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rambleon
I've heard more positive things about Goff's toughness than negative. Air Raid QB's generally have to get used to being hit more than others because they have fewer blockers, and often it takes a little time for the routes to develop.
I think (and this does worry me a bit) what Cosell may have seen is the result of our atrocious OL. The pocket was collapsing so frequently that Goff came to expect a quick pocket collapse. So it wasn't so much a fear of getting hit as it was an expectation that he'll need to get rid of the ball quickly.
Hopefully our OL issues are resolved. We all saw with Bradford how that can ruin a QB.
Goff got sacked at roughly half the rate Keenum did behind the same OL.
The difference, I assume, is that Keenum was better at spotting blitz situations and dealing with them pre-snap (audibles, adjusting protections, knowing before the snap who the open hot read is likely to be). I would not expect rookie Goff to know that stuff.
Plus by the time Goff was playing it was written in stone that the Rams were not going to be able to run the ball. There are a lot of reasons for that---too many to list---but one of them was Gurley himself (repeat for emphasis: Gurley was ONE of the many factors).
So this year what needs to be improved? Goff has to be less of a rookie qb and perform more like a non-rookie NFL qb, which includes among other things accounting for pre-snap reads. The OL has to improve. Gurley has to return to his rookie self or better.
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