Goff passing test as rising NFL star- LA Times

[www.latimes.com]


It's being broadcast: Rams' Jared Goff is passing test as a rising NFL star

Gary Klein
The commercial aired Monday night during the Emmy Awards. In the middle of a slickly produced ad for an entertainment streaming service, Rams quarterback Jared Goff effortlessly delivered a few deadpan lines.

The next day, Goff sat in a hair-and-makeup chair at the Rams’ Thousand Oaks facility, getting ready for a commercial shoot with running back Todd Gurley for an international pizza chain.

Goff’s profile as a cool pitchman off the field appears to be growing at a pace similar to his ascent as a top-rated passer on it.

While leading the Rams to a 2-0 start, Goff is ranked ninth in the NFL in yards passing.

On Sunday, the third-year pro will be on the field with Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers, who ranks fourth this season and ninth all-time. Rivers, a 14-year veteran, has passed for more than 51,000 yards and 348 touchdowns in his career.

“Hall of Fame player,” Goff said, “and a guy that I’ve definitely watched and tried to steal things from for sure.”

Former Chargers quarterback Dan Fouts, a 1993 Hall of Fame inductee, has watched Rivers through the years. He also has seen Goff’s turnaround from a tough rookie season.

“Philip is one of the all-time greats,” said Fouts, an analyst for CBS Sports, who will be part of the broadcast team for Sunday’s game at the Coliseum. “Jared is full of promise and potential.”

Goff’s fast start this season is a continuation from 2017, when he passed for 28 touchdowns, with only seven interceptions, in coach Sean McVay’s offense.

It was a stark contrast to 2016, when the No. 1 pick in the draft struggled under the staff of former coach Jeff Fisher and finished 0-7 as starter.

The Rams hired McVay, and have since added pieces such as receivers Robert Woods, Cooper Kupp and Brandin Cooks, and offensive linemen Andrew Whitworth and John Sullivan. All have helped Goff — and Gurley — improve performance and raise their profiles.


“In Year 1, [Goff] was really in a system that didn’t take advantage of his abilities and didn’t have the personnel around him,” Fouts said. “The Rams really addressed all those questions with the hiring of McVay and the drafting and trading for talent around him.

“It’s just been a perfect confluence of things happening for him.”

In victories over the Oakland Raiders and Arizona Cardinals, Goff completed 64.6% of his passes for 587 yards and three touchdowns, with one interception.

McVay typically is understated when assessing Goff, a Pro Bowl alternate last season. But this week, McVay got edgy when asked how he would address the view that Goff was a product of the system.

“That’s a total discredit to him and all the different things that he’s doing,” McVay said. “I mean he’s making the throws, he’s making the calls at the line of scrimmage, he’s making the calls in the huddle ...

“I know this: You're a lot better coach when you’re working with players like Jared Goff.”

Goff’s poise and cool demeanor also rub off on the coach, McVay said.

“I’m a little wired,” he said, adding, “So, I think his even-keeled demeanor during the game is actually helpful for me and I think it’s a nice complement.”

It works both ways, according to Goff.

“He gets me going sometimes, for sure,” the quarterback said of McVay. “I think we play off each other really well.”

Goff is running an offense that is averaging 33.5 points a game. In last week’s 34-0 victory over the Cardinals, he passed for a touchdown and connected with Cooks on a 57-yard strike.

Call him whatever you want, he said.

“I'll be a product of the system if we win games,” he said, adding, “Go out there and keep playing, keep putting up 30 points, and call me whatever you want.”


Shane Waldron, the Rams’ tight ends coach and passing game coordinator, said Goff’s field vision has enabled him — and his receivers – to make plays.

“You can design all the great plays you want, but … he’s got to be the one executing them,” Waldron said. “It doesn’t always go perfectly as planned, like you drew it up on a piece of paper or the way it went down in practice.

“It’s great to have a quarterback that’s able to improvise, or if someone does come free out of the normal rhythm of the play, he’s able to find them."

That sounds a lot like the 36-year-old Rivers, who said Goff has a “comfort level” in the Rams’ offense.

“They’re doing a lot of things to move him around in games,” Rivers said. “You’ve seen that keeps him on the move.

“Shoot, he’s one of the young guys that you imagine is going to be around a long time.”

Gary Klein

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/21/2018 07:46AM by Rampage2K-.