Full quote
Rams QB Jared Goff
(On the positives he takes out of this season moving forward)
“I think there’s a lot of things. I think you can learn a lot about yourself, a lot about your teammates, a lot about how not to do things and that sometimes can be the best stuff. You can learn from the bad things. In life and in football and everything you do it’s not always going to be up, up, up, up, up all positive. There’s going to be down years, down games, down times in your life and the way you get better from them is you learn from them. That’s what we need to do. If you don’t learn from them then it’s going to keep getting worse and if you learn from them it’s probably going to get a lot better. I’ve experienced that in football and life and everything and I know that you guys have, too. It’s a pretty simple concept. If it’s not going very well learn from it.”
(On whether or not he compares this season with the Rams to his experience in college)
“Yeah, absolutely. That was a hard time and this feels just about the same. It’s pretty identical and I think the best part about it was that we weeded out the people we needed to weed out. We changed the culture in the building, and then we won in the coming years with the same guys that were 1-11 the year before and that’s kind of what I expect to happen here as well. Four and twelve with some more talent than we looked like in that room. We need to do some things and get the culture changed and with that comes higher standards and better players and more talent and it just rolls. It just keeps going. It’s momentum and I expect that to happen here.”
(On if he thinks it’s fair for the fans to judge him as a quarterback after this season)
“I’d hope not. It’s only been seven games and I know it’s my rookie year. I came in midway through the season, but I’m not trying to make any excuses. I’ve got to be better and everyone’s got to be better, but I think I’ve got a lot of football ahead of me and I expect to continue to improve and expect the guys in there to rally around me and get things done around here.
(On how banged up he feels)
“I’m fine.”
(On where he feels he’s made the biggest strides and what areas need improvement)
“There’s a million things. I don’t know if I can pinpoint it, but I feel like I’ve made great strides all the way from April until now. Just understanding everything and seeing everything and letting it slow down a little bit and being able to not think so much and just react and play. In these last few games that became more and more apparent as it did when I first started playing against Miami into the coming weeks. It just became slower and it became easier to see. I was seeing things better. I think it’s kind of a natural progression for guys. Like I said, it’s only seven games, but it’s enough to know what I did well and what I didn’t do well and what I need to work on.”
(On his excitement to play a new system and what he plans to do in between the coaching change)
“Very. Going back to what I just said I know what I need to work on. I know what I need to get better at. I know what I have to do well, so as far as that goes I probably won’t focus on this year as much. As soon as the new coach is hired we will be diving into the new playbook and giving it everything I’ve got and learn as quickly as I can, picking it up and getting ready for OTAs. I’m very excited. I think everyone there is very excited. We know this year didn’t go the way we liked it to and we know that there are greener pastures ahead especially with what should be coming in the future. We’re excited.”
(On if he hopes the new playbook lets him take more chances)
“Of course, I mean sure as a quarterback you always want to throw it, but with what we had I think we did the best job at that with what we did have and what we were able to do. Of course you like to be able to throw the ball around and get some guys running around, making plays, and having big long passes and big long runs. At the same time, whoever it is it will be a good hire and I’m excited for it.”
(On the message he had to the other players as the leader of the team)
“I told all the guys, especially the young guys that I know are going to be here for a while, ‘Just remember what this feels like. It’s going to drive you through the offseason. It’s going to drive you into next year. It’s going to maybe even carry with you for the rest of your life.’ I tried to let them know that this isn’t the end of anything. It’s really the beginning. This feeling should linger with us and it should stick with us all the way through next year.”
(On the Cardinals defensive performance)
“They were doing a good job up front. They were bringing it. Obviously, they had nothing to lose just like us, so they were going to bring a lot of pressure. We kind of expected that and we wanted to pick it up better than we did. That group up front, I don’t care what anyone says about them. I appreciate their effort and everything they gave me and Case (Keenum). Those guys up front gave me everything they had. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out, but I’m very appreciative and very happy for those guys.”
(On what he will do different this offseason)
“It’ll be a little different. I’ll have my first kind of real offseason in a long time and not have school or anything like that. I’ve talked to some receivers already and most of us will be down here, so we’ll train and whenever we get that new playbook start digging into it, getting ahead of it and get ready for OTAs. I think the guys are hungrier than ever now. I understand that this is not what we want to do. It’s not what anyone wants to do. We need to just hold ourselves to a higher standard and it starts as soon as we start working out.”
(On his opinion of RB Todd Gurley)
“Todd’s (Gurley) great. Todd’s going to be fine. I don’t know what he ended up with. He probably ended up with 900 yards, and sure you know what people probably expected him to do more than that, but Todd’s a great player, great teammate, great leader. He’s going to be just fine. I expect him to have a big year.”
(On his sense of ownership going forward)
“It’s huge. As a quarterback of this team and a leader of the team it’s big, especially going through a little bit of a change and a shift, but I know I won’t have to do it all on my own. I know there’s guys in there that think the same way I do and understand that things need to be changed and the culture needs to be changed and a million other things have to be changed and I don’t have to do it by myself because those guys are in there. A bunch of great guys, and a bunch that is going to be as resilient as anybody else.”
(On what he thinks the silver lining of the season is)
“I’m not sure there is much. Maybe that we have a change coming that is going to be positive and is going to bring a lot of positive energy and something we’re all excited for and something we’re excited to get going with. We want to put this behind us as quickly as possible and want people to understand that this is not what we’re about and the standard will be set higher.”
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