Sean McVay helped Jared Goff, and five other observations from the Rams’ blowout win

Rich Hammond

https://theathletic.com/1427050/2019/12/02/sean-mcvay-helped-jared-goff-and-five-other-observations-from-the-rams-blowout-win/?=twittered

In an NFL version of an ink-blot test, the Rams slid Jared Goff in front of viewers’ eyes Sunday afternoon.

Which image showed up? That of a skilled quarterback returning to form, or an average quarterback carving an awful Arizona Cardinals defense? Too often, the answer depends on one’s established bias After watching him in high-profile situations for three-plus years, most people have made up their minds about Goff.

Which is a shame, because in many ways Goff is still a work in progress at age 25 and is a product of the people around him. That includes, in no particular order, the Rams’ offensive linemen, running back Todd Gurley and coach Sean McVay. Goff, as the quarterback, certainly is the high-performance driver of the Rams’ offense, but how far can he take it if one or two of the wheels go flat?

That’s not meant to inoculate Goff from criticism. Too often this season, he has looked skittish in the pocket, has made bad decisions with the ball and generally has not looked like a confident leader on the field. These are legitimate knocks, and Goff is not merely a victim of people letting him down.

Sunday’s game, however, showed what can still happen for the Rams’ offense when everything is clicking, as Goff completed 32 of 43 attempts for 424 yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions.

“It was a great game for Jared,” McVay said, “but that was the game that we expect from him. Those are the things that we know he’s capable of, and it’s always a collaboration of the unit. But I was really pleased with his ability to command and control the game and I thought it was one of his best performances for sure, and that was needed for our team.”

Yes, the Cardinals have the worst pass defense in the NFL, but it’s not as though the Rams just dropped in a quarter in a slot at the entrance to the stadium and automatically got 549 yards. They still had to execute, and across the board they did, arguably better than in any other game this season.

It all goes back to McVay. Too often this season (and even going back to the end of last season) he has been slow to make adjustments, either from week to week or within games. It’s fair, then, to note that in two of the past three games, McVay’s game plan has been solid and put the Rams in position to win.

Two weeks ago against Chicago, McVay probably didn’t know what to expect from a revamped offensive line, so he went primarily with two-tight-end sets and ran the ball a lot and the Rams grinded to a 17-7 victory. Last week against Baltimore, well, the whole team was terrible, and McVay stood at the front of that line.

McVay rebounded this week. His early game plan centered around having Goff under center, then executing play-action fakes. The Cardinals bought it, over and over. The Rams didn’t take big, unnecessary chances down the field but still picked apart the Cardinals’ secondary and McVay did a nice job of emphasizing Tyler Higbee, certainly aware of Arizona’s previous difficulties against tight ends.

Goff was sacked only once, and McVay did a nice job at times of rolling him out after some of those play-action fakes. It’s something the Rams should have been doing more of in previous games. Goff isn’t speedy, but he’s also far from clumsy when he leaves the pocket, and he has the ability to make throws on the move.

Finally, perhaps to the chagrin of critics who have already certified him as a bust, Goff had a very good game, perhaps his best of the season. Never mind the numbers. The Rams’ pass plays showed Goff to be calm, making good decisions and stepping into his throws with confidence.

“I was definitely better,” Goff said. “We all were. It was a full team effort.”

One persistent criticism of Goff is that he can’t win games by himself, that things need to be near-perfect around him in order for him to thrive. There’s some evidence of that. Goff is increasingly proving himself to be a boom-or-bust quarterback, with ratings that swing wildly. Since late October, Goff has had game ratings of 119.3 and 120.7. His other three ratings were 51.2, 69.9 and 62.0. There’s no middle ground right now.

That’s part of what makes Goff such a target for debate, and such debate should continue. But even Goff’s harshest critics should be able to praise him when he has a strong game. He did Sunday, and here are five more takeaways from the Rams’ 34-7 victory over the Cardinals:

Gurley quietly strong

Are the Rams finding a groove when it comes to Todd Gurley? Sunday’s game presented a best-case scenario, as the Rams never trailed and were able to maintain a comfortable run-pass balance.

Gurley finished with 19 carries for 95 yards and one touchdown, and also caught a 20-yard pass. (Gurley also had a 28-yard touchdown run brought back for a holding penalty late in the third quarter.) Gurley now has exceeded 18 carries twice this season, against the Cardinals and two weeks earlier against the Bears, when he had 25 carries for 97 yards. Gurley also averaged 5.0 yards per carry against the Cardinals, only the third time in 11 games this season he reached that number.

The Rams’ goal all season was to have Gurley healthy and productive in December. Now they’ve arrived and he’s 1-for-1, but with an interesting game ahead. The Rams play Seattle at the Coliseum on Sunday night. In the teams’ first meeting in October, the game was close throughout but Goff attempted 49 passes while Gurley had only 15 rushing attempts. That balance must be closer this time.

Four out of five isn’t bad

As noted earlier, McVay helped out the offensive line by rolling Goff out more often against the Cardinals. Even so, credit tackles Andrew Whitworth and Bobby Evans for keeping outside pressure to a minimum.

Whitworth has rebounded after an odd, early-season run of poor play and he’s been just fine down the stretch. Evans, a 22-year-old rookie out of Oklahoma, looks to be a keeper. Evans had a strong debut against Chicago, but skeptics wondered how he would perform when not protected by the Rams’ two-tight-end set. Nothing is ever perfect, but Evans looks quite comfortable and will improve.

The only issue for the Rams was inside. Rookie right guard David Edwards is understandably going to have some consistency issues, but he committed four penalties and that’s not acceptable.

Zuerlein danger zone

There’s something odd going on with Rams kicker Greg Zuerlein, who missed a 41-yard field goal in the first quarter Sunday. Zuerlein now has missed six of his 28 field-goal attempts this season. In 2017 and 2018 combined, Zuerlein missed only six of his 71 attempts. But that’s not the weird part.

Zuerlein has been solid from distance this season, as he is 4-for-5 from beyond 50 yards and 7 of 9 from 45 yards or beyond. Zuerlein also has been fine up close, as he is 14-for-14 on field-goal attempts from 39 yards or fewer, plus 29-for-29 on extra-point attempts.

The mid-range field-goal attempts are killing Zuerlein, though. He has missed four of five attempts from 40 to 44 yards this season. He has one make, from 44, and misses from 40, 41 (twice) and 44.

Zuerlein has remained very consistent, since 2017, in every area except those low-40s field-goal attempts, and there don’t seem to be any trends in terms of turf, weather or situation. He’s just missing them, and that’s a bit troubling.

Rookie of the year

Among Rams rookies, most of the immediate post-draft attention went to running back Darrell Henderson and defensive lineman Greg Gaines, even though safety Taylor Rapp was the highest pick at No. 61.

It’s now clear that Rapp is the star of the rookie class. Rapp started the season in a smaller, sub-package role, but grew into something bigger, both because of the shoulder injury to star safety John Johnson and because of Rapp’s own solid play.

Rapp has now started six consecutive games and had his NFL highlight moment Sunday, when he intercepted a Kyler Murray pass and returned it 31 yards for a touchdown. Rapp’s first career NFL interception was a long time coming, given that he had two others overturned by penalty.

The Rams clearly have a keeper in Rapp, and the interception helped illustrate why. After the snap, on a second-and-10 play from the Arizona 25, Rapp briefly bit on the Cardinals’ play-action fake, but quickly read Murray’s intentions, ran back and made an athletic play to intercept a ball headed toward Larry Fitzgerald. Rapp maintained body control and ran for the end zone.

Johnson and Rapp seem headed toward a successful long-term partnership, which will make the transition away from veteran safety Eric Weddle easier (as soon as next season).

“As the season progresses,” Rapp said, “you start to feel more comfortable and play loose and you try to make plays. I feel like I’ve been able to feel more comfortable game-in and game-out, keep progressing. Now I finally feel like I’m just out there playing loose.”

Late bloomer?

Anyone who watched Tyler Higbee in training camp, before his 2016 rookie season, saw potential. The fourth-round draft pick out of Western Kentucky quickly developed chemistry with Goff, his then-roommate, and the 6-foot-6 Higbee looked as though he might be a red-zone target for the Rams.

It never happened, and over the years, Higbee developed more value as a run-blocker as the Rams drafted and developed Gerald Everett as more of a pass-catching threat at tight end.

On Sunday, though, with Everett out because of a knee injury, the Rams turned to Higbee in an attempt to exploit the Cardinals’ struggles to cover tight ends. It worked, as Higbee recorded a career-high 107 yards (and one touchdown) on seven receptions.

“I had a college coach tell me and I’ve said it before, ‘Just prove to be reliable,’” Higbee said. “When they call your number and it’s your turn to make a play, just make the play. That’s all I’m trying to do.”

Higbee likely never will be a dynamic threat in the pass game, but he’s solid, with 33 receptions this season on 41 targets, and he has earned Goff’s trust in difficult situations.

“Tyler showed what he can do,” Goff said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he continued to get the ball like that.”

Yesterday was Jared Goff's 2nd game with a 120 passer rating and 400 yards.

The only other players to do that twice in their first four NFL seasons are Ken O'Brien, Dan Marino, and Peyton Manning https://t.co/hCs72wcWcV pic.twitter.com/dtQt3b9DXF

— ProFootballReference (@pfref) December 2, 2019

Kyler Murray admitted “everything just felt off” in his first post-bye game https://t.co/2is2l3W1xV

— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) December 2, 2019

This was ruled intentional grounding on Jared Goff pic.twitter.com/3Tgs4UZID7

— Cameron DaSilva (@camdasilva) December 2, 2019

Decades of talking heads, opinions and insider gossip has been fun but created a desire/hunger by viewers to see more details. @espn is lucky to have @danorlovsky7. He gets the details and is great at explaining it. This piece of analysis is absolutely awesome. CC: @GetUpESPN https://t.co/jR48VW3NYC

— John Sellek (@JohnSellek) December 2, 2019

Greg Beacham@gregbeacham
The Rams improve to 19-5 away from home under Sean McVay. What a remarkable number.

The Cowboys and Eagles racing for the top spot in the NFC East… pic.twitter.com/HC9TK4xn0S

— NFL Memes (@NFL_Memes) December 1, 2019

Geoff Schwartz@geoffschwartz
I know that no one will shed any tears about this … but this Pats offense is brutal right now. There’s no way to sugar coat it. No chemistry. No one open. It’s ugly. I’m not even sure the Texans are doing anything special. Just nothing happening

Brett Kollmann@BrettKollmann
Reminder that even IF Houston wins this game, no matter how convincingly they do it, they will STILL have to go up to Foxborough in January unless the Pats somehow lose two of their last four games, AND Houston wins out the rest of the year…with two of those against Tennessee.

The Pats might not be the best team in the AFC, but their schedule has still put them in the driver’s seat for home field advantage no matter what.

Colin Cowherd@ColinCowherd
Patriots offense has one Pro Bowler (maybe) on offense. Julian Edleman. Just a personnel issue. They aren’t special. Just guys. Even great coaches need dudes.

Albert Breer@AlbertBreer
Can’t remember the last time I saw Tom Brady look this defeated. He just let the play clock run under 10 — down 19 with 5 minutes left — then burned a timeout. You NEVER see that with the Patriots.

Of course, Brady, in his own way, has let us know there are issues.

Jared Goff, Rams move on from embarrassment, boost playoff hopes

Lindsey Thiry

https://www.espn.com/blog/los-angeles-rams/post/_/id/41065/jared-goff-rams-move-on-from-embarrassment-boost-playoff-hopes

Goff throws for 424 yards, Rams roll past Cardinals 34-7

Associated Press

https://www.espn.com/nfl/recap?gameId=401128100

Cardinals roughed up in blowout loss to Rams

link: https://arizonasports.com/story/2178781/rapid-reactions-cardinals-roughed-up-in-blowout-loss-to-rams/

Cardinals fall flat in lackluster 34-7 loss to Rams

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2019/12/01/cardinals-fall-flat-in-lackluster-34-7-loss-to-rams/40740483/

Air Drop: Cardinals Can’t Slow Rams’ Passing Game In Loss

https://www.azcardinals.com/news/air-drop-cardinals-can-t-slow-rams-passing-game-in-loss

Rams’ 34-7 victory over the Arizona Cardinals by the numbers

https://www.latimes.com/sports/rams/story/2019-12-01/rams-34-7-victory-over-the-arizona-cardinals-by-the-numbers

Jared Goff said it so often after games in the last month it almost became a mantra. "I need to be better. On Sunday against the Cardinals he delivered. https://t.co/I45t8u10s5

— Gary Klein (@LATimesklein) December 2, 2019

Inside @JaredGoff16’s 400-yard performance for @RamsNFL, per ESPN research:

🎯 6-of-6 (for 119 yds) on passes traveling at least 15 yards downfield.

🎯 11-of-11 (for 182 yds & a TD) on 3rd down, the most such completions without an incompletion by any NFL QB since 2016. pic.twitter.com/Q2J25ct9he

— J.B. Long (@JB_Long) December 2, 2019

‼️ ‼️ ‼️

RT to #ProBowlVote @Ty_Higs19! pic.twitter.com/tkJuBGpSZM

— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) December 1, 2019

.@TG3II keeeeeps pushing into the end zone! 👊#ProBowlVote pic.twitter.com/f3xy7utIUN

— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) December 1, 2019

John Johnson III@iamjohnthethird
He’s EVERYWHEREEEEEE @trapp07

Micah Kiser@kiser_rollin
T Rapp a ball player 🙌🏾

Gerald Everett@lightningstrk12
Yeaaaa, put a stamp on that @trapp07