Few thoughts

[dieterbrock]

I'm not saying Goff can't make them, I'm just asking if he was taking those shots where Goff may be gun shy as of late? Just seems like Wolf was taking more 20yd fades but could be just my memory.

Well, Im not sure about Goff being gun shy, that's fan stuff. He sure wasnt gun shy on the 3rd and 4th and 4.... Against Seattle he converted 9 1st downs. As stated elsewhere, I dont think Wolford was throwing any routes that Goff would shy away from, just that he was going to throw to the lowest risk receiver

 

[Kevin]

Can someone please ask McVay why we threw the ball downfield more yesterday than we have all year with Wolford making his first career start?

AZ was selling out to stop the run so that might be the answer, but even with Goff weve gone to such a short passing game that defenses are sitting on the short stuff.

Cardinals have one of the best pass rushers and the OL held up enough to allow him to get these throws off and I want to know why we haven't seen them more this year.

I thought that Wolford moved around well in the pocket to avoid getting grabbed or hit, and I thought he had a quick, compact release throwing the ball. IMO, he does those two things better than Goff has this year and was more able to throw downfield.

 

[ottoman89]

I thought that Wolford moved around well in the pocket to avoid getting grabbed or hit, and I thought he had a quick, compact release throwing the ball. IMO, he does those two things better than Goff has this year and was more able to throw downfield.

He really does throw a nice smooth ball (not that Goff doesn't) but Wolf is smooth.

 

[Faceplant]

I watched the game again this morning. Wolford was actually quite good throughout that game after the first throw. Feels good to k ow you have a competent QB2 if you need him. There's just something about that kid...

 

[ramsince62]

First and foremost, since I joined in Jun 27, 2010 I disappeared into the abyss of Twitter and reappeared this year after I deleted Twitter. With that said, I thank you all for welcoming me as a "rookie" and have certainly enjoyed getting back into the groove and conversing with everyone. I look forward to many more playoff seasons celebrated with you all.

Secondly, hats off to McVay and his staff for having Wolford ready to go. I must admit, after the first pass interception, I though "Oh shit, here we go again" but he really, really settled down and made some big plays and was an absolute treat to watch. Sure, he had some misses, and some mistakes but so does every QB, veterans included. He played his ass off, he made plays, he extended plays and he stayed true and aggressive to throws downfield and I loved that. Dude has some serious wheels and vision.

Third, hats off to Jared Goff for being a great teammate to him on the sideline, I enjoyed seeing Goff jumping and celebrating, cheering the team on. Shows what kind of a teammate he is even if I question it sometime.

Fourth, hats off to Staley and the Defense. Played lights out, although it was against another backup, they didn't let up or let him be a hero.

Fifth, the Rams need to seriously consider paying Floyd. The dude has done nothing but play his ass off in coverage, in the run game, and rushing the passer. Sure, it may be the "Donald" effect, but if we can have Donald making plays at DT, Floyd making plays at EDGE, and Ramsey shutting things down on the backend, this Defense can continue to grow and become truly Elite with more pieces.

Some other quick thoughts;

Matt Gay needs to stay around for awhile.
Morgan Fox is real solid.
Van Jefferson is going to be good.
I've COOLED off on JJ3. Still good, but pay Floyd over him.
Fire the STC.
Where'd Hekker go?


Finally, Congrats to the team, and coaches for making the playoffs through a fair share of adversity and question marks. Now, go finish the job!

LETS FUCKING GOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TIME TO POUND SOME BUSCH LIGHTS NOW!!!!

One additional "quick thought"....Goff makes around $2.2 million per game whereas Wolfman earns $777 thousand per year....talk about salary inequity.

Maybe they should pay them based upon average yards per pass completion.

 

[Ellard80]

I watched the game again this morning. Wolford was actually quite good throughout that game after the first throw. Feels good to k ow you have a competent QB2 if you need him. There's just something about that kid...

for never playing in an nfl game he was pretty good.

He underthrew a few... and his first pass was god awful.

however it's only one game - he could do way better or way worse if he had to play again, not much to go on.

 

[Merlin]

Can someone please ask McVay why we threw the ball downfield more yesterday than we have all year with Wolford making his first career start?

AZ was selling out to stop the run so that might be the answer, but even with Goff weve gone to such a short passing game that defenses are sitting on the short stuff.

Cardinals have one of the best pass rushers and the OL held up enough to allow him to get these throws off and I want to know why we haven't seen them more this year.

McVay doesn't throw downfield. That's why people are confused because they read all this shit from the media assclowns. The QBs throw downfield. For the QBs to throw downfield they have to feel confident about the rush, comfortable when they're waiting for the deeper routes to mature, and then have the talent to make the throw. The route combination has to have a route (that doesn't always happen if the focus is moving the chains on short yardage) and they have to read the defense thereafter and if the look is favorable after all that BS make the throw. This is why they get paid the big bucks.

Also in the Rams' offense the tools are there for the QB to change the play for overall effect. What I mean by that is I don't think (none of us know for sure to what extent btw it's all guesswork) the QB has the full playbook at the line of scrimmage. But he can check into a small number of plays designed to attack certain alignments for certain effects when the QB sees them. Certainly each pass has a run counter and vice versa. I am comfortable, as well, with the assumption that there's a couple deep shots mixed in there for each game tailored to the defense we're facing.

Back to McVay and Goff... He has basically been trying to get Goff into rhythm and form all season long. But the OL has prevented that. Whatever any of us want to say about Goff the truth is he requires good protections as well as weapons to give us high end production. He doesn't really have either. The blame is shared by the Rams too btw. They paid the kid a ton of money then gave him a suspect OL knowing he needed good protections. And btw I get why the did it, that they felt there weren't any OL who could help us. Ok, but they did roll the dice a bit and they did get burned and now they might have squandered an elite defense because of it.

So going back to the backup who is fresh and playing with his dick out and willing to wait on the longer routes there you go. His escapability helped on that too, but the main difference was simple willingness to wait it out and risk the sacks whereas Goff has been turtling to try to limit turnovers. Mentioned this last week and a few thought I was crazy but that's exactly what happened.

Moving forward if Goff is the guy he's gonna need to do the same thing. Without that escapability. So no idea what McVay is going to do here I just assume the starter gets the nod. I will say though, in closing, that IF he goes with Wolford it means he's been more frustrated with Goff behind the scenes than he's let on. So as always with McVay you gotta go with his actions not what he says.

 

[Merlin]

Well, in all fairness, Rams signed Robinson to replace Brockers since he was signing for big $$ elsewhere. When Brockers contract fell apart he basically fell in the Rams lap at a discount and they ended up with both. Still Im not seeing where they are overspending there, Robinson is pretty cheap all things considered

What I meant re: overspending is the sheer amount of money tied up in the DT position. It's not a big deal or anything but it's also not efficient when we have a tight cap as well as a need to lock up guys like Floyd and Williams.

Donald's cap hit is over $27M next year. Robinson's cap hit is $4.5M before ballooning to $9M in 2022. Brock's cap hit is $9M and then $10M. So next year we have over $40M tied up in the DL position not to include the edge rush. In 2022 it will be $42M.

Now I'm sure Demoff will work some magic and solve it. But again cap mistakes have a way of coming back around at some point and costing you down the road.

 

[Ellard80]

Well, Im not sure about Goff being gun shy, that's fan stuff. He sure wasnt gun shy on the 3rd and 4th and 4.... Against Seattle he converted 9 1st downs. As stated elsewhere, I dont think Wolford was throwing any routes that Goff would shy away from, just that he was going to throw to the lowest risk receiver

what he is saying and i think could be the case - is that Goff plays it safe and tries not to turn the ball over.

Goff's down the field passing has been bad all year. The wheel route that wolf hit to akers - ive seen goff miss that throw at least 3 times.

Goff is better at short tight throws for sure.

 

[Ellard80]

I'd like to know why we keep running on first down against stacked lines?

because rams on demand OC's will rake mcvay over the hot coals for not having an equal amount of runs as passess.

 

[Ramlock]

I will say though, in closing, that IF he goes with Wolford it means he's been more frustrated with Goff behind the scenes than he's let on. So as always with McVay you gotta go with his actions not what he says.

Merlin, I enjoy many of your posts but I gotta call BS on the quoted.

If he goes with Wolford, it’s because Goff can’t protect his thumb, throw or take snaps from center.

I don’t see McVay getting pissy with Goff before a playoff game.

Goff is 7-3 with McVay against the Hags...should be 8-2 or better.

No conspiracy theories and suppositions.

Carry on.

 

[Merlin]

what he is saying and i think could be the case - is that Goff plays it safe and tries not to turn the ball over.

Goff's down the field passing has been bad all year. The wheel route that wolf hit to akers - ive seen goff miss that throw at least 3 times.

Goff is better at short tight throws for sure.

As reassured as I was by the way the offense looked with Wolf yesterday I will say he missed a bunch of shots too. I mean if he had hit let's say 5 passes I can recall and if Everett had pulled in that TD Wolf would be getting a lot of attention this week. So he did what Goff has been doing with similar result that being we moved the ball up and down the field then shit our pants in the redzone.

IMO the redzone offense is a big key for our playoff survival. We need to finish drives. But what is the catalyst that will change that? The run game. McVay's offense has always struggled in the redzone (going back to his Washington days) as the field tightens up and for that to change requires the run game. When his run game is rolling he doesn't have redzone issues.

Whit's return is beyond huge for all this. I think we feel his difference which is good. And we're gonna need Akers to punish Seattle's defense. Seattle has been good vs the run but they can be had. I think we can run the ball on them.

 

[Merlin]

Merlin, I enjoy many of your posts but I gotta call BS on the quoted.

If he goes with Wolford, it’s because Goff can’t protect his thumb, throw or take snaps from center.

I don’t see McVay getting pissy with Goff before a playoff game.

Goff is 7-3 with McVay against the Hags...should be 8-2 or better.

No conspiracy theories and suppositions.

Carry on.

There is of course the chance that Goff isn't medically cleared which is not part of that. Guess I should have put DISCLAIMER: in front of that along with the obvious caveat that it's only if Goff is cleared to go.

 

[Ellard80]

As reassured as I was by the way the offense looked with Wolf yesterday I will say he missed a bunch of shots too. I mean if he had hit let's say 5 passes I can recall and if Everett had pulled in that TD Wolf would be getting a lot of attention this week. So he did what Goff has been doing with similar result that being we moved the ball up and down the field then shit our pants in the redzone.

IMO the redzone offense is a big key for our playoff survival. We need to finish drives. But what is the catalyst that will change that? The run game. McVay's offense has always struggled in the redzone (going back to his Washington days) as the field tightens up and for that to change requires the run game. When his run game is rolling he doesn't have redzone issues.

Whit's return is beyond huge for all this. I think we feel his difference which is good. And we're gonna need Akers to punish Seattle's defense. Seattle has been good vs the run but they can be had. I think we can run the ball on them.

yes he did.. especially early. He has only played one nfl game however. He could get much better.. or he could get worse. We don't know.

 

[Turducken]

I like Floyd too, but with the salary cap shrinking next year we might just remain the spot where underperforming 1st round OLB's sign a cheap "prove it" deal before making real cheddar.

 

[FarNorth]

Back to McVay and Goff... He has basically been trying to get Goff into rhythm and form all season long. But the OL has prevented that. Whatever any of us want to say about Goff the truth is he requires good protections as well as weapons to give us high end production. He doesn't really have either. The blame is shared by the Rams too btw. They paid the kid a ton of money then gave him a suspect OL knowing he needed good protections. And btw I get why the did it, that they felt there weren't any OL who could help us. Ok, but they did roll the dice a bit and they did get burned and now they might have squandered an elite defense because of it.

Totally agree with you about lack of weapons and the oline.

My view is that the Rams' offense just hasn't had the personnel to really make a deep passing game work. Rams need an effective run game to enable play action, and a receiver who can stretch the field (as Cooks did) to open up underneath routes (or other deep routes) to Kupp and Woods. They also must have an effective oline to make this happen.

At the start of the season the oline came out with a lot of energy and physicality, enough to reestablish a valid running game. Lately-- either because defenses have adjusted, or because Akers has been injured, or because the line just isn't the same without Whitworth-- they've come back down to earth. They have also not been able to sustain the pass blocking long enough to open up throws downfield.

Too bad the Rams didn't resign Saffold.

The good news for the wild card game is that Akers should be more healthy and Whitworth may be back. No matter which qb plays our best hope to go deep will be if Whitworth and the oline can open up the running game for Akers and force the defense to react. Then play action and deeper throws could work. Otherwise Seattle will sit on the short routes again.

Of course our real best chance will be for AD, Ramsay, and our great defense to win the game.

 

[Ramstien]

Goff has been turtling

Or as I like to refer to it as doing the Bulger.

 

[Merlin]

The good news for the wild card game is that Akers should be more healthy and Whitworth may be back. No matter which qb plays our best hope to go deep will be if Whitworth and the oline can open up the running game for Akers and force the defense to react. Then play action and deeper throws could work. Otherwise Seattle will sit on the short routes again.

Yeah basically I feel like a better OL and this entire season would have gone differently we'd probably be a 1 or 2 seed. Even with the current wideouts (who are possession in terms of their strength) we would be chunking defenses in the passing game just fine if the protections were there. So IMO that's our biggest prob.

The question right now is do they get the 5 who dominated Seattle up front for the most part two matchups ago. Or the unit we saw last time out. IMO if you get the group from two matchups ago Goff's your huckleberry. But if the protections are shit they're gonna have to sit him and finish the game with Wolf in terms of having the best chance to win.

 

[Ramstien]

I like Floyd too, but with the salary cap shrinking next year we might just remain the spot where underperforming 1st round OLB's sign a cheap "prove it" deal before making real cheddar.

I think they drafted Terrell Lewis for the prospect of using him to replace Floyd, if they could not resign him.

 

[jacktheripper85]

McVay doesn't throw downfield. That's why people are confused because they read all this shit from the media assclowns. The QBs throw downfield. For the QBs to throw downfield they have to feel confident about the rush, comfortable when they're waiting for the deeper routes to mature, and then have the talent to make the throw. The route combination has to have a route (that doesn't always happen if the focus is moving the chains on short yardage) and they have to read the defense thereafter and if the look is favorable after all that BS make the throw. This is why they get paid the big bucks.

Also in the Rams' offense the tools are there for the QB to change the play for overall effect. What I mean by that is I don't think (none of us know for sure to what extent btw it's all guesswork) the QB has the full playbook at the line of scrimmage. But he can check into a small number of plays designed to attack certain alignments for certain effects when the QB sees them. Certainly each pass has a run counter and vice versa. I am comfortable, as well, with the assumption that there's a couple deep shots mixed in there for each game tailored to the defense we're facing.

Back to McVay and Goff... He has basically been trying to get Goff into rhythm and form all season long. But the OL has prevented that. Whatever any of us want to say about Goff the truth is he requires good protections as well as weapons to give us high end production. He doesn't really have either. The blame is shared by the Rams too btw. They paid the kid a ton of money then gave him a suspect OL knowing he needed good protections. And btw I get why the did it, that they felt there weren't any OL who could help us. Ok, but they did roll the dice a bit and they did get burned and now they might have squandered an elite defense because of it.

So going back to the backup who is fresh and playing with his dick out and willing to wait on the longer routes there you go. His escapability helped on that too, but the main difference was simple willingness to wait it out and risk the sacks whereas Goff has been turtling to try to limit turnovers. Mentioned this last week and a few thought I was crazy but that's exactly what happened.

Moving forward if Goff is the guy he's gonna need to do the same thing. Without that escapability. So no idea what McVay is going to do here I just assume the starter gets the nod. I will say though, in closing, that IF he goes with Wolford it means he's been more frustrated with Goff behind the scenes than he's let on. So as always with McVay you gotta go with his actions not what he says.

Agree with most of what you are saying. One comment I will make is in regard to McVay’s influence on Goff’s play. I do believe that for whatever reason-weapons, o-line, etc that McVay is really in Goff’s ear about turnovers and that has effected Goff’s confidence in regards to “taking more shots downfield “.

I mean, in some games you watch Goff and it looks like he’s not having much fun out there and I think part of the reason is that he’s trying so hard not to turn the ball over that he’s not playing up to his natural abilities and showcasing the talents he has. I mean..this guy was the #1 pick in the draft and he has played most of the second half of the year like a backup QB forced into a starters role. I’m not absolving Goff regarding some of his decision making lately-which is a concern based on how long he’s been in the league but I think McVay needs to turn him loose a little and showcase his true abilities. Even the great ones throw occasional picks but they also make big plays to make up for it.

Goff just seems like he’s playing extremely tight lately because he doesn’t want to make a mistake but usually the opposite happens and that’s why we see some of the throws he’s making this year that he wasn’t making in 2018.

Just my 2 cents.