Quote
RFL
Interceptions are bad things. And they should be counted.
They should also be placed in perspective. Because here's the thing:
You cannot excel as a QB in the NFL without RISKING interceptions. If you hold the ball or throw it away unless you have wide open receivers, you ain't gonna get a lot done.
And SOME of the time, flirtations with picks will result in ... picks. That's the way it is in a league as competitive as the NFL.
So, OK. We hear of Goff testing his limits in practice.
Good. I want him to do that. I want him to learn some limits to back off from AND I want him to understand that he has to KEEP testing the limits, including in games. If he doesn't do that, he will never excel.
Of course, there are really bad picks. Bad reads. Bad throws. Communication breakdowns between QB and Rcvr. The fewer of those you have, the better. But, again, the road to a really well integrated passing game with QB, WRs, and TEs all communicating and working together runs THROUGH failures.
The thing about sports is that success emerges through failure. Great passing success grows THROUGH picks and sacks and incompletions.
But then, bad passing games also accumulate picks and sacks and incompletions. The difference is that the great passing game offsets the failures with an abundance of successes. That's what matters.
So when I hear about Goff "struggling" and the evidence consists of a couple of picks 2 days in a row, it's not that I dismiss the account. It's that I am unimpressed with an inadequate description of the situation.
Were the flurry of bad picks the result of a stuttering, consistent breakdown? Bad throws? Poor reads? Continuing communication breakdowns with Rcvrs?
Or were the picks offset by lots of completions and a good number of TDs?
Until I know the larger picture, I can't know if "struggle" is an appropriate label. Goff might have been struggling. Or he might have been making a lot of good plays and missed a couple where he tested his limits. Or anywhere in between.
Hearing of picks is not as much fun as hearing of nice TD throws to Kupp or Sammy. But in both cases, we need a more balanced, in depth account that doesn't overreact to specific successes or failures.
This is an excellent post.
And you're right...without the benefit of knowing Goff's passing options and/or seeing video of the plays which resulted in picks, it's hard to speculate on whether Goff was careless or challenging himself.
It kinda reminds me of high ERA's suffered by good MLB pitchers in Spring training. Can't remember if it was Vin Scully or some other Dodger announcer, but they explained that the high ERA's were, in many situations, a function of the pitcher testing a modified delivery or grip on a ball to determine if he wants to carry it forward into the regular season. The best way for them to get feedback on the modifications (without hurting the team) is try them out during Spring ball.
This could be a similar situation where Goff is testing what he can (or cannot) get away with a particular type of defense or coverage in a practice setting. As long as he learns from the results, I see no reason to dwell on this issue.
