football outsiders has the jags pass defense ranked first out of all 32 teams while seattle is ranked sixth.

so looking forward. and i’ll put the team rank in rush defense in parentheses.

ari – 24th (7th)
nyg – 22nd (28th)
hou – 11th (4th)
min – 21st (11th)
no – 16th (30th)
ari – 24th (7th)
phi – 15th (10th)
sea – 6th (23rd)
ten – 25th (17th)
sf – 26th (14th)

definitely there will be opportunities for goff. jacksonville and seattle are the 2 toughest pass defenses goff will have to face this season with washington not too far behind at seventh.

actually that last drive was more a credit to the oline and gurley. he did make a third down conversion there though.

canadaram wrote:

Higbee keeps getting a fair share of targets as well.

yeah. i’m starting to think maybe he shouldn’t be getting targets. but with that secondary, maybe that’s what was available to goff.

someone correct me if i’m wrong, but it seems like woods is becoming goff’s favorite target which would make sense. he’s a smart savvy veteran wr.

goff got through a really rough stretch of 2 games and looked… ok.

keep telling myself gotta be patient…

zn wrote:

Longterm, I got Everett, Kupp, Johnson, Ebukam, and Smart. So it could be 5. I don’t see Reynolds as a starter if they keep Watkins. Price and Rogers are role players.

i like ebukam too. if that were to happen. i mean holy hell.

right now i’m having nightmares of fournette running for 300 yards and knocking out rams defenders left and right.

today jared goff turns 23. he’s a pup. physically he still has a lot of maturing to do. you can see he’s already gotten bigger in just one offseason.

for a little perspective he’s younger than trubisky a rookie. in fact i think the only current starting qb younger than goff is watson.

Herzog wrote:

I just wonder why his name never comes up when they talk about great linebackers around the league.

i don’t think he’s great. i think it’s more a matter of how you replace him.

cornerback is stronger in the draft and i think there are pass rushers will be available as well in the draft.

inside backers as versatile as ogletree aren’t. and by the time his contract runs out they can sign other guys.

• This reply was modified 9 years ago by InvaderRam.

Agamemnon wrote:

That leaves Donald, Watkins, and Joiner. imo
Of, the big names, I think Quinn will get cut next year, Tavon will get cut next year, and Johnson won’t be renewed.

yeah i think quinn and austin get cut. and plenty of corners available in the draft next year. need to draft some pass rushers, but they got longacre and ebukam is a developmental guy.

zn wrote:

The more year-to-year continuity that Goff, his line, and coach Sean McVay can have together, the more layers we’ll see with this offense that will make the Rams a dangerous unit.

this part i agree with. well i agree with a lot of it but especially this.

can’t help but feel mcvay is approaching this in stages.

once goff has mastered the first level of concepts mcvay will give him more things to absorb and incorporate into his game.

this next offseason will be huge.

it was a tough catch. i don’t fault him too much or at least not more than all the other mistakes that preceded it.

even if he did fumble it out of bounds as opposed to into the endzone, he’s still gotta keep both hands on it and if anything dive for the pylon. he decided to go flashy, and the wily old veteran thomas karate chopped his arm. just learn from it and move on i’d say.

i don’t fault mcvay for his use of tavon and todd. todd can’t get heavy doses every game. it’s just not practical. and tavon did do some good things out of the backfield. rams had chances. as mcvay said in the press conference, there was a pass to gerald which kam made a good play on. and then there was also the bootleg where goff tripped over gurley and took a sack. there were probably others, but those are the ones mcvay mentioned. goff throwing an interception on a dumpoff to gurley…

things happen. a lot of things went wrong that were out of mcvay’s control. could he have done better? there might have been things mcvay could have done. but it was largely an execution problem from where i stand. and also a veteran defense making clutch plays when it needed to. and some just plain old bad luck. and divisional games are always a little unpredictable to begin with. but the execution problems. this is a young offense. they will get better.

and given all that. they were still in it at the very end. just imagine when goff has another 27 games under his belt. when he’s got another couple offseasons under his belt. assuming health of course. he will be going into his 2019 season. and gurley should be in his prime years still (going into his fifth season). i’m not all that worried yet.

i’m a little surprised but not too surprised given how well johnson played on sunday. i woulda thought he’d have some special teams value but thomas is a special teams dynamo.

but yeah. at safety, they might have something special in jj. he’s versatile. dynamic. smart.

aaron donald is back.

also. on that second to last play. tough play for kupp. i don’t blame him. and at first i thought goff could have been more accurate. but now i’m not so sure. he had to get it above that other defenders hands. i think it was pretty much the only place he could put it. i think. either way it shouldn’t have come down to that play, but woulda been crazy if they had.

yeah. i think on one interception his arm got knocked? i don’t know if i’m remembering correctly. i don’t fault him for that. i do think the other interception where he was trying to dump it off to gurley was poorly placed. it was a bad throw. as far as the fumble. i don’t know that i necessarily blame him in that one instance. but overall, i wonder about his fumbling rate. he isn’t getting hit that much (6 sacks), but he’s coughed up the ball 3 times already. maybe just an aberration.

as far as his game, i thought he struggled this last week. but like i said, he’s young. 12 games starting experience. between the move his rookie season and the coaching change his sophomore season, i count this as part of his rookie season.

he needed a game like this. these are the games he will grow from and ultimately get better from if it doesn’t break him. but he’s tough. so i don’t expect that it will break him.