Jared Goff poised to rebound vs. Seahawks' NFL-worst pass defense
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theramswire.usatoday.com]
Cameron DaSilva
Like most Rams players, Jared Goff went into the team’s Week 9 bye with a sour taste in his mouth. He played his worst game of the season against the Dolphins in Week 8, throwing two interceptions, losing two fumbles and completing just 35 of 61 passes.
Fortunately, he got a week off to reflect on those struggles, and when he does get back on the field next week, he’ll do so against the worst pass defense in the NFL. Incredibly, that defense belongs to the Seattle Seahawks, who are allowing a league-high 362 passing yards per game.
If there’s an ideal “get right” team for Goff to face coming off a terrible performance, it’s the Seahawks. On Sunday, Josh Allen threw for 415 yards on 31-of-38 passing with three touchdowns through the air against Seattle, absolutely dicing up the secondary.
Goff shouldn’t be expected to rack up 400-plus yards, too, but it’s reasonable to think he could have a game like the one he put together against the Eagles, with a 142.1 passer rating on 267 yards passing with three touchdowns and no turnovers.
Seattle’s secondary is simply not very good. The defense does have nine interceptions, which is fifth-most in the NFL, but they’ve also given up 16 touchdown passes and the most yards (2,897) in football. Their 362 passing yards allowed per game is 50 more than any other team in the league is giving up.
Shaquill Griffin and Tre Flowers are both allowing passer ratings above 113 when targeted, with Griffin surrendering five touchdown passes in coverage – tied for second-most in the NFL. Quarterbacks are completing 69.4% of their passes against Seattle this season, which is higher than Goff’s average of 65.5%.
The combination of poor coverage and a lack of pass rush makes the Seahawks’ defense one of the worst in football. Their pressure rate of 19.8% ranks in the bottom half of the NFL, and that’s with Jamal Adams emerging as one of their best pass rushers.
Goff shouldn’t be under relentless pressure like he was against the Dolphins, even though it seems like Seattle’s pass rushers can get to the quarterback after recording seven sacks against the Bills. Half of those were by Bobby Wagner, K.J. Wright and Adams, which shows their need to blitz in order to generate pressure.
With an extra week to prepare for a bad defense, Goff should get back on track in Week 10.
