Deadpool

I liked the Akers pick. He had nothing at Free Shoes U. No OL, no Qb, no anything. It was him gameplanned against week in and week out, he didn’t quit, complain or half-ass it. He flat out worked and dominated. He would have been a 1st rounder for Alabama or OSU or Oklahoma. (That’s a fact if facts were things I couldn’t prove to be facts.)

Akers has bellcow size and elite wiggle with HR speed. Not many RBs can claim they have all 3…And he has vision and patience.

And he can thread the needle. He had to at FSU otherwise he was going nowhere. It’s impressive for a thicker back like Akers to get small.

aeneas1

goff currently ranks 2nd in the league in 3rd down pass attempts completed for a first down (46.6%), second only to mahomes, ahead of rodgers at #3.

InvaderRam wrote:

zn wrote:

I have a theory (which I can get to if it interests anyone) as to what it is that triggers this achilles heel when it happens (like in the Miami and SF games this year) but it is not due to pressure alone. There are other factors besides just pressure. If you don’t have those other factors (like in the recent Arizona game), the bad stuff doesn’t happen.

well what is your theory?

Well bear in mind what I said about the numbers. Rams have faced 5 of the top 10 pressure percentage defenses this year and won all 5. Goff looked decent to very good in all of them. And in addition to that, according to PRF numbers Arizona pressured him the 4th most times (16) of any games from 2018 on. So they are facing pressure. They handle it better this year with a relatively healthy, good OL than they did in 2019 with a problem OL, but that’s just to be expected.

So the issue is not pressure alone.

The games like Miami and SF this year, and Chicago in 2018, combines other things WITH pressure.

1. a top secondary that slows the passing game (it is never just pressure, it’s pressure plus facing a top secondary)…this is especially true if the secondary is slowing Goff down and getting him out of rhythm
2. no running game–either cause of the RB or the other team defends it, or McVay refuses for some inexplicable reason to run the ball (like Miami this year)
3. McVay does not adjust in-game to the defense he is facing and struggles with in-game instincts and adjustments (like the infamous 6-1 D front issue). McVay adjusts to tough defensive gameplans between games, not IN games. So for example he couldn’t crack the Patz D in the superbowl but he did the next time he played them.
4. also, pressure

The complete collapse games we have seen from Goff have all those features, it is never just one of them–and it is absolutely not just pressure. For example, Tampa is top 10 in pressure percentage on defense. Rams could not run the ball against them. They had to throw to win. In fact they threw 51 times. But it was not one of the infamous Goff meltdown games.

Can’t get enough. Check out Troy Reeder destroying the pats FB 😳 ⁦@troyreeder9⁩ pic.twitter.com/MX30CrZosJ

— RAMZILLA (@elitster) December 12, 2020

InvaderRam wrote:

zn wrote:

But, people get these impressions, and the plays from each game that I point to apparently just don’t count.

no. they do count. but they have to be taken into a larger context.

if he only demonstrates it one out of ten times. and i’m not saying that’s the case with goff. i’m just saying hypothetically. then that’s not good.

or if he is demonstrates it 5 out of 10 times. and the average nfl qb demonstrates it 7 out of 10 times, then that’s not very good.

i don’t know. now i’m curious to see how he compares to all nfl qbs in that category.

The context is this (a stat-head on a different board explored this). Goff strip sacks and fumbles happen in bunches. This year it’s 2 games. This goes all the way back to 2017.

I don’t have comparative numbers. But the reason I keep saying people magnify this is because they expect it all the time BUT historically it happens in discrete bunches (this year 2 games).

If he has the ability to sense the rush and bail on it, which he has shown (like I demonstrated with the highlights vid from the Patz game), then, he has that ability. Just watching him I don’t expect Wilson but I also don’t expect those “massive bad plays in 2 games” syndrome to repeat, either.

….

InvaderRam wrote:

for me it’s not enough to just point to plays where he does demonstrate pocket awareness. it has to be compared to his peers.

I don’t think that’s significant at all, frankly. I mean either he can handle pressure or the rush or he can’t. To me it doesn’t matter who does it better or who isn’t as good.

There’s this myth that he is always bad in the pocket.

And–he’s not. I can show plays from each game that demonstrates that.

But, people get these impressions, and the plays from each game that I point to apparently just don’t count. 😎

Arizona pressured him 16 times. That’s the most he has been pressured for more than a year. He did fine in that game. We don’t have the numbers on the Patz game yet (PFR does them). But as I said the Patz are 2nd in the league in pressure percentage. He played well in both games. For a 9-4 team leading its division.

InvaderRam wrote:

pocket presence or pocket awareness is one of those things that’s holding goff back

Did you see the vid I posted and the plays I named on it?

IMO people exaggerate this idea that he has no pocket presence, or bad pocket presence, etc.

New England is 2nd in the league in pressure percentage on defense and I name plays where he evades the rush in the pocket to do something positive.

Zooey wrote:

He is ranked 22 in QBR

I don’t do qbr (if you mean the espn qbr system) because it favors qbs who run with the ball. I do old fashioned qb rating.

How is Goff without the 3 bad games? (which I don’t put all on him.) By qb ranking, the other 10 games, he averages out to 10th in the league.

So it all depends on what people think is up with those 3 bad games.

For some those games seem to dominate everything they think of the guy.

For some they are part of a bigger dynamic.

Either way I know I can go through the vids and point to the plays where he IS doing what the more negative take says he can’t or doesn’t do.

….

merlin

Running the ball is not really about smoke and mirrors. Everyone runs the same stuff and when someone does something new (like McVay’s jet sweep threat tied in consistently) other teams copy it.

When you run the ball it really is about your guys beating the guys in front of them. Even in zone you have to prevent the penetration and string guys down the line. And last night the Rams were winning all across the formation. That was not scheme by any stretch it was good basic execution and a back who took full advantage with great suddenness.

If we do run the ball well Goff is more than capable of complementing that all the way to a championship. So our hopes of a championship IMO lie primarily in our ability to keep Akers rolling and to have him and Hendy both adding some complexity in the pass game on top of occasionally flipping the field for us with big gainers. What happens if those guys get going is suddenly you won’t want to flood the field with constant dime packages, and all of a sudden our excellent possession wideouts are separating because they’re not seeing bracketed coverages.

wv wrote:

Just seems like he gets surprised a bit more than a guy like Wilson.
All it takes is a couple of surprises to lead to a loss.

I come in peace to offer a different view. 😎

IMO the thing about JG being a sitting duck against the rush is being exaggerated. Example–even in just the highlights vid you can see him evade/escape the rush a few times during the game. Before the game, the Patz were 2nd in the league in pressure percentage, and sometimes the rush verged on getting there, but it didn’t because he sensed it and escaped or stepped up… ie. made a play. I even went through the vid and noted a few of those plays. They’re at 1:38, 2:29, & 4;12 in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRWqmdWindA&feature=emb_err_woyt

He’s not like Wilson when it comes to that but then Wilson is one of the absolute all time best at that. I think what happens with Goff, to be honest, is that some of his worst plays get remembered as this deep indication of who he is…when, no, he is in general better than those worst plays seem to indicate.

In fact here’s another example from the previous game. Arizona pressured him 16 times, according to PRF. That’s the most he has been pressured since early in 2019 against Tampa (when it was 20 times). But no one thinks of him as having endured heavy pressure in the Arizona game. That’s because he is better at reacting to it than a lot of people seem to be assuming.

…

Ross breaks down the Rams performance last night against the Patriots on today’s pod!@RossTuckerNFL pic.twitter.com/bKhy4vX6jI

— Ross Tucker Podcast (@RossTuckerPod) December 11, 2020

While we were busy wrecking Tech, Aaron Donald was wrecking the Patriots in a big @RamsNFL win!

🤯 @AaronDonald97 #H2P pic.twitter.com/gNVPswWQPM

— Pitt Football (@Pitt_FB) December 11, 2020

Ok here’s Aaron Donald sneakily grabbing the running back attempting to get out on the screen. It throws off the timing of the screen. So Cam throws where the back should be and he’s not. 41 INT to the house. pic.twitter.com/wjDG5dLp8D

— Geoff Schwartz (@geoffschwartz) December 11, 2020

Vin Masi@VinMasi
Cooper Kupp had the most run block win rate plays by a WR in the NFL this season with 111. His 81 run block wins are most by a WR this season.

His teammate Robert Woods is 2nd among WR with 83.

(ESPN stat powered by @NextGenStats)

Omar Ruiz@OmarDRuiz
We’re living in an era where Aaron Donald should be the DPOY every year. Others are deserving, of course, but play in and play out, there is no comparison – and it’s been that way for a few years now.

Andrew Siciliano@AndrewSiciliano
Jared Goff now has the same number of rushing TD (4) as Lamar Jackson.

Cameron DaSilva@camdasilva
Last night was just the 11th time since 2010 the Rams had more rushing yards than passing yards and won.

Five of those games have come in McVay’s tenure since 2017