Vincent Bonsignore@VinnyBonsignore
One thing about Marcus, he’s a tough hombre. I don’t think it’ll be an issue of “can he deal with the pain” It’ll be about: Will his leg give him a chance to help the #Rams?

#Rams Marcus Peters is active tonight. Dominique Easley is out

For Jared Goff, It’s More Than Coaching

Albert Breer

https://www.si.com/nfl/2018/09/27/jared-goff-los-angeles-rams-sean-mcvay-vikings-thursday-night-football

I thought I’d fill this space today—after seeing some of the throws he made the last couple weeks—with the story of how Jared Goff was throwing a right cross at the perception of his ’17 season. Of how he went from product of Sean McVay’s system to a guy worth building a system, and a franchise, around.

After talking to Goff on Wednesday night, I think I had it wrong all along.

So instead of this being about some huge leap Goff was making year over year, it became how the rest of us might just be catching up to how good he really is, and really was last year while McVay was winning Coach of the Year and Todd Gurley was winning Offensive Player of the Year. Instead of Goff affirming that so much has changed for him in Year 3, he argued that his progress, in fact, remains incremental.

“I don’t think three games into the season I’m exponentially better than I was last year,” Goff said, as he wrapped up prep on the short week for tonight’s game against the Vikings. “I mean, I think I did a lot of good things last year. We were able to make the playoffs. Going into the offseason, learning more about defenses, getting more comfortable in our own offense and continuing to grow and get better.

“I expected myself to get better. I always strive for the extra one percent. Right now I don’t feel like I’m exponentially better.”

Maybe it just seems that way. He’s right, too. His numbers were damn good last year—Goff completed 62.1 percent of his passes for 3,804 yards, 28 touchdowns, seven picks and a 100.5 rating in 15 games. Through three games this year he’s connected on 70.3 percent of his throws, and has a 111.0 rating, with his yardage projecting to 4,705, and TD-INT differential to 30-10 over that 15-game sample size.

But whatever it is everyone is seeing out of Goff sure looks good. Which means … maybe we were all just a little late to the party?

“I think any time people make a predisposed decision about who you are or what you’ve done, they’ve made up their mind, they’ll have certain reasons for why stuff change, and it can’t possibly be ‘because I was wrong’,” Goff said. “That’s what happened a little last year. And I don’t really care what people think, but hopefully as time goes on, it’s not the same stuff.”

Thursday night game, a showdown involving two quarterbacks whose career breakthroughs were sparked by the 32-year-old Rams coach. For Vikings QB Kirk Cousins, it happened in Washington in 2015, with the Redskins making the playoffs for just the second time this decade. Cousins had McVay as his OC for another year, then this past offseason earned a huge payday in Minnesota.

For both quarterbacks, it took time to convince people they were more than the product of rock-solid coaching. Now Cousins has made it happen under different coaches, and with a different team. With Goff, the difference is in how the proof has come—through a slew of wow throws that have victimized defenses over the last few weeks. In an effort to explain that as best we could, I asked a couple Rams staffers for a list of those plays.

I came away with five from the last two weeks, and asked Goff to explain them to me, which he was gracious enough to do.

Play 1 — Arizona

The situation: Third quarter, 5:20 left; 1st-and-10, Cardinals 42.

The throw: Goff stands in the face of blitzing safety Antoine Bethea (who was flagged for roughing) and sends a rope to the left sideline, where Robert Woods, running a streak, plucks the ball from above Arizona’s Budda Baker, in tight coverage.

The quarterback’s take: “I got hit on it pretty good. That’s a play we’ve ran before, we ran it a bunch last year. A play we’re comfortable with. Robert ran a good route and they actually covered it pretty well. We were a little loose up front, they had a safety blitz coming and were able to run through on us, and I just got it off before he got there. And I just gave Robert a chance. He’s shown it, he’s become such a great ball-catcher, he’s shown so much improvement from last year, he’s probably the most sure-handed guy we’ve got right now. And it’s just really nice when you can throw it, and I got hit, I didn’t see the end of the play, and heard the crowd go, and usually that means interception or a good catch, and that one ends up being a good catch.”

Play 2 — Arizona

The situation: Fourth quarter, 10:22 left; 3rd-and-4, Rams 48

The throw: Goff takes a shotgun snap, and Arizona sends six. With Chandler Jones looping in and bearing down on Goff, the quarterback stood tall and delivered a crosser to Brandin Cooks—sneaking it high into a tiny window just over Baker’s head, and underneath Bethea, playing the deeper part of the field.

The quarterback’s take: “It’s actually a similar throw to the Woods one, where he’s covered, but having the comfort level I have with Brandin and the trust I have in him, was able to throw that ball high and give him a chance knowing that the DB was not looking and Brandin was looking. If that ever happens, you give them a chance and you could have a good outcome. I think that type of throw just comes with being more comfortable and having a lot of trust in the receiver. Would I have made it last year? I don’t know. I’d like to think so, but I don’t know if I can speak to that. I think just being comfortable and having a good rapport with our receivers is why that one worked.”

Play 3 — Chargers

The situation: Second quarter, 10:50 left; 2nd-and-6, Chargers 35

The throw: Goff takes the snap from center, gets protection, and puts the ball up for tight end Tyler Higbee, who posterizes Chargers rookie linebacker Kyzir White.

The quarterback’s take: “They’re all kind of similar throws. That one is very similar to Brandin’s and even Robert’s, where he was covered and I was just confident in my receivers and confident in myself. The throw is not as hard as the catch. The throw, I’m just throwing it high. The key to that, and really the first three we’ve talked about, it’s trusting my receiver that they’re going to make a play on a high-difficulty catch, and just giving them a chance ultimately with the throw.”

Play 4 – Chargers

The situation: Third quarter, 12:51 left; 3rd-and-8, Chargers 47

The throw: Goff takes the shotgun snap and steps up in the pocket, going through his reads, and has to dodge defensive end Isaac Rochell to break the pocket and turn the play into a scramble drill, at which point Cooper Kupp breaks off his route. Goff hits Kupp streaking upfield in stride, and Kupp gallivants into the end zone with a 47-yard scoring play.

The quarterback’s take: “It was just an off-schedule play. Cooper was an underneath read, and I didn’t see anyone open through the first three reads, and tried to move around the pocket a little bit, and got my eyes up off the rush, and Cooper spun around the defender up the field, and I knew he had a lot of room in front of him, so I tried to put the ball out in front of him, and was able to put a good ball on him and he made a great play breaking that tackle and scoring. I made a similar play in the third game of season last year against San Francisco down the right sideline.”

So at this point, Goff’s contention is every one of these throws, he’d have been capable of making last year. And then we came to the last one I had on my list, and that one, as it turned out, was different.

Play 5 — Chargers

The situation: Second quarter, 1:40 left; 1st-and-10, Rams 32

The throw: In hurry-up, Goff takes the shotgun snap, gets protection and finds Woods on a deep out-breaking route. The ball clears Pro Bowl corner Casey Heyward’s outstretched arm by no more than a foot or two, and hits the receiver less than a second before rookie Derwin James makes it over to help on the coverage.

The quarterback’s take: “It was Cover 2. That would be a throw—that’s the best example of one that would’ve been tougher last year, just in me understanding defenses and understanding what their intent is, and understanding, what’s Casey’s responsibility and what’s Derwin’s responsibility, and being able to manipulate that in the way that we did. And feeling confident in where to throw the ball and knowing Robert would be there. All of it comes back to being confident in the receiver and really trusting him.”

The point here? Goff’s come a long way in two years, for sure. But it didn’t happen all at once. And if you think it’s all coaching, Goff isn’t going to let that get to him, or even try to change your mind, and he insists it doesn’t bother him in the slightest.

“Never. Never,” Goff said. “[McVay’s] incredible and he deserves all the praise he gets. My rookie year was not so good, and coming into my second year, one of two things was going to happen—I was gonna be bad or I was gonna be good. And if I was good, they were gonna pin it on someone else. It’s all positive, it’s the way it works. I expected this coming into everything. All I can do is get better.

“Sean’s incredible, he’s probably the best coach in the league right now, won Coach of the Year last year, we’re doing stuff offensively—I mean, his innovation is incredible. I’m very thankful that he’s the guy I get to ask questions of, I get to learn from and have as the one teaching me.”

And that’s an ongoing thing in L.A., which you’ll be able to see tonight. Back in camp, Goff explained to me how, as he saw it, the Rams had to work to stay one step ahead as teams caught up to what they were doing, and the quarterback says McVay has done that through continued wrinkles in motioning and formationing to give defenses different looks.

It’s also helped, as Goff alluded to, being in Year 2 with Kupp and Woods, and having a quick study in Cooks. And the promise of guys like Higbee doesn’t hurt either.

Add it up, and you see why the guys calling the shots in L.A. feel so good about where Goff is at 23—the same age draft classmate Carson Wentz was as a rookie. Safe to say, too that Goff is pretty excited looking at the future around him, though he wouldn’t bite when I asked about he and McVay having a Sean Payton/Drew Brees-style 10- to 15-year run.

“That’s always the pipe dream for down the road,” Goff said. “We’re two years into this. We’ve been successful to this point, but there are so many good teams, so many good players that you have to keep on it at all times and can’t really look that far down the road. In 10 years, if we’re still together, we can talk about it. I promise you I’ll talk to you about it.”

For now, at least, Goff has proven he’s worth talking about as one of the best young quarterbacks in the game. And that, McVay himself would tell you, is regardless of who’s coaching him.

Saguaro

A cornucopia of youtube vids on the Rams or Rams/Vikes

GMFB What do the Vikings need to do Thur?

GMFB Who needs to step up on the Rams defense with corners out?

A Vikings show: Winning Formula – Are the Rams the best team in the NFL?

NFL Total Access – Predicting Vikings Rams

Game Preview: Rams Welcome Vikings for Thursday Night Football

https://www.therams.com/news/game-preview-rams-welcome-vikings-for-thursday-night-football

“I might have went to the ground a little bit to sell it.” –
Ben Roethlisberger

Will QB now start flopping? @kurt13warner @nflnetwork #UpToTheMinute pic.twitter.com/SL25Xubo7t

— Andrew Siciliano (@AndrewSiciliano) September 26, 2018

—

Have roughing-the-passer calls gone too far? https://t.co/5wpdK4qkSs

— The MMQB (@theMMQB) September 26, 2018

The Chiefs, Rams and Eagles make up the top three after Week 3 in the MMQB Power Rankings Poll: https://t.co/7ROkaTdbgl pic.twitter.com/wU0lg3FP8y

— The MMQB (@theMMQB) September 26, 2018

Man Blythe came out of nowhere.

==

https://www.profootballfocus.com/news/pro-nfl-week-3-sunday-standouts-offense

G Austin Blythe, Los Angeles Rams, 83.7 Overall Grade

One of the men keeping Goff clean against the Los Angeles Chargers pass-rush was right guard Austin Blythe. Blythe did not surrender a single pressure in 38 pass-blocking snaps and was one of three Rams offensive linemen to accomplish that feat. He was also very effective in opening lanes for Todd Gurley, recording a run blocking grade of 77.2.

—

Going into Week 4, #LARams offensive line (with @PFF position rank):

Whitworth (1)
Saffold (4)
Sullivan (18)
Blythe (2)
Havenstein (5) pic.twitter.com/MxqaXiielT

— J.B. Long (@JB_Long) September 26, 2018

—

After some early struggles in the opening two weeks of the season, Lions first round draft pick Frank Ragnow lived up to his pre-draft billing on Sunday Night Football.https://t.co/JI1DUIwBJn pic.twitter.com/pINiFL6nKp

— Pro Football Focus (@PFF) September 26, 2018

Logic, simplicity make Los Angeles Rams’ Sean McVay NFL’s brightest offensive mind

All coaches vow to do it, but none maximize their personnel better than Rams HC McVay

MARCUS MOSHER

https://www.profootballweekly.com/2018/09/26/logic-simplicity-make-los-angeles-rams-sean-mcvay-nfls-brightest-offensive-mind/amzolzk/

The list of coaches who are considered to be brilliant offensive minds in the NFL is rather small. New Orleans’ Sean Payton and Kansas City’s Andy Reid often are the first two coaches who come to mind, as they are consistently able to produce top offenses. Another name entering the conversation is Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson, who won a Super Bowl last year and is now widely considered one of the best coaches in the game. Many think Chicago’s Matt Nagy and the New York Giants’ Pat Shurmur could be the next ones to make that leap from successful offensive coordinators to star head coaches.

But at the top of the pantheon of offensive minds in the NFL is Sean McVay of the Los Angeles Rams. In 19 games as the Rams’ head coach, the team is averaging well over 30 points per game and nearly 375 yards of offense each week. They are the most explosive offense in the league.

You would think that all of this offensive explosion is the result of either a fantastic scheme or a generational type of quarterback like Peyton Manning or Aaron Rodgers. However, that’s not really the case. Instead, McVay’s scheme and overall philosophy about offense is fairly simple — put the ball into the hands of your best playmakers in favorable situations.

On the surface, that doesn’t seem like a very difficult thing to do. Every season, you will hear coach after coach talk about getting their players into space or getting them more touches, etc. But McVay is one of the few coaches who does it. He understands situational football and how defenses usually like to attack offenses, depending on the down and distance. He knows what situations will likely produce favorable results and which ones won’t.

Let’s take a look at a couple of plays from last week’s game that show how McVay torched the Los Angeles Chargers’ defense by just using logic and basic game theory.

We will begin with running the ball. The single most important and impressive thing from McVay is that he doesn’t put his offense into poor situations all that often. He sets them up for success by avoiding arrogant play calls.

What do I mean by arrogant play calls? Most coaches around the league are stubborn. They believe they became head coaches or offensive coordinators because of their wonderful scheme or play-calling. Some coaches still believe that being the more physical team is what wins in the NFL. You’ll often hear coaches utter cliches before the game about how they want to establish the run, control the line of scrimmage, blah, blah, blah. That’s all fine and dandy, but putting yourself into poor situations often leads to losing football.

McVay does a really good job of not buying into this line of thinking when it comes to play-calling. As simple as it may be, he takes what the defense gives him and doesn’t pound his head against the wall when facing an unfavorable situation. The easiest example of this is how the Rams choose to attack the run game.

According to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats, Todd Gurley has rushed against eight or more defenders in the box on just 16 percent of his carries so far this season. That means he carried the ball just 10 times against a loaded box. According to the site, 37 other running backs in the league have seen a higher percentage of their carries against eight or more defenders in the box.

Does that mean that those 37 running backs are better than Gurley because they are “demanding” more attention from defenses? Of course not. McVay knows that running against loaded boxes is usually pointless and inefficient. You are going to average a significantly lower yards per carry when there are more defenders in the box. The only time it’s acceptable is in short-yardage situations, at the goal line or when running out the clock at the end of the game. Any other time, you are just throwing away opportunities to put points on the board.

The Rams only run when the numbers are in their favor. Take a look at this run by Gurley in the first quarter of last week’s game. The Rams come out in ’11’ personnel, forcing the Chargers to counter with their nickel package. That move, in itself, will create a numbers advantage for the offense as now there are only two linebackers on the field.

But McVay doesn’t stop there. To create an even bigger disadvantage for the defense, the Rams run a fake jet sweep, which causes the backside defensive end to pause for a fraction of a second.

11-yard run by #Rams RB Todd Gurley vs 5-man box. pic.twitter.com/C6dbNQIQr7

— Marcus Mosher (@Marcus_Mosher) September 25, 2018

At the snap of the ball, there were only five defenders “in the box” to stop the run. When you add in the jet sweep, there are now four defenders trying to beat five blockers and the running back. That is a pretty nice advantage for the offense. Again, is this anything outside of the norm in terms of play design in the NFL? Nope. But it’s just another example of McVay using common sense when calling plays.

McVay has also added in packaged plays for his quarterback, Jared Goff. If Goff recognizes that the numbers aren’t in their favor for running the ball, he can make a quick audible to a pass and he will have numbers now in the passing game. Here is a perfect example of this from Sunday.

I love this play design by Sean McVay. pic.twitter.com/peaaHQCKz0

— Marcus Mosher (@Marcus_Mosher) September 25, 2018

Getting the numbers advantage in the run game is somewhat simple, but finding ways to pass the ball efficiently is a little bit more difficult. However, there are ways to exploit NFL defenses that are so simple that most teams just gloss over them.

McVay has taken advantage of passing the ball on early downs. According to Warren Sharp, over the past two seasons, passing the ball on first down has been successful 53 percent of the time, while rushing has just a 45 percent success rate. Over the past two seasons, the average yards gained on first down via pass is 7.2 vs. 4.0 on the ground.

By using this data, it makes sense to throw the ball more often on first down — and that’s exactly what the Rams have done. But that’s not the reason why the Rams have so much success on offense. There are plenty of teams in the NFL that throw the ball a ton on early downs. But McVay and the Rams just do it a little differently.

Generally, teams are afraid of giving up big plays on first and second down. However, on third down, defenses will typically crowd the first-down marker and do their best to protect the line to gain. Everyone’s goal in the NFL is to limit big plays and make stops on third down. A sound defensive philosophy, right?

In order to ensure that a defense doesn’t give up a big (passing) play, defenses will usually have their safeties further back on earlier downs. That is especially true if a team comes out in a passing situation. Because safeties are lined up deeper on early downs, that opens up routes underneath. Defenses don’t mind giving up small chunks of yards on first and second as they view it as a “win” if the opponent doesn’t convert a first down.

Through three weeks, Todd Gurley has 11 receptions for 124 yards on first and second down. Guess how many catches he has on third down? You guessed it — zero. On early downs, you the Rams take advantage of defenses by often sending receivers deep to open up bigger lanes for Goff’s underneath receivers. Take a look at this play on 1st down for the Rams in Week 3. The two outside receivers run deep routes and Gurley runs to the flat for an easy reception and gain.

Easy pitch and catch from Jared Goff to Todd Gurley for 16 yards. pic.twitter.com/QbPmJmKHDz

— Marcus Mosher (@Marcus_Mosher) September 25, 2018

This isn’t a great play design or something so innovative that hasn’t been replicated by other NFL teams. This just McVay and Goff understanding how defenses will usually allow short throws and completions on early downs. It’s also as simple as getting the ball to your best playmaker in space. Offense doesn’t have to be that complicated. I could go on and on showing you how McVay creates easy throws for his quarterback or big rushing lanes for his backs, but you should get the point by now. He’s making offense as simple as it can be.

McVay is going to be successful in the NFL for a long time for a variety of reasons. He doesn’t have a set scheme for defenses to figure out over the next several seasons. Instead, he’s going to continue to play the percentages and adapt to whatever defenses decide to allow. McVay isn’t stubborn or prideful. He is just going to put his team into the best situations possible to succeed. And that’s why he is the greatest offensive mind in the NFL today.

Vincent Bonsignore@VinnyBonsignore
#Rams Sam Shields on potntially starting for 1st time since ’16/while dealing/w concussions most of last 2 years. “Something to show. A lot of people still want to know, is he alright? Things like that. For me it’s kind of to show people that I still got it. I can still do it.”

Rams Aaron Donald: “Any time you lose playmakers and big-time players that are part of your defense that’s going to hurt you. But we’ve got guys that are going to step up and fill those shoes and be out there and productive.”

More from #Rams Donald, if he feels any added pressure to get to the QB to help the secondary: “We need to quarterback a lot more and get him down. We’ve been getting there, but (they’ve) been getting ball out. It’s frustrating but it’s gonna come. We just have to keep working.”

.@JaredGoff16 dances in the pocket, @CooperKupp shakes 'em off!

Listen in on Kupp's longest TD of his career from the #LARams Spanish radio booth! pic.twitter.com/J1XKfQ2xyk

— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) September 25, 2018

Mike Williams TD v M Peters. Widens the DB with stem and accelerates whole turning head to ball. pic.twitter.com/ZDdG3oCuUb

— Matt Waldman (@MattWaldman) September 24, 2018

J.B. Long@JB_Long
Point Differentials after Week 3

@RamsNFL +66

Next best in NFL: BAL +46
Next best in NFC: WAS +20
Next best in NFC West: SEA +1

=

Updated #LARams 2018 Odds (Week 4), via @fboutsiders:

No. 1 seed in NFC: 50%
First round bye: 68%
Win division: 86%
Total playoff chance: 93%https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/playoffodds

=

The #LARams are 3-0 and yet…

🔘Aaron Donald doesn’t have a sack.
🔘Brandin Cooks doesn’t have a TD.
🔘Mark Barron hasn’t played.

The best is yet to come?

Earl Thomas has been the best defensive player in football through three weeks. pic.twitter.com/vk2tAxajon

— Pro Football Focus (@PFF) September 25, 2018