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Goff is starting to do other stuff, too. It appears he is no longer drifting back in the pocket, but remains steady. Remember when that was a criticism. He has a lot of stuff like that to learn. A lot of stuff he never had to learn in college. That includes more types of throws he will need to learn as a pro. imo
AgamemnonGoff has to keep learning new stuff, because the other team will try to take away what he does best. It is all a process, until you can do more than they can stop. His college offense probably did not require him to make a wide variety of throws. He will need to learn a bigger skill set for the NFL. imo
AgamemnonPhotographic evidence that Jared Goff is a much better QB
Alden Gonzalez
Jared Goff won zero games through seven starts in 2016, but he has won five games through seven starts in 2017.
He absorbed 26 sacks in the Los Angeles Rams’ final seven games last season, but only 10 in the first seven this season.
As a rookie, 2016’s No. 1 overall pick completed 54.6 percent of his passes, averaged 4.3 yards per attempt, threw five touchdowns to seven interceptions and posted a Total QBR of 18.3. As a second-year player, he has completed 59.9 percent of his passes, averaged 7.7 yards per attempt, thrown nine touchdowns to four interceptions and posted a Total QBR of 53.6.
So, yeah, things are looking up for Goff.
He isn’t an elite quarterback yet, but there’s restored hope in the belief that he someday might be. And there’s comfort in knowing that he is at least serviceable now, less than two weeks removed from his 23rd birthday. A lot of the credit for the improvement has been directed at Goff’s surroundings — he’s operating under a friendlier scheme, while taking snaps behind a better offensive line and throwing to a more dynamic group of receivers.
But Goff himself got better, too.
“He’s done a good job of improving throughout this first part of the season,” Rams first-year head coach Sean McVay said. “I think he’s gotten better and better. Any time that you’re able to learn from your experiences, both good and bad, you’re going to give yourself a chance for growth.”
Below are five screen grabs to help illustrate that growth. Three were taken from the best game of Goff’s professional life, when he went 22-of-28 for 292 yards and three touchdowns in a win over the San Francisco 49ers on Sept. 21. Two others were taken from Goff’s worst performance of the year, when he turned the ball over three times in an Oct. 8 loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
While Goff sat through the first half last year, former Rams quarterback Jim Everett identified him as someone who can “visualize the deep ball better than anyone on that roster.” After studying film from 2016, McVay saw past Goff’s struggles and continually referenced his “arm talent.”
It showed in the throw above, a 47-yard completion to Sammy Watkins.
Watkins made a nice over-the-shoulder catch. But Goff stepped up into the pocket off play-action and dropped that throw in the only place he could, right between two defenders downfield. Goff has already completed 27 passes that have traveled at least 15 yards through the air, third-most in the NFL. Last year, he completed only 10 such passes.
On that play, Watkins said Goff “threw a great ball to protect me from the safety.”
There may not be a more impressive Goff throw than this one, which somehow resulted in a 31-yard completion to Robert Woods.
Niners defensive lineman Arik Armstead found himself free on a stunt and was bearing down on Goff. But Goff moved to his right, then uncorked a deep ball to the right sideline off one foot. The throw was perfectly placed in Woods’ back shoulder, allowing him to make the catch despite very tight coverage.
Goff has only completed 36.7 percent of his passes outside the pocket this season (ranked 26th among 32 qualified quarterbacks) and only 37.7 percent of his passes when pressured (24th). But that throw was proof that he has the talent to get it done in those situations, too.
Goff may not have Carson Wentz’s athleticism, but he has been known to surprise people with the way he moves. And this year, his pocket awareness and overall patience has allowed him to run free when things break down.
The play above is a prime example. It was third-and-10 from midfield at the 13-minute mark of the third quarter, and the Seahawks brought the blitz. Six defenders went after Goff, but they left the middle of the field wide open. Goff dropped back, then immediately sprinted ahead, navigating towards the sideline and running safely out of bounds for a 22-yard run, the longest of his career.
Goff has run for 45 yards this year, nearly three times what he ran for as a rookie. Two weeks after that game, in a 33-0 win over the Arizona Cardinals from London, he had a 9-yard run that resulted in his first rushing touchdown of the season — on a read-option.
“I’ve been begging them to call that for a long time now,” Goff said. “For a few weeks. I keep going, ‘Call it, call it, call it.’ And so when it came in, I was like, ‘All right, here we go.'”
This play resulted in an incompletion, but it could’ve easily been the game-winning score — largely because of what Goff did before getting rid of the football. Trailing by six with 67 seconds remaining and no timeouts, Goff hit on a 35-yard pass and a 20-yard pass to get to the Seahawks’ 20-yard line. That brings us to the play pictured above, on third-and-10 with 12 seconds left.
Check out where Goff’s eyes were directed. Five-time Pro Bowler Earl Thomas, lined up as the single-high safety, was trying to bait Goff into an interception. But Goff looked him off, making Thomas dart to his right. That allowed Cooper Kupp to get free on a skinny post near the middle of the end zone. Goff reset, then delivered the throw on time and on target. But it went off Kupp’s fingertips and fell harmlessly to the ground.
The Rams lost, but Thomas was impressed with the way he was taken out of that play.
“Hats off to Goff,” Thomas said after the game. “He’s way better than last year.”
Of all the plays Goff made in that Thursday night game near his hometown, this is the one his coaches raved about.
It wasn’t flashy, but it came in a big spot and was the product of sensible decision-making. Facing third-and-10, with the Rams up by eight from the 49ers’ 46-yard line in the fourth quarter, Goff dropped back and scanned the field. He quickly went through all of his progressions, didn’t see anyone open and instead dumped it off to Todd Gurley, who turned it into a 27-yard gain to help set up another touchdown.
Goff kept it simple and didn’t force it, which might be the area where he has made the biggest strides as a second-year quarterback. Goff has combined for only three turnovers in six of his seven games. His 2.25 touchdown-to-interception ratio is only slightly above the NFL average (1.92), but it’s significantly better than the 0.71 mark he carried as a rookie.
McVay has made it a point not to heap effusive praise on Goff, but he has also made sure not to set the expectations too high.
“We just want him to continue to take those daily steps, and he’s done that and been receptive,” McVay said, crediting offensive coordinator Matt LaFleur and quarterbacks coach Greg Olson for Goff’s continued development. “We’re in a good place. By no means are we where we want to be, but I think he’s doing a great job of leading. And that’s a credit to Jared.”
Well what’s his passer-rating the last three games, compared to the first three or four?
His QB rating keeps goin down, i believe.
w
vYes. There are of course a variety of reasons for that.
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Goff’s passer rating improvement is the 4th-best all-time
Cameron DaSilva
Jared Goff's passer rating improvement is the 4th-best all-time
Much has been made about Jared Goff’s improvement in his second season, and rightfully so. He’s looked like a completely different quarterback, completing 60 percent of his passes for an average of 245 yards per game with nine touchdowns and four interceptions.
His development goes beyond the stat sheet, too. He’s looking off defenders, throwing with anticipation and moving far better in the pocket. Everything about his play has been substantially better than last season.
To put it into perspective, his passer rating change has been one of the best in NFL history. According to the Rams’ media guide, Goff has improved his passer rating by 26.7 points. That’s the fourth-largest improvement from a quarterback’s rookie season through Week 8 of Year 2, only trailing Derek Carr, Jeff Garcia and Josh Freeman.
Goff ranks 14th in passer rating at 90.3, but that number was far higher earlier in the season. Through the first four weeks of the season, Goff’s passer rating was 112.2. In the past three games, it’s been just 65.9, dropping his overall mark by a whopping 21.9 points.
It won’t get any easier for the second-year quarterback on Sunday against the Giants, but not having to face Janoris Jenkins should ease the burden. Still, New York’s secondary and pass rush are among the best in the league, even if their 1-6 record doesn’t reflect it
TWO VIEWS
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Blue and Gold wrote:
I watched some more to confirm what I thought I saw each week. Watkins gets open, and there have been missed opportunities but sometimes Goff takes the safer throw, and that’s fine. Watkins is our X and plenty of times he’s on the 2 receiver side and often when QBs are asked to read one side of the field only it’s the 3 receiver side, the strong side, so that will leave out some things that might go to Watkins if it were not a rookie QB, which Goff still kind of is.
I think the concern about Watkins isn’t that big a deal, at least not as big as it’s been made in sub-media and boards.
Sure, I will offense were hitting on all cylinders now, but if he are hitting on 5-6 of 8 and are 5-2 I have no beefs.
Some examples
This is game 4, he’s reading the strong side. This is a mirrored formation and mirrored route concept…and Goff looks right, and sees Higbee has enough leverage to get open and throws an excellent ball for a big gain. It’s just frustrating to look at the All-22 and see touchdowns left on the board.
IT shows the concepts are good, the routes are good, the protection is good and in 2nd half of year McVay can coach up Goff and maybe we get a few of these wide open big gainers.
This one is a good play, a good throw to Woods…but again Watkins has single coverage up top and when you watch Sammy is pulling away. All these really show that for whatever reason, Goff is not looking to Watkins. And on some of them it’s a good thing, Goff takes a safe throw for a good gainer, but at some point they need to look to the big play opportunities Watkins gives them. Not all of them, but on occasion
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jrry32 wrote:
I’ve seen Goff go through 3 to 5 progressions on a single play more than a few times this year with my own two eyes. Hell, I’ll quote Sean McVay on this: “He got all the way through the progression and found Todd on the backside,” McVay said of Goff. “It was basically his fifth read. That’s impressive.”
Here’s the play he’s talking about:
We’re not running a two-read offense. Hell, that doesn’t even make sense. Gurley wouldn’t be having the year he’s having if we were running a two-read offense because he wouldn’t be one of the two reads. McVay loves to attack all three levels of the field. If he were running a two-read offense, Goff would be reading deep to intermediate. Instead, Gurley catches a lot of passes when Goff checks down after looking down the field.
This isn’t a two-read scheme. Goff is reading the entirety of the field and going through the same types of progressions as the Pro Bowl and All Pro QBs.
And they run the two and three WR bunch sets because it makes it difficult for the defense to press the WRs, causes confusion, creates early separation, and allows for us to utilize pick routes. Crosses and slants are known for being man-beaters. That’s why we run them so often.
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