Keenum has beaten Goff for No. 1; Rams need to make it officialBy Vincent Bonsignore, Los Angeles Daily News
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I don’t know about everyone else, but I’ve seen enough already to make the call.
Take a seat, Jared Goff. It’s over there on the Rams’ sideline.
Someday the keys to the kingdom will be bestowed on you. The honor will have been earned rather than yielded.
But that day doesn’t appear to be coming anytime soon.
Certainly not by the time the Rams open the regular season against the San Francisco 49ers on Sept. 12.
And if Case Keenum keeps driving the Rams to touchdowns like he has the first two preseason games, the apprenticeship might be a prolonged one.
The Rams are Case Keenum’s team. For the present and immediate future.
And it’s probably about time the Rams made that call official.
No need to wait.
No reason to delay the inevitable.
Enough with the suspense. Just do it already.
It’s been clear through the first three weeks of training camp that Keenum is the superior quarterback to Goff. And he’s only solidified that belief with crisp performances against the Dallas Cowboys and Kansas City Chiefs in two preseason games.
Keenum has looked poised and in command while Goff is playing like a quarterback still very much a work in progress.
That’s not an unusual look for a rookie quarterback, although a bit disappointing for a first overall pick and a player who draft observers billed as the most NFL-ready quarterback available last April.
The last five quarterbacks taken first overall started for their teams from Day One – Matthew Stafford, Sam Bradford, Andrew Luck, Cam Newton and Jameis Winston.
It doesn’t appear Goff will extend that streak.
Hardly the end of the world, but certainly a bit disconcerting.
Part of the Rams’ rationale for taking Goff ahead of the higher ceiling of North Dakota’s Carson Wentz was Goff would see the field sooner.
That might still end up the case as Wentz nurses a broken rib and develops behind Sam Bradford in Philadelphia.
But it’s obvious that Goff has a ways to go before he can be trusted as a starting NFL quarterback. And with the Rams needing to take a decisive first step in their new home in Los Angeles – and we’re talking about winning games here, folks – Keenum is the safer bet against the 49ers to open the season and against the Seattle Seahawks six days later at the Coliseum.
History will reveal one day whether the Rams would have been better off betting on the upside of Wentz rather than the readiness of Goff. Now that it appears they have to wait on Goff just as they might have on Wentz, the rationale seems moot.
But that’s a discussion for another day.
Goff has shown nothing to suggest he won’t be a quarterback worthy of the first overall pick and the six draft picks the Rams traded to get him. And as his 8 of 12 passing for 82 yards and a touchdown on Saturday clearly revealed, the necessary tools are there to work with.
He just hasn’t shown enough to justify the Rams pushing him ahead of Keenum and giving him the job to start the season.
Especially during early work against NFL roster quality players.
After throwing an interception and taking a sack over his only two series against the Cowboys last week – and going 4 for 9 for 38 yards and a 17.5 quarterback rating – Goff coughed the ball up on a fumble in his first series against the Chiefs.
He later mishandled a snap that led to a three-yard loss, then followed that up with a delay of game penalty when he couldn’t get the offense lined up correctly.
“It’s something to learn from,” Rams head coach Jeff Fisher said about Goff.
It wasn’t all bad. Goff helped lead the Rams on a five play, 67-yard touchdown drive in the fourth quarter to put the Rams ahead 21-20. The go-ahead score came on Goff’s 11-yard pass to Malcolm Brown, who helped his quarterback out by hauling in a pass thrown over the wrong shoulder and carrying it into the end zone.
Still, the strong finish was a step in the right direction for Goff. Something to build on.
It’s just not enough to overtake Keenum.
The fifth-year quarterback out of Houston has a way of growing on you. He doesn’t have many stand-out qualities, and he’s certainly more of a grinder than a star. But there is value in the good, sound football he plays and the way the Rams seem to rally behind him.
Keenum backed up a solid performance against the Cowboys with another crisp outing against the Chiefs while leading the Rams on two long touchdown drives against Kansas City’s first-team defense.
Keenum finished 4 of 5 for 53 yards and a touchdown on Saturday – the touchdown coming on an 11-yard pass to Pharoh Cooper - and his stats would have been better had Kenny Britt not been manhandled by Chiefs cornerback Ron Parker on long pass attempt from Keenum.
Parker was called for pass interference, resulting in a 41-yard pick up. The throw by Keenum was on the money regardless.
In two games, Keenum is 10 of 13 for 111 yards and a touchdown.
He hasn’t turned the ball over once, and in three trips to the Red Zone this preseason he’s cashed in on three touchdowns.
With the Rams struggling so mightily over the years putting points on the board, getting 21 points on three Red Zone visits can’t be overlooked.
It’s a quality you need from your starting quarterback.
Some day soon the Rams will be Goff’s team.
But for now, the job belongs to Keenum.
