nerve and arm strength to attempt a throw against such tight coverage, but he also accurately delivered it on time.

“There was a lot of traffic in there,” McVay marveled afterward. “Had to be a perfect throw.”

It was an absolute strike. But just as importantly, Goff excelled as a playmaker rather than just a tactician. For him to take another bold step forward, he needs to showcase more of that improvisation. And it looks like he’s heading in that direction.

“We talk about it all the time — the ownership that we want and the extension of the coaching staff,” McVay said. “He certainly has demonstrated that where he’s able to really command a lot, where he’s kind of just taking it, running with it. He understands the intent, what we want to get done, and then I think the natural off-schedule plays — those are just a guy being a great playmaker. Certainly, as coaches, you try to stay within the timing and rhythm, but it’s an imperfect game with 22 moving parts on every single snap.

“I think the guys that really separate themselves are the guys that have the ability to create outside the timing and rhythm of sometimes what it’s drawn up to do. I think that’s naturally happened. He’s been a guy that’s always done that. I thought he made a handful of plays last year and if the opportunity presents itself, whether it be creating with your legs, buying time, big eyes down the field.

“That’s a collaborative effort, but certainly, Jared made some big-time plays (on Wednesday). First play of the team period, really when he found Robert (Woods), he got flushed from the pocket on a play-action. There’s a handful that felt like they were great plays by him and guys working off-schedule.”

It provided more proof that Goff continues to move forward.

Said Goff: “Today was a good day.”

By Vincent Bonsignore Aug 7, 2019

…

Goff not only showed that he had the nerve and arm strength to attempt a throw against such tight coverage, but he also accurately delivered it on time.

“There was a lot of traffic in there,” McVay marveled afterward. “Had to be a perfect throw.”

It was an absolute strike.

Herzog wrote:

OMG I can’t wait

That;s THE signature Goff thing, IMO.

The uncanny perfect throw.

Like the one to Kupp in the endzone against the Vikes that dropped into the receivers arms over 2 defenders. It was so good the announcer when it happened just blurted “Come ON!” As in, get real, this doesn’t happen, unbelievable, are you shittin me. He didn’t say anything else, just “Come ON!”

Column: Is Rams’ Jared Goff a championship-caliber quarterback? No one seems to know
Jared Goff has struggled in the playoffs. Is the quarterback capable of leading the Rams to a Super Bowl title?

BILL PLASCHKE

https://www.latimes.com/sports/rams/story/2019-08-14/jared-goff-must-be-difference-rams-super-bowl

The Rams have a quarterback controversy.

Nobody can seem to agree on whether Jared Goff is a championship quarterback.

The smartest young mind in football loves him, Rams coach Sean McVay raving about him as if he were Tom Brady.

But the national pundits do not love him, in some cases even ranking him below Baker Mayfield.

The regular season loves him, as he has been voted to two Pro Bowls while improving in each of his three seasons, capped by last year’s top 10 finishes in passing yards and touchdown passes.

The postseason does not love him, as his last two winters ended in stink bomb losses to the Atlanta Falcons in the playoffs and the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.

“I think the world of him,” McVay says. “I know I don’t want anybody else to be our quarterback.”

Yet according to the national narrative, he’s just a system quarterback, benefiting greatly from masterful play-calling.

“I see a quarterback who makes the reads, makes the throws, stands in the pocket … doing all these things to lead his team, to be a great quarterback, to be a Super Bowl contending quarterback,” receiver Robert Woods says .

Yet the narrative says it was really Todd Gurley’s team, and when Gurley crumbled at the end of last season, so did the Rams.

Back and forth the debate rages, the only certainty being the date and place of its conclusion.

This season. Right now. This is when we’ll find out exactly what resides under the No. 16 jersey and whether or not it can shoulder the Rams to a championship.

Gurley is hobbled. McVay is trusting. Teammates are buying. For the first time since the Rams emptied their pockets to move up a record 14 spots to pick the lanky blond dude with the top pick in the 2016 draft, this is clearly Goff’s team.

The most important story line of the season will be, what will he do with it?

The last time most folks around here saw Goff, he was banging his hands against his helmet after throwing a wobbly, off-balance pass to the Patriots’ Stephon Gilmore deep in Patriots territory. It essentially clinched New England’s 13-3 Super Bowl victory and made Goff one of the authors of arguably the worst offensive performance in Super Bowl history.

Six months later, during practice Wednesday in Thousand Oaks, he looked like a different person, joking with lineman, shouting audibles, and finding receivers in the tightest of spots.

“He has seamlessly and naturally become a leader,” McVay says.

A stilted and uncomfortable demeanor in Goff’s rookie year has morphed into a confident ease. Where once he projected uncertainty, now he carries himself with a sort of genial gravitas. Unlike some other NFL stars, Goff isn’t even making an issue about a seemingly inevitable contract extension that could be the richest in Rams history.

“It’s starting to become that even more and more every day as I get more comfortable, my leadership continues to grow, I continue to be the best teammate I can be,” Goff says.

He adds, “I enjoy it, I think it’s the way it’s supposed to be, something I don’t take lightly … when a quarterback grows older, it should become their team and I’m hoping I’m putting the right foot forward every day to make that happen.”

More specifically, this summer Goff is owning this team by taking more control of its offense, changing his plays with McVay’s blessing, the “system quarterback” making this system his own.

“Some plays, McVay is pretending his [helmet] mic went out, and says, ‘OK Jared, call your favorite play here,’ and he’s doing it,’’ Woods says . “It’s a great to see.”

One of his linemen said sometimes he’s calling plays that even they don’t see.

“Some of the checks, the audibles, are coming more natural to him now,” tackle Rob Havenstein tells The Times’ Jack Harris. “Sometimes it comes out and we’re like, ‘Huh? I guess he sees something.’ Turns out, he’s right.”

Asked about this newfound control, Goff smiles. He understands his increased responsibilities. He clearly relishes it.

“It’s been great, man,” Goff says. “As time goes on you continue to grow and continue to learn.

“This offseason in particular, I feel like I’ve taken a big jump in that regard. Just continuing to understand the intricacies of our offense, just trying to become more and more of an extension of Sean. The best I can do that, the better we’ll be.”

McVay echoes that last statement, noting that the Rams will be better as Goff is more empowered.

“We’re able to do a lot more because of his comfort level, his ownership with the operation,” McVay says. “When you have a player that is, in essence, an extension of the coaching staff, you can operate in a lot of special ways.”

The Rams surely are hoping one of these special ways will be more confidence and better decisions by Goff in the postseason.

Goff has completed just 55% of his postseason passes, and has a 73.6 career postseason passer rating. Compare that with his regular-season 62.1 % completion rating and 94.7 quarterback rating, and some have seen a system quarterback who struggles when forced to make pressure decisions outside the system. This has led to the various rankings that have left Goff out of the top 10 with some strange choices in front of him. In one poll, Goff is ranked 12th behind Carson Wentz and Mayfield. In another poll he’s 13th behind Dak Prescott and Des haun Watson.

“Whose rankings?” Goff asks with a laugh before getting serious.

“I don’t have a feeling on it honestly,” he says. “I understand where that narrative started from and it doesn’t bother me because I know what these people in this building are thinking. The only thing I’m concerned about is the team, coaches, close family and friends. Anyone else, it doesn’t matter to me.”

He then pulls out the pocket ace that beats the likes of Wentz and Mayfield and Prescott and Watson. In three years, he’s already quarterbacked a team to the Super Bowl. They haven’t.

“They can say that all they want, as long as we keep winning games, I’ll be happy,” he says.

Not only doesn’t McVay buy the rankings, but also he bristles at those who continue to call Goff a system quarterback.

“Everybody wants to talk about that, he makes the system what it is … we’re able to do the things we are because we have the right trigger man that can really do anything that we ask,” he says. “He’s a special player. I think his production kind of speaks for itself.”

This season, it certainly will.

Rams’ Jared Goff must transform into Joe Cool to join QB elites

https://www.yardbarker.com/nfl/articles/rams_jared_goff_must_transform_into_joe_cool_to_join_qb_elites/s1_13132_29789831

Jared Goff is one of the more interesting QB mysteries in the NFL. Over the past two seasons, he has put up some of the most prolific passing numbers in the league. Since 2017, he is fourth in the NFL in passing touchdowns (60) and fifth in passing yards (8,492), spearheading one of the NFL’s most dangerous offenses. Earlier this year, he led the Los Angeles Rams to Super Bowl LIII at only 24 years old.

However, many have questioned the legitimacy of Goff’s production. Are his gaudy numbers truly representative of his talent level? Or are they a product of head coach Sean McVay’s masterful scheming ability?

Let’s assess Goff’s greatest strengths and weaknesses:

STRENGTHS

Protecting home turf

When playing on his home field, Goff has produced at a dominant level.

In his eight home games in 2018, he completed 207 of 303 passes (68.3 percent) for 2,737 yards (9.0 per attempt), 22 touchdowns and three interceptions. He led the league in passing yards and touchdowns at home. The home passing yardage total, a whopping 342.1 per game, is the sixth-highest mark by a quarterback in a season.

Goff registered a spectacular passer rating of 116.7 in Los Angeles this past season. He also joined Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Brett Favre, Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers and Kurt Warner as the only QBs who have won at least seven games and posted a 115.0 passer rating at home.

No game better exemplified Goff’s home cooking than the Rams’ 38-31 win over theMinnesota Vikings in Week 4. In that game, Goff completed 26 of 33 passes for 465 yards, five touchdowns and zero interceptions. Those numbers earned Goff a perfect passer rating of 158.3 as well as the NFL records for most pass attempts and passing yards in a perfectly rated game.

All of Goff’s best traits were on display in that historic game. On the following play, the Rams hurry up to the line following a five-yard run on first down. Wide receiver Cooper Kupp runs across the field out of the slot, drawing a mismatch with Vikings linebacker Anthony Barr. Kupp turns upfield and runs a vertical route, easily toasting Barr.

Impressively, it appears Goff knew pre-snap this matchup was going to be there. After receiving the ball, Goff keeps his head turned to the left to freeze the other two linebackers and prevent them from helping over the top. Then he moves his eyes to the right and immediately winds up, starting his throwing motion well before Kupp looks back for the ball. Goff’s throw hits Kupp in perfect stride, and he jogs in for the 70-yard score.

pic.twitter.com/Z5OBFavsdz

— Yardbarker All-22 (@22Yardbarker) August 20, 2019

Goff is not only a pocket passer. He is plenty capable of making pinpoint throws on the move, which he is frequently asked to do in McVay’s offense.

Later in the game, Goff and Kupp connected for another touchdown, seen below. Goff, in the shotgun, fakes a hand-off to the motioning Todd Gurley. Goff rolls to his right while the flow of the offense carries most of the defense to the left. Moving right with Goff is Kupp, who runs a crossing route from the left slot to the back right pylon. Kupp is sandwiched, as his man-to-man defender has him over the top and the defensive back covering that zone takes Kupp underneath. The window is microscopic, but Goff takes the shot anyway. Throwing on the run while under pressure, Goff drops the ball in the bucket as Kupp separates at the last moment to make the catch.

pic.twitter.com/w9euUztCwD

— Yardbarker All-22 (@22Yardbarker) August 20, 2019

Bombs away on first down

In 2018, Goff averaged 9.3 yards per attempt on first down passes, the best mark among the top 30 quarterbacks in first-down passing attempts. Additionally, Goff moved the chains on first down a whopping total of 89 times, the third-highest total in the league behind only Patrick Mahomes (91) and Matt Ryan (93). He registered a conversion rate of 36.9 percent on first down, fourth best in the league behind only Jameis Winston (37.6), Philip Rivers (39.8) and Drew Brees (40.2).

Goff and the Rams were able to generate a huge number of big plays on first down, often moving the ball downfield quickly without needing to face many third downs. On first downs in 2018, Goff completed 39 passes for gains of 20-plus yards, the highest total in the league.

In a Week 2 game against the Arizona Cardinals, Goff completed four 20-plus yard passes on first down, gaining an astounding total of 120 yards. Three of those completions were to wide receiver Brandin Cooks, for 99 yards.

The longest of those catches by Cooks came on the following play, a 57-yard bomb. The Rams are on their own 21-yard line, having just received possession following a Cardinals punt on the previous play. On the first snap of the drive, the Rams take a shot. Goff fakes the hand-off and first looks to his right at the crossing Cooper Kupp, drawing in safety Tre Boston. That frees up the deep range for Cooks, who uses his 4.33 speed (95 th percentile among wide receivers) to burn cornerback Jamar Taylor. Expecting help from Boston, Taylor plays Cooks underneath, but since the help never comes, Cooks is able to gain about four yards of separation. Goff loads up and launches a rocket that travels 63 yards in the air, and Cooks hauls it in for a 57-yard strike on first down.

pic.twitter.com/0I8XO3Vk8n

— Yardbarker All-22 (@22Yardbarker) August 20, 2019

Goff underthrew this ball a bit, but given the enormous distance of the throw, a completion is plenty to be happy about. Even when the receiver has that much separation, a 60-plus yard throw is difficult to complete. Goff got enough air under the ball, and the Rams are able to cover more than half of the field on a surprise first-down shot.

WEAKNESSES

Getting it done on the road

Goff’s home/road splits have been extremely volatile. In 2017, he was just decent at home (17th among qualifiers in passer rating); on the road, he was one of the best quarterbacks in football (2nd in passer rating).

In 2018, those splits flipped dramatically. As noted earlier, Goff performed historically well at home. However, on the road, Goff was one of the least productive quarterbacks in the league, completing 157 of 258 passes (60.9 percent) for 1,951 yards (7.6 per attempt) and 10 touchdowns. He threw nine interceptions, tied for fourth most in the league. On the road, he had a passer rating of 82.7, ranking 28thamong the 34 quarterbacks with at least 100 passing attempts on the road.

Goff’s worst road trip was easily the Rams’ Week 14 visit to Chicago against the Bears’ top-ranked defense. Goff completed 20 of 44 passes for 180 yards and no touchdowns, tossing a career-high four interceptions. He averaged only 4.1 yards per attempt and earned a passer rating of 19.1. Since the turn of the century, that stands as the third-worst passer rating posted by a quarterback to throw at least 40 passes.

Passing under pressure

In addition to his road woes, that game in Chicago highlighted Goff’s other major issue: throwing under pressure.

The Bears’ pass rush was downright unstoppable that night, and Goff had no answer. Chicago pressured Goff an astonishing total of 25 times. On those plays, Goff completed just 8 of 22 passes for 88 yards (an ugly 4.0 yards per attempt), throwing three interceptions and taking three sacks.

Goff’s difficulties dealing with pressure that night were a shining example of a weakness he displayed all season. When pressured, Goff completed 68 of 157 passes (43.3 percent) for 913 yards (5.8 per attempt), five touchdowns and five interceptions. Goff’s passer rating under pressure of 59.8 ranked 29th of the 39 quarterbacks with at least 150 total dropbacks last season.

The Rams had one of the best offensive lines in the NFL last season, so Goff did not have to work often under heavy pressure. However, when he did, the results were usually disappointing. Chicago was a prime example. On this play, something happens that Goff is certainly not used to –- his superstar left tackle, Andrew Whitworth, is beaten. In a battle of beasts, it’s Chicago’s all-world pass rusher, Khalil Mack, earning the victory. Mack slips between Whitworth and left guard Rodger Saffold to get to Goff. The quarterback does not feel the pressure from his blindside, and Mack knocks the football out from behind. The Rams recover, but they take five-yard loss on second down.

pic.twitter.com/SaogSV15nP

— Yardbarker All-22 (@22Yardbarker) August 20, 2019

That play highlights another Goff issue: fumbling. He was tied for the NFL lead with 12 fumbles last season. Five of those were lost, tying him for the fifth-highest total in the league.

In the Super Bowl against the Patriots, Goff also struggled while under pressure, completing four of 14 passes for 47 yards (3.4 per attempt). He was sacked four times, and his passer rating was 11.3.

Goff is one of the most talented young passers in the NFL, but to secure his place among the league’s elite QBs, he must do a better job staying cool under pressure.

from: Rams’ Jared Goff must transform into Joe Cool to join QB elites

on the road, Goff was one of the least productive quarterbacks in the league

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LMU93

Clearly he needs to be better overall on the road. No question.

But… the Bears game skews his overall 2018 road performance. It was an abysmal game. But in his other 7 road starts his QB rating was 95.8, 64.0% completions and his YPA above 8.2. So he was not awful on the road all last year. He was not elite as he was at home, and he had a single horrific game vs. the best defense in the league.

They do not have an easy road schedule this year- CAR, CLEV, SEA, ATL, PIT, ARZ, DAL and SF. But are any of them projected as top 5 defenses? Not sure.