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ZooeyModeratorJared Goff takes snaps with Rams’ first team but Case Keenum is still the starter
Gary Klein
http://www.latimes.com/sports/rams/la-sp-rams-20161026-snap-story.html
Jared Goff took a moment before the first play call and slapped hands or bumped fists with teammates in the huddle.
The rookie quarterback was about to start perhaps his most important practice since the Rams selected him No. 1 in the NFL draft.
With the Rams in a bye week, Coach Jeff Fisher on Wednesday had starter Case Keenum step aside and gave Goff a developmental opportunity. The former University of California standout took the majority of first-team snaps for the first time.
It was a chance to show how far he has progressed since training camp — and demonstrate his readiness to play.
Goff did not make any long throws, but he smoothly handled every short and midrange route.
“I feel tremendously more comfortable than I’ve ever felt,” Goff said afterward. “I feel confident that if my number’s called, I’ll be ready to go. Just waiting for that time.”
It is not expected to come anytime soon.
Fisher has said that Keenum remains the starter despite the Rams’ 3-4 record, three-game losing streak and the four Keenum passes that were intercepted in Sunday’s loss to the New York Giants in London.
The Rams don’t play again until Nov. 6, against the Carolina Panthers at the Coliseum.
So Fisher gave Goff an opportunity to work exclusively with the first-team offense.
“Jared looked like Jared,” receiver Tavon Austin said. “It’s just about how comfortable he feels and how he goes from there.”
Said Fisher: “He handled everything really well.”
Second-year pro Sean Mannion, No. 3 on the depth chart, also performed efficiently while taking first-team reps.
But the focus is on Goff, who struggled during exhibition games and has not played a snap during the regular season while other rookie quarterbacks are flourishing.
With the Rams under .500 and showing no real signs that they might finish significantly better than last season’s 7-9 record, the bye week would appear a natural time to groom the top pick for a possible starting role.
Asked to describe his frustration level over not playing, Goff demonstrated a knack for avoiding trouble.
“It’s part of the process part of what’s going on,” he said. “I’m not going to sit here and complain or gripe.
“I’m going to support Case and continue to get ready and be ready and continue to be confident in myself and be ready when the time comes.”
Goff was inactive for the season opener but has been the No. 2 quarterback for the last six games. Asked whether the Rams would anything scheme-wise if Goff were to start, Fisher said no.
“We wouldn’t scale anything back, we wouldn’t change a thing,” he said. “He’s got that good of a feel for what we’re doing.”
Goff, of course, has not even played as backup. But he said he would be prepared if he was the starter and is capable of leading the team.
“I’m confident in myself and confident in what I can do,” he said. “And feel like if my number gets called I’ll be ready.
“But it’s not up to me to decide when that time is. That’s what Coach Fisher and all the coaches get paid for is to make those decisions.”
Wednesday’s workout was the Rams’ last before a four-day break. They will return to Cal Lutheran on Monday.
Fisher said the coaching staff spent the last few days evaluating every player on the roster to determine what must improve as the Rams prepare for the final nine games.
“We have to get the run game going,” he said, “and it all really starts there.”
The Rams must reduce penalties and also shut down or hold opponents to field goals when they penetrate inside the 20-yard line, Fisher said.
Several players are expected to return from injuries after the bye, including defensive tackle Michael Brockers and possibly cornerback Trumaine Johnson. Fisher cited a physically sound roster as reason for optimism.
“You just kind of wonder at some point, this thing is going to get turned around,” he said. “That’s where we are right now, is holding on to hope that the health of this football team, and the experience is going to get it turned around.”
On a day when many younger players got increased opportunities, receiver Paul McRoberts stood out. The practice squad player made several impressive catches. … Some players will stay in Southern California during the break, but many planned to travel out of state to see family or friends. Fisher’s message: “It’s OK to enjoy yourself and have fun. Don’t shut the system down, though, because we’re going to come back and work. Make sure they take care of themselves and be smart, all of those things associated with it. I don’t want any early-morning phone calls, those kind of things. But they know that, they’re pros, they understand.”
Copyright © 2016, Los Angeles Times
ZooeyModeratorThat’s nice. It’s a nice piece, very encouraging. It’s what I want to read.
But I can’t help but be skeptical because it’s also blatant PR spin from top to bottom.
Like this one example:
Simmons: And should a situation arrive where Goff were to play, Fisher said the club would not have to pare a gameplan down offensively.
“We would not change a thing,” Fisher said. “We wouldn’t scale anything back, we wouldn’t change a thing. He’s got that good of a feel for what we’re doing.”
This is a small thing, but no coach would say anything different from this unless he was a newbie idiot coach.
Everybody knows when they are talking to the media that every syllable is going public, and is available to everybody on the planet. Including opposing coaches.
I dunno. I wanna believe all that, but it is CLEARLY a response to the earlier stories that took the negative slant on Goff being overwhelmed. All that is spin. We don’t know anything, and these articles only feed our hopes/fears, not our knowledge.
Last time WE saw Goff, he was looking like a green kid in a preseason game.
Everything since then is column inches.
I’d love to hear from someone we respect. Someone in a position to actually know. But we don’t have that. At least not yet.
ZooeyModeratorI watched both seasons last year. And I saw season three is out. I will watch it as soon as my plate clears (i.e. between xmas and new year).
“The Entire History of You” fits very well with a unit I used to teach on the novel, “Feed,” and I wanted to show it, but there is too much sex. It is a great episode, though.
I started at the beginning. Season one, episode one. And knew I was onto a brilliant show that I could never share with my wife. That first episode…Prime Minister…pig…well, wow.
Great show.
ZooeyModeratorGreatest President ever. I wish he could get a third term.
I don’t know about Greatest ever. Coolest ever, I will grant you.
And I bet a lot of the country agrees with you on the third term. I don’t doubt he would beat either one of the candidates if he could run.
ZooeyModeratorI think I should add Australia to my list of potential places to move. I like New Zealand because I don’t think anybody cares about NZ one way or another, so they will never be on anybody’s hit list. They speak English, and they allow no nukes. But maybe I should consider Australia, too. Cool, killer animals, and lots of open space.
And English.
October 26, 2016 at 5:55 pm in reply to: Fisher responds to Jason Cole report that "Goff is a long way away" #56133ZooeyModeratorSo he didn’t call it “a lot” absurd, or go the extra mile and call it “bigly absurd?”
ZooeyModeratorI’m not worried about Goff yet. How is he supposed to ‘lead’ or show leadership
when he’s having so much trouble learning the system, etc.At some point in the future, the Rams will have a good QB. I truly believe that.
It probably wont happen in our lifetimes, but still.
w
vHe did not show a lack of confidence, or shaken confidence during Hard Knocks.
I liked that about him a lot.
ZooeyModeratorI would say the hardest part about playing QB at the NFL level is processing info correctly and doing it quickly.
They made it to the NFL so they have talent….the processing is what sets them apart IMO.
This is stuff I don’t know anything about, really, but my understanding is that Goff was in a system which did not require pre-snap reads of the defense. Nor did he take snaps under the center. His entire experience was in the shotgun with plays called from the sideline. So all he had to do was know his progressions on plays, and execute a throw (or handoff, or whatever).
The NFL requires pre-snap reads and then reacting by adjusting blocking assignments, routes, or both. That just isn’t anything he has ever done. And in the NFL, all of that happens with more defensive variations, and faster athletes who will blow up a play quicker.
So that is really the backstory with Goff. Wentz was considered more “pro-ready” because he had some experience doing those things in college. But the Rams thought Goff had the higher upside long term, and felt that the longer developmental time in the short term would be worth the higher payoff in the long run. At least, that’s what I understand.
ZooeyModeratorThe only thing about Goff that bothered me from Hard Knocks was that he didn’t seem very bright and I’m not talking only about sunrisegate. But what may appear as a lack of intelligence might actually be a lack of maturity.
Besides, he doesn’t have to be smart to excel at QB. See Bradshaw, Marino, Montana, etc….
Ditto on that. It wasn’t just sunrisegate. There were candid moments of his interactions with other players where he just made comments that did not shine. I can’t remember the specific topics. But I got a sense that he didn’t absorb much knowledge at Cal, and Cal is a school where it would be hard not to, unless you are bored by anything complicated.
Also correct on Bradshaw, Marino, and Montana.
I don’t know how “smart” one has to be to play QB. As you know, there are multiple kinds of intelligence, and Bradshaw and Montana are downright dopey when it comes to the conventional concept. But isn’t playing QB a lot like playing computer games? I mean, ya gotta know the playbook, and read defenses. Reading defenses would seem to be the most difficult part of the job, really, because knowing the plays is a matter of rote knowledge. So…reading defenses. Which is what Jason Cole says he is currently deficient in. But that strikes me as a computer game skill, and lots of dopey people are great at computer games.
Okay. Now that I’ve just patronized everybody, I’m going to go grade some dopey essays.
October 26, 2016 at 2:10 pm in reply to: Ellard: Maybe this is why my HOF candidacy has stalled #56119ZooeyModeratorJackson was great but he was with the Eagles for most of his career wasn’t he?
A lot of it. I don’t know, exactly, and don’t want to spend 40 seconds looking it up.
I don’t include Fears and Hirsch because they played back before the world was in color.
October 26, 2016 at 2:07 pm in reply to: informal poll: will the Rams win or lose during bye week? #56118ZooeyModeratorI don’t know, but I’m not even going to watch it.
October 26, 2016 at 10:23 am in reply to: Ellard: Maybe this is why my HOF candidacy has stalled #56111ZooeyModeratorWould you take Holt over Ellard?
I don’t think I would, but I don’t have a pile of statistics to look at, or anything other than memories of watching games.
I think Bruce is the only WR I would take over Ellard in Rams history.
I was really too young when I watched Jack Snow, and even Harold Jackson.
ZooeyModeratorWhich makes you wonder what has he been doing since the draft, and what have the coaches been doing with him? In the last several weeks, from people I know around the league, I’ve heard these 2 things:
1.) Goff doesn’t appear to have much in the way of leadership skills. 2.) Behind closed doors in Thousand Oaks, the Rams aren’t as high on Goff as they are proclaiming publicly.
by jthomas 2:14 PM
Bummer.
Yeah, bummer.
But 1. that can come. He has only just turned 22. I thought he acted very young in Hard Knocks. Just a kid. So time and some real experience on the field could change that.
2. Well…duh. I am sure there is some disappointment that he has SUCH a long way to go. They knew he was not ready, but they probably underestimated how far off he was when they drafted him.
ZooeyModeratorI agree with all of that. I was pretty much playing devil’s advocate for the sake of discussion, and considered starting that post with an announcement that I was playing devil’s advocate.
October 25, 2016 at 2:51 pm in reply to: Fred Roggin of NBC says Fisher has four games to prove himself… #56079ZooeyModeratorOkay. This discussion is going in circles now.
Hopefully, the Rams will be good, and we won’t ever have to find out what happens when a dismal team opens a new stadium in Los Angeles.
ZooeyModeratorIf they were WR issues, it makes no difference who is practicing with them. They have to practice catching the ball. And picking up audibles. And route running. Who is throwing the ball shouldn’t matter. If that is the case.
October 25, 2016 at 1:11 pm in reply to: Fred Roggin of NBC says Fisher has four games to prove himself… #56073ZooeyModeratorI don’t buy that at all Zooey , going to a game just for the stadium I mean. If there’s no hope of relevance people in LA aren’t going to waste 4 or 5 hours and thousands of dollars to watch a depressing shit show just cause the building is new. There is way to much fun to be had in LA especially for the kind of money you’re looking at in the new place.For it to become the the place to go the Rams need to become the team to watch.It’s just not enjoyable to watch a team suck year in and year out.
Well, I never.
I think you’re wrong. I bet if you go look at the first year of attendance at new stadiums/arenas around the country, you will find a significant attendance boost the first year regardless of the team’s performance. I found them for the Indians, Orioles, and Giants in baseball, and all 3 teams saw a huge boost in attendance with the opening of their new stadiums. I couldn’t find a clear site for NFL attendance.
In Sacramento, I will bet the Kings get high attendance numbers this year, and that team is comparable to the Rams, now that I think about it. They’ve sucked for even longer than the Rams, as a matter of fact, with one brief glorious period at the same time the Rams had theirs. And they suck now. And I bet that arena is full most of the season.
I think I’m right, and you should go to that other thread and get yourself a serving of humble pie. That’s what I think.
ZooeyModeratorI don’t even like pie.
Where is the ice cream?
Dammit, I hate pot lucks.
You know there are people in China who cannot even pronounce the word “potluck” properly.
So be grateful for what you have.
..
Don’t try to boss me around. You act like you think you’re in charge of the board.
ZooeyModeratorI don’t even like pie.
Where is the ice cream?
Dammit, I hate pot lucks.
October 25, 2016 at 12:30 am in reply to: Fred Roggin of NBC says Fisher has four games to prove himself… #56038ZooeyModeratorIt all depends on which HC is available because Fisher’s medocracy won’t sell the PSLs in Inglewood.
It won’t need to. Inglewood will sell on the basis of Inglewood, not on who is HC.
You think the most glorious stadium in the world is going to open its doors, and people are going to say, “Wow! Fantastic! I would SO buy tickets there, but…enh…Jeff Fisher is the coach, so I’ll pass.” Seriously, the Cleveland Browns would sell the place out initially.
And I don’t mean to predict or advocate that Fisher will still be coach. SK may decide to add some sizzle to his sizzle, and open a New Glorious Era with a new coach. But that will be sizzle. What I am saying is the HC will have no impact on ticket sales for the inaugural season there. That stadium is an Event all by itself with nothing happening on the field.
October 24, 2016 at 10:11 pm in reply to: Fred Roggin of NBC says Fisher has four games to prove himself… #56034ZooeyModeratorRemember, as an owner, you have to sell Jeff Fisher to the LA Ram fan base. Basically, the only fans that would show up, are basically fans from other teams. Most of the seats in the Colosseum will be virtually empty. That is what you will get with Fisher. Fisher has proven, that he doesn’t deserve a an extension.
Jack, sorry, no. That’s not true. The owner doesn’t have to sell anything right now. The team is in a Honeymoon period. That city is overjoyed to have the Rams back, and they sold something like 55,000 season tickets in the first 12 minutes. The Gate Receipts are not among the worries faced by Stan Kroenke right now. And with the glitziest of stadiums opening up in a couple of years, Stan isn’t worried about the gate.
If he is worried about anything, it is winning in the long run. LA does not tolerate losers. But the team is going to get a pass with the fans for another three seasons, no matter what.
I will be very surprised if Fisher doesn’t take the Rams to the end of their tenancy at the Coliseum at the very least.
I will bet right now that he gets a 2-year extension after Thanksgiving unless the wheels fall off that team between now and then.
October 24, 2016 at 9:29 pm in reply to: Fred Roggin of NBC says Fisher has four games to prove himself… #56031ZooeyModeratorIt may be BS. And if it was true Stan certainly wouldn’t confide in Joe Roggin. But he would have confided in somebody. Probably multiple people. And info like this tends to leak.
But yeah, I’m skeptical.
Well, if he confided it in multiple people, he didn’t confide it.
Nobody with 50 years experience in big business is going to make any kind of ironclad declaration like that.
At most, Stan said something, regarding the contract extension, along the lines of, “Let’s wait, and see where we are at the end of November.”
Joe Reporter hears that…and, voila. “Fate sealed.”
I wouldn’t give Fisher a contract longer than a two-year extension if I were owner. Up to the new stadium. I would want my options open right there. And if I was owner, I would wait until the end of November to decide what I want to do. Why lock him up earlier than necessary?
October 24, 2016 at 8:33 pm in reply to: Fred Roggin of NBC says Fisher has four games to prove himself… #56023ZooeyModeratorIt’s bullshit.
Would you do that? If you were owner?
Why would Stan?
And even if Stan did…how would Fred Roggin know? Stan confide in him, ya think?
Or maybe Stan made an ultimatum. And Fisher leaked it.
It’s bullshit.
ZooeyModeratorI assume they are throwing it that much because they can’t run it.
Looks like opponents are game-planning Gurley. Stop him from running. Make Case beat them through the air. And while he has been able to move them, he hasn’t been able to get them in the end zone enough so that Ds have to protect that.
Why not? He doesn’t have a strong arm, but he’s reasonably accurate. And they have hit some deep passes this year. And the WCO is all about short stuff anyway.
I gotta say I wonder about play-calling. And I have never been one to point at OCs before. But I just wonder this time. There are things the Rams did well last year that they don’t do well this year (run generally, run Austin). And things they do well this year that they don’t do enough of (slants). And where are the TEs? Something is wrong.
And the OL isn’t BAD. They don’t allow many sacks, anyway. 16 sacks allowed.
ZooeyModeratorI was fine with Keenum this season. I thought he was good enough to QB this team to the playoffs. He has played better than I expected. But, with this team now, I think the playoffs are a dream. Fisher doesn’t, he really can’t think that way. He has to think that Goff gives the Rams the best chance to win before he plays him. I don’t think Keenum will be with the team next year, although he could be. So, I want to play Goff. If not, then I want to play Mannion. It seems we are in a pretty bad division this year, so maybe, we can win the division.
Yes, I agree.
I am in favor of starting Goff at this point, but NOT because I think it is the right thing to do. I don’t know if he is ready.
I want to start Goff now because I am now officially bored. That’s my reason.
I have seen this movie before. Many, many times. It ends with draft talk around Thanksgiving.
Watching Goff would give me a reason to tune in. Otherwise, I will find something else to do.
ZooeyModeratori don’t like that bonsignore article. i don’t know how starting keenum doesn’t have the long term picture in my mind. in fact. one could say he did have the long term picture in my mind by giving goff time to acclimate himself to the nfl. it also seems like he’s trying to put all the blame on keenum without giving context to those 4 interceptions.
and while i am in favor of starting goff after the bye (as long as he is ready). after thinking about it i don’t see how it benefits the rams in any way for fisher to declare goff the starter right after the giants loss. except for to take some heat off himself for the next 2 weeks. fisher has long been touted as a players’ coach. i don’t see any selfishness in this at all. maybe i’m reading it wrong.
i think there are a lot of things you can criticize fisher on. i think some of the personnel decisions have been questionable. i’m beginning to wonder his ability to get his players ready for a game. but i don’t think you can call him selfish. or that he’s holding goff back as a way to preserve his job.
I agree. He is imputing motives that he can’t possibly know. And he clearly is just seeing what he wants to see.
Because one could just as easily put forward a case that starting Goff would be self-preservation. If the Rams win with Goff, Fisher is a genius. If they lose with Goff, he’s a rookie QB who came from a system that did not prepare him for the NFL, and he’s only learning, so he needs more time to develop. Therefore it isn’t Fisher’s fault.
Furthermore, Bonsignore accuses Fisher of blaming everyone but himself, but at the same time argues that Fisher should have thrown Keenum under the bus and announced Goff is starting. But Fisher didn’t blame Keenum. And it’s good that he didn’t demote him on the spot because throwing a QB under the bus like that isn’t good for morale in the locker room.
What’s more, he is assuming that the W-L record is what Stan is going to look at when the Fisher contract has to be determined, as if that is the only relevant consideration. And he is assuming the Rams would lose more with Goff than Keenum.
In the end, one could argue either way with Keenum and Goff, and one could argue either way which QB would most likely preserve Fisher’s career, so the interpretation and motives one chooses to accept as “reality” doesn’t reveal anything about the Rams, Goff, or Fisher, but only that person’s opinion of Fisher.
ZooeyModeratorWow, that was clever in I don’t know how many ways.
October 23, 2016 at 8:16 pm in reply to: Poll question…Who thinks Goff should start the rest of the season? #55922ZooeyModeratorI basically agree with zn on this. Keenum is not capable of more than this. The running game isn’t good. The defense isn’t sacking anybody, or getting turnovers. It’s good, but it isn’t suffocating. It can’t carry the offense. The return game is forgettable. The kicking game is good, but no team makes the playoffs on the strength of their kicker and punter.
Up until now, I had been content to let Goff sit. But this game changed my mind, and that is irrespective of whether Keenum or the WRs were responsible for the INTs. I know one got batted in the air, and the last one appeared to be Quick going to the wrong place. I don’t even remember the other two, and in fact, think I was out of the room when they happened. I have already wiped a lot of the game out of my mind.
But what I see is a team that has shown us what it is. This is it. The trajectory isn’t improving. The Rams offense sucks, and it isn’t getting better. I don’t know if that is the WRs, Keenum, or Boras. But this sucks. They got 10 points today, and got the TD partly because of generous field position.
The Rams have lost to the 49ers, Bills, Lions, and Giants. These are not upper tier football teams. Even forgetting the 49er fiasco, the Rams should have won at least 2 of the last 3 games. This is certainly 7-9 bullshit. And, again, I don’t know what the problem is with the Rams, but the problem for me is that I am sick and tired of 7-9. That is what this season looks like again, so I am ready for just about anything. A new OC, a new QB, get Spruce in there…I don’t care. We are 7 games in, and nothing suggests that this team is moving to the next level.
So bring in Goff. IMO, the season IS lost. Mathematically it isn’t, of course, but the Rams are in a bad spot with tiebreakers, and they aren’t showing that they can take over a football game against ANYBODY. This is not a playoff team.
This team needs an infusion of energy. And maybe Goff provides that, maybe he doesn’t, but Keenum doesn’t, and the team is listless, drifting, and going nowhere. Fuck it. Give me Goff, or I am going to spend my Sundays working around the house, and checking in on the score once in a while. I am sick of watching this shit.
ZooeyModeratorSounds right to me. They lose, and they are staring down the pipe of a 7-9 season.
I will add that I would think the week after the bye would be the time to start Goff. If not, I wouldn’t expect to see him until the Rams are officially out of the playoff hunt.
ZooeyModeratorThe greatest success of the oil industry is not that they have made so many Americans doubt the science of global warming, but that they have managed to completely bury the discussion of it. With the amount of emphasis it gets, you would think that as an issue, it has about the same level of importance as … I dunno. Common core, or potholes, or something. In fact, judging by media coverage, the most pressing issues in America are
Trump’s latest faux pas
Clinton’s emails
Terrorism
ImmigrationI didn’t watch any of the 3 debates. Am I missing something?
Remember when Sanders was still around, and people were talking about universal health care, college costs, the minimum wage, and wealth disparity? You know…issues that matter.
And, you know, character DOES matter. So that is legitimate. But it was more appealing when actual economic, social, and foreign policy issues were in the headlines.
I hate to be a broken record, but it really feels like the whole thing is sliding down the sewer. The planet is being destroyed by greed and a lust for power. Those two sins have always plagued humans, but technological advances, population growth, and environmental degradation have upped the stakes to a critical level, and we are tipping towards the drain, and I can’t think of one single reason to hope that the slide will be anything other than a Cormac McCarthy nightmare.
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