I think it is true that the OL has not held up well recently. I don’t know why. I mean…Noteboom and the OL did well for a couple of games after Whitworth went down, so why now? Maybe defenses are pressuring differently now, and found a weakness to exploit. I dunno.

And…I agree Goff’s performance is affected by pressure. All QBs are affected by pressure.

But that interception was Terrible. He was not under duress when he threw that. And it did not appear that the ball slipped and came out sideways. It looked like he threw it there deliberately, and a QB with his experience should not make a horrendous throw like that. Goff just has an inexplicable quality to him where he goes all D&D and throws the 20-sided dice and makes insanely precise throws or misses his receiver by 5 yards. He has a Beserker arm.

I am ambivalent about Goff. I don’t think the Rams should get rid of him. He’s okay, and having lived through some genuinely terrible quarterbacks as a Rams fan, I will take Goff. I don’t think he will ever be All Pro. Nothing from yesterday changes my opinion of him. He’s a 10-15 QB still, and I think that’s where he will always be. If everything else clicks, and Akers becomes Good Gurley, than he can be 8-10. He will never be Mahomes or Rogers or Brees. He is not going to the Hall of Fame. He won’t get a State Farm commercial. And I think these questions about him will never be put to rest because days like yesterday are common for him. It contained a WTF interception, and a failure to generate a comeback. I don’t have any confidence that Goff will hit Proehl in the end zone, or connect with Bruce to win a Super Bowl while being hit. Goff just doesn’t have “It.” Whatever “It” is. People talk about “will to win” and other phrases, none of which really hold up to explication, so I will just call it “it.”

Talk about him lacking toughness should vanish after yesterday, though. Like one of the yapping people on tv said, that was a hockey player move resetting his thumb and finishing the game.

And I don’t know about the play-calling, either. I will remember this season as the year the Rams never went deep, and Goff threw a million passes that travelled 15 yards horizontally, and 3 yards vertically. They have abandoned throws over 15 yards vertically, and it doesn’t seem like they attack the middle of the field much. This offense is pretty pedestrian, and seems to me they miss Cooks a lot more than I thought they would.

I am older than Kevin Greene.

I remember when NFL football was played by big men.

Now it’s played by kids.

RIP Kevin.

[EXIT, PURSUED BY A BEAR.]

Caught on the radio today, Mike Greenberg, of ESPN.

His top 5:

1. Chiefs
2. Rams
3. Saints
4. Don’t remember
5. Packers

zn wrote:

multiple posters, collaborative

when was the last time the rams defense ranked #1 in the league in offensive points allowed? 1975, they allowed 135 points in 14 games. #1 in the NFL. They were 4th in yards allowed that year. In 1967 the Rams D gave up 12.5 pts/game. That was best in the NFL. #2 Colts with 12.6, #3 Packers with 12.9

So…whatcher sayin is that the Rams are gonna lose to the Vikings in the playoffs.

Do I have that right?

from https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/nfl-week-15-power-rankings-steelers-keep-sinking-as-packers-and-bills-rise-into-top-three-ravens-rebound/

8 (Last Week 9)

RAMS They got some revenge against the Patriots and lead the NFC West with three games to go. That defense is outstanding.

(Seattle ranked 6).

• This reply was modified 5 years, 6 months ago by Zooey.

zn wrote:

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.

I just sort of feel like if any of your ideas had merit, they would be re-tweeted by John Cleese. But I’ve never seen that happen with you, so….

I think they will be exhausted after putting on a show in Seattle. Just like New England was this week after crushing the San Diego Chargers of Los Angeles.

Yeah, that’s how I see Goff. I think he is approximately in the 12-15 range in most categories. He is above average in “Shake that shit off,” and he’s above average in accuracy – except for 10% of his throws border on WTF.

He is ranked 22 in QBR, btw, although two or three of the guys ahead of him haven’t played the entire season.

He is either oblivious to it, or has slow reactions. Seems to me.

Well, he’s not OBLIVIOUS. He sometimes sees it. Just not always.

GMFB
@gmfb
·
4h
“I think the Rams are going to the NFC title game. I’m in.”👀

Yeah, I agree with that for the reasons they gave. Good defense, good against the run, good running the ball.

I will add that they are also very good against the pass, so there’s that. It’s a good defense.

And like the handsome man said, Goff is capable of an F game, so that is their vulnerability at that stage. Brees is more reliable.

It would be something to go beat New Orleans in New Orleans again, though, eh?

…but…I get ahead of myself here.

I am in favor of the Rams slaughtering the Patriots tonight.

I just want to say that before kickoff so I can claim I was the only one strong enough to wish for that outcome before the game started.