Rams rookie QB Jared Goff is taking way too many hitsBy Alden Gonzalez
SEATTLE -- Two meaningless runs, two vicious blows -- all in a span of four days.
Rookie quarterback Jared Goff is getting hit way too much.
"Most definitely," Los Angeles Rams running back Todd Gurley said after Thursday's 24-3 loss, the team's ninth in a span of 10 games. "Definitely getting hit too much. Gotta protect him, man. Can’t have our quarterback on the ground. Just can’t."
On Sunday, with his team trailing by 35 points and less than three minutes remaining, the Rams called a quarterback keeper that resulted in a 2-yard touchdown run, but Goff was sandwiched by two defenders at the goal line. On Thursday, with about nine minutes left and his team trailing by 21 points, Goff escaped pressure, sprinted 15 yards up the sideline and failed to get out of bounds before Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman sprinted full speed and knocked the 22-year-old out of bounds.
Goff left the game under the NFL's concussion protocol, and though teammates deemed him fine after the game, it was the last thing the 4-10 Rams needed to see out of the 2016 No. 1 overall pick.
"You admire his courage," Rams interim coach John Fassel said, "but you just have to get out of bounds."
It was only the last of an assortment of hits Goff took Thursday at CenturyLink Field.
Said Gurley: "I felt like they should’ve been checking on him between the five or six sacks he already took, and all the hits."
Goff was actually sacked four times, but he was hit three other times and was again consistently hurried behind his suspect offensive line. He took only one sack against the Miami Dolphins in his NFL debut. Since then, Goff has been sacked 14 times in four games. That averages out to 56 sacks over a full season. Throughout NFL history, there have only been 13 instances when a quarterback was sacked more often than that.
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