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RFIP
Then came the play calls and, keep in mind it was week TEN, he struggled to get the verbiage out and with ZERO confidence when he did. Then mis-called a play in the game and lined up under center instead of in the gun. And as we know, things only went down hill from there.
See, this is the sort of thing that makes it impossible for me to draw any conclusions about Goff. To your credit, you don't draw any--you pose the question, which is exactly where we are right now with Goff. There's a helluva lot of reason to question, and precious little evidence to support high expectations.
But I just want to reiterate for the hundredth time that this 2nd year QB's football IQ is extremely hard to evaluate right now, precisely because of what you say about Fisher's utterly inept administration of the team. Take a solidly competent NFL coaching staff. For a #1 overall QB to struggle this badly all year with the mental side of things would be a major indicator of problems. And Goff's mental struggles MAY be indicative of serious player problems. But with him coming to Fisher's clown car approach to coaching, it is legitimate to imagine that a lot of it was a rookie lost in a miasma of coaching ineptitude. It's just impossible to determine right now where Goff is on that continuum.
I would also note that there is a difference between inherent "Football IQ" and learned mastery of the game. There are guys who are essentially too dumb to play QB in the NFL. But, most young QBs take time to figure out one of the world's most mentally challenging sports roles. And, assuming that a guy has at least average mental capability, it is reasonable to suppose that he can learn and develop. And if the guy does develop along a normal curve of mental acuity, then the improvements can be remarkable. I mean, Terry Bradshaw became a Hall of Fame QB after looking like a moron as a rookie, and he was never really smart.
For me, the mental side, assuming basic compatibility, is the least scary area of poor performance. A young player who looks mentally lost is not a player I'd be inclined to despair of. Guys can and do emerge out of mental fogs. There's no intrinsic reason, IMO, to look at moments of confusion in a rookie, especially a poorly coached rookie, and see evidence of a bust. Lots of other red flags would be more damning: weak arm, slow read and release, habitual inaccuracy, lack of nerve in the pocket ... these sorts of things are a lot harder to coach up than playbook confusion.
So, I do see reasons to hope. Generically, this sort of trouble can be corrected. And, in Goff, we see, to a reasonable degree, a fine arm, a quick release, moments of delivering quick strikes, and toughness in the pocket. I think there's still reason to hope in him, not least of which is the fact that McVay has made no move to secure a viable alternative, suggesting that McVay, too, hopes in him.
Yet hope is not faith or even expectation. I think your basic take is precisely correct. Speculations and OTA snippets are nowhere near enough to serve as evidence of a quality QB. We have evidence of serious short-term problems and no meaningful evidence of growth. It won't be real till we see it on the field. And you do well to keep remembering that. Personally, I don't want to be the kind of Ram fan who drinks a gallon of Kool Aid on Goff and risks the gut-punch of disappointment. I have a lot of respect and empathy for those loyal guys who are willing to do that, but we've been burned a lot of times. And I get why you steadfastly refuse to get excited before there is any real reason to do so.
