The Rams’ New Wrinkle, and Why the NFC West Might Already Be Won

[Prime Time]

https://www.si.com/nfl/2018/09/24/l...goff-nfc-west-jimmy-garoppolo-knee-injury-acl

The Rams’ New Wrinkle, and Why the NFC West Might Already Be Won
By ANDY BENOIT

Right around kickoff in their Battle for Los Angeles against the Chargers, the Rams unofficially clinched the NFC West. It happened the moment when, 1,600 miles east in Kansas City, 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo planted his left foot and lowered his shoulder along the sideline at the end of a scramble, his left knee buckling; the fear is a torn ACL.

The Niners, regarded as the Rams’ greatest challenger entering this season, had also lost their second most important offensive player, tailback Jerick McKinnon, to a similar injury in a late summer practice. Now they’re a team with few skill position weapons, an improving but work-in-progress defense and no quarterback. See you in 2019.

Don’t say this to Sean McVay, though. Prior to the season, he and I were discussing the NFC West teams. He lauded the Niners and Cardinals, and when I absentmindedly dismissed the Seahawks as a rebuilding team trending in the wrong direction, I got admonished. “Any team that has Russell Wilson you have to consider dangerous,” he said.

O.K., fair enough. But Seattle’s offense has always been a week-to-week proposition and, now, so is the defense. It hammered a downtrodden Cowboys offense on Sunday, but for this season’s long-term, there remain major concerns about the pass rush and secondary. And even greater concerns pock a now 0-3 Cardinals team that is averaging 6.7 points per game and just coughed up a two-touchdown lead to the Bears at home.

During McVay’s first offseason as the Rams head coach, people would ask him how he was liking his new job. His answer was always: “Couldn’t be better—we’re still undefeated.” Then he’d smile. But this past offseason, his stock answer reversed. At any mention of his team—and especially its litany of headline-generating moves—he quickly said, with no smile, “We haven’t won a game.”

With the 35-23 handling of the Chargers on Sunday, they’ve now won their first three. Their offense, which has gained a year of experience in McVay’s scheme plus an elite playmaker in wideout Brandin Cooks, looks even more dangerous than the one that led the league in scoring last year. It’s certainly more innovative.

McVay and his staff have discovered the power of jet-action. More than any team now, the Rams put a receiver in fast motion before and/or during the snap. One defensive coach told me this offseason that dealing with jet-action is “an absolute bitch.”

At least half a dozen other defensive coaches echoed this. Jet-action messes with a defense’s gap assignments. McVay builds run and pass plays that exploit this. And to ensure the defense keeps reacting with its gap assignments, he regularly hands the ball to the jet motion man. Wideouts Cooks, Cooper Kupp and Robert Woods all have multiple carries this year.

Right now, defenses don’t have an answer for it—just like they didn’t have an answer last year for L.A.’s play-action game, which remains strong. Constantly facing defenders who are put in assignment conflicts, Jared Goff, somewhat quietly, is becoming one of the NFL’s most proficient QBs.

He’s completing 70.3% of his passes and averaging 9.32 yards per attempt, with a passer rating 111.0. Maybe he is a system QB. But sharply orchestrating the smartest system in football makes you a bona fide star.

On film, Goff appears to be dripping with confidence. He’s become more patient working into his progressions, waiting the extra half-beat to let second-window throws unfold. Against zone coverage, he’s throwing to spots, trusting that a receiver (and, also, not a defender) will be there. Against man, he’s throwing with pinpoint accuracy to defeat even the tightest coverage. (As John Madden used to say in one of his video game’s automated voiceovers, “There’s no defense for a perfect throw.”)

Playing with this mix of aggression and patience requires a quarterback to make throws with defenders in his face—something Goff did willingly, but too often ineffectively, his first two seasons. Now, he’s become adroit here, using his 6' 4" frame and high release point to make contested throws look easy.

McVay is aware that his young team has not yet faced much adversity. It stayed healthy last year, performed well on the road (even on cross-country and international trips), handily won a bunch of Sunday afternoon games and played in a distracted city that’s still rediscovering its passion for pro football. The Rams shrunk a bit in the bright lights of the playoffs, losing at home to the Falcons, but by then outsiders had already declared their season a roaring success.

Things will get harder. They have to. Maybe even as soon as this week. Star corners Marcus Peters and Aqib Talib left Sunday’s win with injuries. Either or both could be unavailable Thursday night against a Vikings team that boasts two of football’s best wideouts, Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs.

Those Vikings, despite their embarrassing no-show against an untalented but impressively tenacious Bills team on Sunday, have the defense best equipped to contest with this high-flying Rams offense. The showdown, being FOX’s first Thursday Night game, will be hyped. The Vikings have played regular season contests on such stages before. The Rams have not.

Adversity could be on the immediate horizon. Still, it’s nothing compared to the type of adversity that comes from having a rebuilding offense, or a retooling defense. Or, certainly, from having an injured quarterback.

In 2012, the Broncos won the AFC West by a whopping six games. In 2015, the Panthers won the NFC South by seven games. In 2007, the undefeated Patriots won their division essentially two times over, finishing nine games ahead of the second-place Bills. The Rams, with some help from the NFC West, are positioned to join this group of dominators.

 

[hotanez]

lol the Winers were never going to challenge us for the division

 

[-X-]

Pffffffffffff

gtfo.

 

[kurtfaulk]

.

haha. what the fuck was that? the rams clinched the division before a ball was kicked. like the whiners ever had a chance.

that system qb jibe kills me. where did it come from?

.

 

[fearsomefour]

.

haha. what the freak was that? the rams clinched the division before a ball was kicked. like the whiners ever had a chance.

that system qb jibe kills me. where did it come from?

.

The first time I remember hearing that term was in reference to Joe Montana with Bill Walsh.
Of course, every QBs success is a balance between their skills, the offense and their OC use and ability to match the QB skills and the offense.
It is meant as a criticism but it is really silly.
It's another way of saying a QB doesn't possess every skill at an A+ level. For example Montana was a small guy with a relatively weak arm.
His skills, coach and his coach matching his other great skills to his offense lead to massive success.
The term "system" QB means nothing.

 

[kurtfaulk]

The first time I remember hearing that term was in reference to Joe Montana with Bill Walsh.
Of course, every QBs success is a balance between their skills, the offense and their OC use and ability to match the QB skills and the offense.
It is meant as a criticism but it is really silly.
It's another way of saying a QB doesn't possess every skill at an A+ level. For example Montana was a small guy with a relatively weak arm.
His skills, coach and his coach matching his other great skills to his offense lead to massive success.
The term "system" QB means nothing.

thanks for that history lesson. interesting to learn where the term originated from. funny how he is now regarded as one of the best ever.

but i wanted to know who called jared a system qb.

.

 

[Flint]

There was plenty of hype before the season, mostly from 9er fans crowing about Garapalo’s undefeated stretch. Some even convinced themselves it was a 2 team race for the west this year, but most of us didn’t buy it, they looked to be fighting for 2nd, somewhere around .500. Even before he got hurt Jimmy G’s Star was fading a bit, sometimes that quick release turns into a chuck n duck and that deep ball runs out of gas. So it’s back to the drawing board for them and JImmy will have to wait another year to show what all the fuss was about.

 

[fearsomefour]

thanks for that history lesson. interesting to learn where the term originated from. funny how he is now regarded as one of the best ever.

but i wanted to know who called jared a system qb.

.

I don't know if that's where the term actually started. That was the first time I remember hearing the term.
Goff probably got that tag leading up to the draft I would assume.

 

[kurtfaulk]

I don't know if that's where the term actually started. That was the first time I remember hearing the term.
Goff probably got that tag leading up to the draft I would assume.

this is the first time i've heard that term with regards to jared. just leading up to week 3 actually.

before that it was bust and then the coach is telling him what to do through his earpiece.

.

 

[RamBall]

Not sure who called Goff a system QB, but it was within the last 2 weeks. My guess is it was one of the many boneheads that called Goff a bust, now trying to explain why Goff is playing good football without giving Goff credit for his play. As many have said, without the arm talent, calm demeanor, pocket presence and decision making it doesnt matter whos system you are running, it aint gonna work. In reality it is the OCs job to develop a system that plays to the strengths of his QB, so maybe McVay is only successful because he hitched his wagon to Goff. Ok, McVay was successful before he teamed up with Goff, but still he had to find ways to best utilize Goffs talent and best qualities as a QB. As Fouts said during Sundays game, any QB that plays in a successful system could be called a system QB.

 

[Mikey Ram]

thanks for that history lesson. interesting to learn where the term originated from. funny how he is now regarded as one of the best ever.

but i wanted to know who called jared a system qb.

.

I don't see the insult (even though that's what it's intended to be)..One of the reasons that McVay and Goff are so successful is because Sean takes his basic system molds it to maximize Jared's strengths...Jared is getting better and better because of just that..How does everybody think Jared would look in a run option ??? Not very good in my opinion...I don't really care that he's called that by several talking heads, I care what results he delivers...So far, the results have been very, very good...I'm thrilled to have a system QB..

 

[Prime Time]

The jarring change in Jared Goff's play from Fisher to McVay caused the system QB label to be applied.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_quarterback

Russ Lande of Sporting News traced the term's etymology, or at least currency, to the early 1990s, when two University of Houston quarterbacks failed to carry college success into their professional careers.

First, Andre Ware, in head coach Jack Pardee and offensive coordinator John Jenkins's run and shoot offense, had a record-setting 1989 season that culminated in a Heisman Trophy. He was the seventh overall pick in the 1990 NFL Draft, but did not have success in either the National Football League nor the Canadian Football League.

David Klingler took over for Ware at UH and was the sixth overall pick in the 1992 NFL Draft. He too, failed to find exceptional success in the NFL.

https://www.sportingcharts.com/dictionary/nfl/system-quarterback.aspx

What is a System Quarterback?
A term used to refer to quarterbacks who succeed under a specific type of offensive system but are thought to be unlikely to reproduce the same level of success in other types of offensive systems. System quarterbacks are thought to succeed more from the system itself than their natural skill and critics will often point out that therefore their statistics are inflated.

The term is considered to be used as a slight when referring to a quarterback as a systems quarterback as it places more of their success on the system than their natural skill and suggests that any other quarterback could be put in the same position and succeed.

https://www.turfshowtimes.com/2018/9/24/17897464/los-angeles-rams-jared-goff-system-qb-sean-mcvay

Farewell, “System QB”
What got the Rams so worked up over such an empty phrase? And where did it even come from?
By 3k

Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports

It came seemingly out of nowhere.

On Wednesday, ESPN’s Lindsey Thiry posed a seemingly innocuous question to Los Angeles Rams Head Coach Sean McVay about QB Jared Goff:

Some people might say that Jared’s a product of your system, but having Jared as your quarterback, how much does that allow you to do with your system?

For one of the few times (and maybe only time) in his nascent career as a head coach, McVay was a little...upset.

Yeah, I mean (QB) Jared (Goff) is the one making the plays. It’s our job as coaches to try to put him in position and our players make the plays. I think that’s a total discredit to him and all the different things that he’s doing. 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. So, I think it’s our job as a coaching staff to collaborate and try to put together plans on a weekly basis that give our players a chance to have success.

But, ultimately I know this, you’re a lot better coach when you’re working with players like Jared Goff and I feel really fortunate to work with him. His growth over the last couple years, his ability to be able to be unphased by things – whether they be good or bad throughout the course of a game – his ability to make all the throws, you can change the launch point with him. He recognizes – I think he’s got a great feel for the game.

So, the possibilities, you’re not limited in a way that you can utilize him in any way and because of his just overall poise and confidence in his demeanor, it helps me too. I’m a little wired if you guys didn’t know that. So, I think his even-keeled demeanor during the game is actually helpful for me and I think it’s a nice complement. He’s done a great job and I feel lucky to work with players like him.

The LA Times’ Gary Klein followed up with Goff at his media availability:

Jared, Sean said today that the notion that you are a product of the system is not necessarily true. How do you kind of view how you’ve been able to develop over the last few years?

Goff was his typically unflappable, nonchalant self:

Yeah, I’ll be a product of the system if we win games, as much as I want. We just continue to go out there and keep playing, keep putting up 30 points and call me whatever you want. I feel like I’m just continuing to develop and continuing to get better. As time goes on, I hope to continue to get better and keep learning from (Head Coach) Sean (McVay) and keep trying to be the best leader and quarterback I can be.

And that was that.

Nobody declared Goff a “system QB.” Nobody even explained what it meant. Still, the phrase took off.

Rams Twitter was quick to defend Goff from the phrase even without knowing what it meant. While national media went into the Rams’ Week 3 game against the crosstown pre-rival Los Angeles Chargers covering the #FightForLA, local media largely honed in on the phrase that was never uttered.

And what’s perhaps most interesting is how deep the offense has been felt from inside the organization despite to my awareness nobody actually calling him a system quarterback.

The social media team was clearly sensitive to the term:


View: https://twitter.com/RamsNFL/status/1044067979783094272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1044067979783094272&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.turfshowtimes.com%2F2018%2F9%2F24%2F17897464%2Flos-angeles-rams-jared-goff-system-qb-sean-mcvay


View: https://twitter.com/awhitworth77/status/1044020751601295360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1044020751601295360&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.turfshowtimes.com%2F2018%2F9%2F24%2F17897464%2Flos-angeles-rams-jared-goff-system-qb-sean-mcvay

And even after the Rams’ demonstrative 35-23 win in which Goff and the offense were absolutely stellar, NFL media’s Mike Silver has a report that shows McVay was STILL transfixed on making sure the term doesn’t get attached to Goff’s name:

If you’re inclined to assume [McVay praising Goff to his father after the game was just being nice], you’re missing the message behind McVay’s glowing assessment of his quarterback: Goff is not the product of his system. He is the pulse of it.

”Saying he’s a system player -- that’s just disrespectful,” McVay told me after the game, still steamed over a question suggesting as much that he’d received in a press conference last Wednesday. “It’s a total discredit to a great player. Those who know, know. Flip the tape on. People who know what it looks like to play the quarterback position at a high level know what they’re seeing.

McVay was still steaming over a question from Wednesday. After winning a huge game on Sunday.

Does that sound like Sean McVay? Has there been anything that has stuck in his craw like this ever? Sure, a bad playcall or other mistake that he’s responsible for seems to upset him. He’s a perfectionist who wants to do his job as best as he can. But this has nothing to do with his perfectionism. This is just media framing.

And I’m not sure where it came from or why it upset the Rams so clearly.

The question perhaps is if it will linger.

Goff was masterful on Sunday in the best performance of his young NFL career. Will it kill the strawman who deemed him a system QB? Perhaps. We’ll have to see if the media continues to pepper McVay, Goff and others in the locker room on the phrase. It clearly irks them in a way that most things don’t.

So perhaps we must say goodbye to our favorite new phrase.

It came into town unannounced and largely unwanted. And after a wild week, it might have died a short and necessary death.

Maybe.

Goodbye, “system QB” Jared Goff. We hardly knew ye.

 

[DR RAM]

Whatever, but Jimmy G, trying to dance on the sideline....ridiculous STUPIDITY! Just a QB trying to exploit the rules, instant karma, IMO.

I don't like any player to get hurt, but that wasn't a smart football play.

 

[Steve808]

.

haha. what the freak was that? the rams clinched the division before a ball was kicked. like the whiners ever had a chance.

that system qb jibe kills me. where did it come from?

.

Every QB is a "system" QB. They are in the "system" that the coach employs. Obviously Jeff Fisher ran a crappy system thus the 0-7 record and "bust" label on Goff. McVay runs a great system but obviously, watching Sean Mannion, we know not all QBs can run the system with great efficiency.

You could say that Tom Brady is a system QB. When he got injured, Matt Cassel came in and the Cheatriots went 11-5 although Cassell fizzled out everywhere he went.

 

[kurtfaulk]

The jarring change in Jared Goff's play from Fisher to McVay caused the system QB label to be applied.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_quarterback

Russ Lande of Sporting News traced the term's etymology, or at least currency, to the early 1990s, when two University of Houston quarterbacks failed to carry college success into their professional careers.

First, Andre Ware, in head coach Jack Pardee and offensive coordinator John Jenkins's run and shoot offense, had a record-setting 1989 season that culminated in a Heisman Trophy. He was the seventh overall pick in the 1990 NFL Draft, but did not have success in either the National Football League nor the Canadian Football League.

David Klingler took over for Ware at UH and was the sixth overall pick in the 1992 NFL Draft. He too, failed to find exceptional success in the NFL.

https://www.sportingcharts.com/dictionary/nfl/system-quarterback.aspx

What is a System Quarterback?
A term used to refer to quarterbacks who succeed under a specific type of offensive system but are thought to be unlikely to reproduce the same level of success in other types of offensive systems. System quarterbacks are thought to succeed more from the system itself than their natural skill and critics will often point out that therefore their statistics are inflated.

The term is considered to be used as a slight when referring to a quarterback as a systems quarterback as it places more of their success on the system than their natural skill and suggests that any other quarterback could be put in the same position and succeed.

https://www.turfshowtimes.com/2018/9/24/17897464/los-angeles-rams-jared-goff-system-qb-sean-mcvay

Farewell, “System QB”
What got the Rams so worked up over such an empty phrase? And where did it even come from?
By 3k

Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports

It came seemingly out of nowhere.

On Wednesday, ESPN’s Lindsey Thiry posed a seemingly innocuous question to Los Angeles Rams Head Coach Sean McVay about QB Jared Goff:

Some people might say that Jared’s a product of your system, but having Jared as your quarterback, how much does that allow you to do with your system?

For one of the few times (and maybe only time) in his nascent career as a head coach, McVay was a little...upset.

Yeah, I mean (QB) Jared (Goff) is the one making the plays. It’s our job as coaches to try to put him in position and our players make the plays. I think that’s a total discredit to him and all the different things that he’s doing. 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. So, I think it’s our job as a coaching staff to collaborate and try to put together plans on a weekly basis that give our players a chance to have success.

But, ultimately I know this, you’re a lot better coach when you’re working with players like Jared Goff and I feel really fortunate to work with him. His growth over the last couple years, his ability to be able to be unphased by things – whether they be good or bad throughout the course of a game – his ability to make all the throws, you can change the launch point with him. He recognizes – I think he’s got a great feel for the game.

So, the possibilities, you’re not limited in a way that you can utilize him in any way and because of his just overall poise and confidence in his demeanor, it helps me too. I’m a little wired if you guys didn’t know that. So, I think his even-keeled demeanor during the game is actually helpful for me and I think it’s a nice complement. He’s done a great job and I feel lucky to work with players like him.

The LA Times’ Gary Klein followed up with Goff at his media availability:

Jared, Sean said today that the notion that you are a product of the system is not necessarily true. How do you kind of view how you’ve been able to develop over the last few years?

Goff was his typically unflappable, nonchalant self:

Yeah, I’ll be a product of the system if we win games, as much as I want. We just continue to go out there and keep playing, keep putting up 30 points and call me whatever you want. I feel like I’m just continuing to develop and continuing to get better. As time goes on, I hope to continue to get better and keep learning from (Head Coach) Sean (McVay) and keep trying to be the best leader and quarterback I can be.

And that was that.

Nobody declared Goff a “system QB.” Nobody even explained what it meant. Still, the phrase took off.

Rams Twitter was quick to defend Goff from the phrase even without knowing what it meant. While national media went into the Rams’ Week 3 game against the crosstown pre-rival Los Angeles Chargers covering the #FightForLA, local media largely honed in on the phrase that was never uttered.

And what’s perhaps most interesting is how deep the offense has been felt from inside the organization despite to my awareness nobody actually calling him a system quarterback.

The social media team was clearly sensitive to the term:


View: https://twitter.com/RamsNFL/status/1044067979783094272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1044067979783094272&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.turfshowtimes.com%2F2018%2F9%2F24%2F17897464%2Flos-angeles-rams-jared-goff-system-qb-sean-mcvay


View: https://twitter.com/awhitworth77/status/1044020751601295360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1044020751601295360&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.turfshowtimes.com%2F2018%2F9%2F24%2F17897464%2Flos-angeles-rams-jared-goff-system-qb-sean-mcvay

And even after the Rams’ demonstrative 35-23 win in which Goff and the offense were absolutely stellar, NFL media’s Mike Silver has a report that shows McVay was STILL transfixed on making sure the term doesn’t get attached to Goff’s name:

If you’re inclined to assume [McVay praising Goff to his father after the game was just being nice], you’re missing the message behind McVay’s glowing assessment of his quarterback: Goff is not the product of his system. He is the pulse of it.

”Saying he’s a system player -- that’s just disrespectful,” McVay told me after the game, still steamed over a question suggesting as much that he’d received in a press conference last Wednesday. “It’s a total discredit to a great player. Those who know, know. Flip the tape on. People who know what it looks like to play the quarterback position at a high level know what they’re seeing.

McVay was still steaming over a question from Wednesday. After winning a huge game on Sunday.

Does that sound like Sean McVay? Has there been anything that has stuck in his craw like this ever? Sure, a bad playcall or other mistake that he’s responsible for seems to upset him. He’s a perfectionist who wants to do his job as best as he can. But this has nothing to do with his perfectionism. This is just media framing.

And I’m not sure where it came from or why it upset the Rams so clearly.

The question perhaps is if it will linger.

Goff was masterful on Sunday in the best performance of his young NFL career. Will it kill the strawman who deemed him a system QB? Perhaps. We’ll have to see if the media continues to pepper McVay, Goff and others in the locker room on the phrase. It clearly irks them in a way that most things don’t.

So perhaps we must say goodbye to our favorite new phrase.

It came into town unannounced and largely unwanted. And after a wild week, it might have died a short and necessary death.

Maybe.

Goodbye, “system QB” Jared Goff. We hardly knew ye.

So it was a reporter who came up with it. The Mole.

How can anyone say it was an innocuous question after all the crap Goff has had thrown his way? All the shows during the week debated whether Goff was a system qb. I've never seen the term thrown around so much in one day after the rams game.

Even though he doesn't show it, it must irk the fuck out of Jared. Qbs having success don't have that term thrown around at them. Just a lack of respect of what he's done and of him as a qb.

Fuck them all.

.

 

[kurtfaulk]

Every QB is a "system" QB. They are in the "system" that the coach employs. Obviously Jeff Fisher ran a crappy system thus the 0-7 record and "bust" label on Goff. McVay runs a great system but obviously, watching Sean Mannion, we know not all QBs can run the system with great efficiency.

You could say that Tom Brady is a system QB. When he got injured, Matt Cassel came in and the Cheatriots went 11-5 although Cassell fizzled out everywhere he went.

Yeah i get that. But none of the qbs playing well are called system qbs.

Just a lack of respect.

I'm not even sure why it bothers me so much. Why did i care what these bozos say? I don't but i hate it that Jared doesn't get the recognition he deserves.

.

 

[TexasRam]

One thing the article does have right...

Goff throws constantly into zone coverage and if our WR's were even a little bit lazy about running their routes and catching the ball **cough** *Sammy**cough*** then Goff would have a lot of interceptions.

The Machine is Awesome because each part consistently does its part to near perfection. QB, Oline, RB/TE Blocking and WR.

 

[Rmfnlt]

Yeah, I’ll be a product of the system if we win games, as much as I want. We just continue to go out there and keep playing, keep putting up 30 points and call me whatever you want.

Great answer... "call me anything you want, but yas doesn't have to call me loser"

 

[Prime Time]

https://www.si.com/nfl/2018/09/27/j...ms-sean-mcvay-vikings-thursday-night-football

For Jared Goff, It’s More Than Coaching
By ALBERT BREER

Getty Images

I thought I’d fill this space today—after seeing some of the throws he made the last couple weeks—with the story of how Jared Goff was throwing a right cross at the perception of his ’17 season. Of how he went from product of Sean McVay’s system to a guy worth building a system, and a franchise, around.

After talking to Goff on Wednesday night, I think I had it wrong all along.

So instead of this being about some huge leap Goff was making year over year, it became how the rest of us might just be catching up to how good he really is, and really was last year while McVay was winning Coach of the Year and Todd Gurley was winning Offensive Player of the Year. Instead of Goff affirming that so much has changed for him in Year 3, he argued that his progress, in fact, remains incremental.

“I don’t think three games into the season I’m exponentially better than I was last year,” Goff said, as he wrapped up prep on the short week for tonight’s game against the Vikings. “I mean, I think I did a lot of good things last year. We were able to make the playoffs. Going into the offseason, learning more about defenses, getting more comfortable in our own offense and continuing to grow and get better.

“I expected myself to get better. I always strive for the extra one percent. Right now I don’t feel like I’m exponentially better.”

Maybe it just seems that way. He’s right, too. His numbers were damn good last year—Goff completed 62.1 percent of his passes for 3,804 yards, 28 touchdowns, seven picks and a 100.5 rating in 15 games. Through three games this year he’s connected on 70.3 percent of his throws, and has a 111.0 rating, with his yardage projecting to 4,705, and TD-INT differential to 30-10 over that 15-game sample size.

But whatever it is everyone is seeing out of Goff sure looks good. Which means … maybe we were all just a little late to the party?

“I think any time people make a predisposed decision about who you are or what you’ve done, they’ve made up their mind, they’ll have certain reasons for why stuff change, and it can’t possibly be ‘because I was wrong’,” Goff said. “That’s what happened a little last year. And I don’t really care what people think, but hopefully as time goes on, it’s not the same stuff.”

But we’re starting with a great Thursday night game, and a showdown involving two quarterbacks whose career breakthroughs were sparked by the 32-year-old Rams coach. For Vikings QB Kirk Cousins, it happened in Washington in 2015, with the Redskins making the playoffs for just the second time this decade. Cousins had McVay as his OC for another year, then this past offseason earned a huge payday in Minnesota.

For both quarterbacks, it took time to convince people they were more than the product of rock-solid coaching. Now Cousins has made it happen under different coaches, and with a different team. With Goff, the difference is in how the proof has come—through a slew of wow throws that have victimized defenses over the last few weeks. In an effort to explain that as best we could, I asked a couple Rams staffers for a list of those plays.

I came away with five from the last two weeks, and asked Goff to explain them to me, which he was gracious enough to do.

Play 1 — Arizona

The situation: Third quarter, 5:20 left; 1st-and-10, Cardinals 42.

The throw: Goff stands in the face of blitzing safety Antoine Bethea (who was flagged for roughing) and sends a rope to the left sideline, where Robert Woods, running a streak, plucks the ball from above Arizona’s Budda Baker, in tight coverage.

The quarterback’s take: “I got hit on it pretty good. That’s a play we’ve ran before, we ran it a bunch last year. A play we’re comfortable with. Robert ran a good route and they actually covered it pretty well. We were a little loose up front, they had a safety blitz coming and were able to run through on us, and I just got it off before he got there. And I just gave Robert a chance.

He’s shown it, he’s become such a great ball-catcher, he’s shown so much improvement from last year, he’s probably the most sure-handed guy we’ve got right now. And it’s just really nice when you can throw it, and I got hit, I didn’t see the end of the play, and heard the crowd go, and usually that means interception or a good catch, and that one ends up being a good catch.”

Play 2 — Arizona

The situation: Fourth quarter, 10:22 left; 3rd-and-4, Rams 48

The throw: Goff takes a shotgun snap, and Arizona sends six. With Chandler Jones looping in and bearing down on Goff, the quarterback stood tall and delivered a crosser to Brandin Cooks—sneaking it high into a tiny window just over Baker’s head, and underneath Bethea, playing the deeper part of the field.

The quarterback’s take: “It’s actually a similar throw to the Woods one, where he’s covered, but having the comfort level I have with Brandin and the trust I have in him, was able to throw that ball high and give him a chance knowing that the DB was not looking and Brandin was looking. If that ever happens, you give them a chance and you could have a good outcome.

I think that type of throw just comes with being more comfortable and having a lot of trust in the receiver. Would I have made it last year? I don’t know. I’d like to think so, but I don’t know if I can speak to that. I think just being comfortable and having a good rapport with our receivers is why that one worked.”

Play 3 — Chargers

The situation: Second quarter, 10:50 left; 2nd-and-6, Chargers 35

The throw: Goff takes the snap from center, gets protection, and puts the ball up for tight end Tyler Higbee, who posterizes Chargers rookie linebacker Kyzir White.

The quarterback’s take: “They’re all kind of similar throws. That one is very similar to Brandin’s and even Robert’s, where he was covered and I was just confident in my receivers and confident in myself. The throw is not as hard as the catch. The throw, I’m just throwing it high. The key to that, and really the first three we’ve talked about, it’s trusting my receiver that they’re going to make a play on a high-difficulty catch, and just giving them a chance ultimately with the throw.”

Play 4 – Chargers

The situation: Third quarter, 12:51 left; 3rd-and-8, Chargers 47

The throw: Goff takes the shotgun snap and steps up in the pocket, going through his reads, and has to dodge defensive end Isaac Rochell to break the pocket and turn the play into a scramble drill, at which point Cooper Kupp breaks off his route. Goff hits Kupp streaking upfield in stride, and Kupp gallivants into the end zone with a 47-yard scoring play.

The quarterback’s take: “It was just an off-schedule play. Cooper was an underneath read, and I didn’t see anyone open through the first three reads, and tried to move around the pocket a little bit, and got my eyes up off the rush, and Cooper spun around the defender up the field, and I knew he had a lot of room in front of him, so I tried to put the ball out in front of him, and was able to put a good ball on him and he made a great play breaking that tackle and scoring. I made a similar play in the third game of season last year against San Francisco down the right sideline.”

So at this point, Goff’s contention is every one of these throws, he’d have been capable of making last year. And then we came to the last one I had on my list, and that one, as it turned out, was different.

Play 5 — Chargers

The situation: Second quarter, 1:40 left; 1st-and-10, Rams 32

The throw: In hurry-up, Goff takes the shotgun snap, gets protection and finds Woods on a deep out-breaking route. The ball clears Pro Bowl corner Casey Heyward’s outstretched arm by no more than a foot or two, and hits the receiver less than a second before rookie Derwin James makes it over to help on the coverage.

The quarterback’s take: “It was Cover 2. That would be a throw—that’s the best example of one that would’ve been tougher last year, just in me understanding defenses and understanding what their intent is, and understanding, what’s Casey’s responsibility and what’s Derwin’s responsibility, and being able to manipulate that in the way that we did. And feeling confident in where to throw the ball and knowing Robert would be there. All of it comes back to being confident in the receiver and really trusting him.”

The point here? Goff’s come a long way in two years, for sure. But it didn’t happen all at once. And if you think it’s all coaching, Goff isn’t going to let that get to him, or even try to change your mind, and he insists it doesn’t bother him in the slightest.

“Never. Never,” Goff said. “[McVay’s] incredible and he deserves all the praise he gets. My rookie year was not so good, and coming into my second year, one of two things was going to happen—I was gonna be bad or I was gonna be good. And if I was good, they were gonna pin it on someone else. It’s all positive, it’s the way it works. I expected this coming into everything. All I can do is get better.

“Sean’s incredible, he’s probably the best coach in the league right now, won Coach of the Year last year, we’re doing stuff offensively—I mean, his innovation is incredible. I’m very thankful that he’s the guy I get to ask questions of, I get to learn from and have as the one teaching me.”

And that’s an ongoing thing in L.A., which you’ll be able to see tonight. Back in camp, Goff explained to me how, as he saw it, the Rams had to work to stay one step ahead as teams caught up to what they were doing, and the quarterback says McVay has done that through continued wrinkles in motioning and formationing to give defenses different looks.

It’s also helped, as Goff alluded to, being in Year 2 with Kupp and Woods, and having a quick study in Cooks. And the promise of guys like Higbee doesn’t hurt either.

Add it up, and you see why the guys calling the shots in L.A. feel so good about where Goff is at 23—the same age draft classmate Carson Wentz was as a rookie. Safe to say, too that Goff is pretty excited looking at the future around him, though he wouldn’t bite when I asked about he and McVay having a Asshole Face/Drew Brees-style 10- to 15-year run.

“That’s always the pipe dream for down the road,” Goff said. “We’re two years into this. We’ve been successful to this point, but there are so many good teams, so many good players that you have to keep on it at all times and can’t really look that far down the road. In 10 years, if we’re still together, we can talk about it. I promise you I’ll talk to you about it.”

For now, at least, Goff has proven he’s worth talking about as one of the best young quarterbacks in the game. And that, McVay himself would tell you, is regardless of who’s coaching him.

 

[kurtfaulk]

https://www.si.com/nfl/2018/09/27/j...ms-sean-mcvay-vikings-thursday-night-football

For Jared Goff, It’s More Than Coaching
By ALBERT BREER

Getty Images

I thought I’d fill this space today—after seeing some of the throws he made the last couple weeks—with the story of how Jared Goff was throwing a right cross at the perception of his ’17 season. Of how he went from product of Sean McVay’s system to a guy worth building a system, and a franchise, around.

After talking to Goff on Wednesday night, I think I had it wrong all along.

So instead of this being about some huge leap Goff was making year over year, it became how the rest of us might just be catching up to how good he really is, and really was last year while McVay was winning Coach of the Year and Todd Gurley was winning Offensive Player of the Year. Instead of Goff affirming that so much has changed for him in Year 3, he argued that his progress, in fact, remains incremental.

“I don’t think three games into the season I’m exponentially better than I was last year,” Goff said, as he wrapped up prep on the short week for tonight’s game against the Vikings. “I mean, I think I did a lot of good things last year. We were able to make the playoffs. Going into the offseason, learning more about defenses, getting more comfortable in our own offense and continuing to grow and get better.

“I expected myself to get better. I always strive for the extra one percent. Right now I don’t feel like I’m exponentially better.”

Maybe it just seems that way. He’s right, too. His numbers were damn good last year—Goff completed 62.1 percent of his passes for 3,804 yards, 28 touchdowns, seven picks and a 100.5 rating in 15 games. Through three games this year he’s connected on 70.3 percent of his throws, and has a 111.0 rating, with his yardage projecting to 4,705, and TD-INT differential to 30-10 over that 15-game sample size.

But whatever it is everyone is seeing out of Goff sure looks good. Which means … maybe we were all just a little late to the party?

“I think any time people make a predisposed decision about who you are or what you’ve done, they’ve made up their mind, they’ll have certain reasons for why stuff change, and it can’t possibly be ‘because I was wrong’,” Goff said. “That’s what happened a little last year. And I don’t really care what people think, but hopefully as time goes on, it’s not the same stuff.”

But we’re starting with a great Thursday night game, and a showdown involving two quarterbacks whose career breakthroughs were sparked by the 32-year-old Rams coach. For Vikings QB Kirk Cousins, it happened in Washington in 2015, with the Redskins making the playoffs for just the second time this decade. Cousins had McVay as his OC for another year, then this past offseason earned a huge payday in Minnesota.

For both quarterbacks, it took time to convince people they were more than the product of rock-solid coaching. Now Cousins has made it happen under different coaches, and with a different team. With Goff, the difference is in how the proof has come—through a slew of wow throws that have victimized defenses over the last few weeks. In an effort to explain that as best we could, I asked a couple Rams staffers for a list of those plays.

I came away with five from the last two weeks, and asked Goff to explain them to me, which he was gracious enough to do.

Play 1 — Arizona

The situation: Third quarter, 5:20 left; 1st-and-10, Cardinals 42.

The throw: Goff stands in the face of blitzing safety Antoine Bethea (who was flagged for roughing) and sends a rope to the left sideline, where Robert Woods, running a streak, plucks the ball from above Arizona’s Budda Baker, in tight coverage.

The quarterback’s take: “I got hit on it pretty good. That’s a play we’ve ran before, we ran it a bunch last year. A play we’re comfortable with. Robert ran a good route and they actually covered it pretty well. We were a little loose up front, they had a safety blitz coming and were able to run through on us, and I just got it off before he got there. And I just gave Robert a chance.

He’s shown it, he’s become such a great ball-catcher, he’s shown so much improvement from last year, he’s probably the most sure-handed guy we’ve got right now. And it’s just really nice when you can throw it, and I got hit, I didn’t see the end of the play, and heard the crowd go, and usually that means interception or a good catch, and that one ends up being a good catch.”

Play 2 — Arizona

The situation: Fourth quarter, 10:22 left; 3rd-and-4, Rams 48

The throw: Goff takes a shotgun snap, and Arizona sends six. With Chandler Jones looping in and bearing down on Goff, the quarterback stood tall and delivered a crosser to Brandin Cooks—sneaking it high into a tiny window just over Baker’s head, and underneath Bethea, playing the deeper part of the field.

The quarterback’s take: “It’s actually a similar throw to the Woods one, where he’s covered, but having the comfort level I have with Brandin and the trust I have in him, was able to throw that ball high and give him a chance knowing that the DB was not looking and Brandin was looking. If that ever happens, you give them a chance and you could have a good outcome.

I think that type of throw just comes with being more comfortable and having a lot of trust in the receiver. Would I have made it last year? I don’t know. I’d like to think so, but I don’t know if I can speak to that. I think just being comfortable and having a good rapport with our receivers is why that one worked.”

Play 3 — Chargers

The situation: Second quarter, 10:50 left; 2nd-and-6, Chargers 35

The throw: Goff takes the snap from center, gets protection, and puts the ball up for tight end Tyler Higbee, who posterizes Chargers rookie linebacker Kyzir White.

The quarterback’s take: “They’re all kind of similar throws. That one is very similar to Brandin’s and even Robert’s, where he was covered and I was just confident in my receivers and confident in myself. The throw is not as hard as the catch. The throw, I’m just throwing it high. The key to that, and really the first three we’ve talked about, it’s trusting my receiver that they’re going to make a play on a high-difficulty catch, and just giving them a chance ultimately with the throw.”

Play 4 – Chargers

The situation: Third quarter, 12:51 left; 3rd-and-8, Chargers 47

The throw: Goff takes the shotgun snap and steps up in the pocket, going through his reads, and has to dodge defensive end Isaac Rochell to break the pocket and turn the play into a scramble drill, at which point Cooper Kupp breaks off his route. Goff hits Kupp streaking upfield in stride, and Kupp gallivants into the end zone with a 47-yard scoring play.

The quarterback’s take: “It was just an off-schedule play. Cooper was an underneath read, and I didn’t see anyone open through the first three reads, and tried to move around the pocket a little bit, and got my eyes up off the rush, and Cooper spun around the defender up the field, and I knew he had a lot of room in front of him, so I tried to put the ball out in front of him, and was able to put a good ball on him and he made a great play breaking that tackle and scoring. I made a similar play in the third game of season last year against San Francisco down the right sideline.”

So at this point, Goff’s contention is every one of these throws, he’d have been capable of making last year. And then we came to the last one I had on my list, and that one, as it turned out, was different.

Play 5 — Chargers

The situation: Second quarter, 1:40 left; 1st-and-10, Rams 32

The throw: In hurry-up, Goff takes the shotgun snap, gets protection and finds Woods on a deep out-breaking route. The ball clears Pro Bowl corner Casey Heyward’s outstretched arm by no more than a foot or two, and hits the receiver less than a second before rookie Derwin James makes it over to help on the coverage.

The quarterback’s take: “It was Cover 2. That would be a throw—that’s the best example of one that would’ve been tougher last year, just in me understanding defenses and understanding what their intent is, and understanding, what’s Casey’s responsibility and what’s Derwin’s responsibility, and being able to manipulate that in the way that we did. And feeling confident in where to throw the ball and knowing Robert would be there. All of it comes back to being confident in the receiver and really trusting him.”

The point here? Goff’s come a long way in two years, for sure. But it didn’t happen all at once. And if you think it’s all coaching, Goff isn’t going to let that get to him, or even try to change your mind, and he insists it doesn’t bother him in the slightest.

“Never. Never,” Goff said. “[McVay’s] incredible and he deserves all the praise he gets. My rookie year was not so good, and coming into my second year, one of two things was going to happen—I was gonna be bad or I was gonna be good. And if I was good, they were gonna pin it on someone else. It’s all positive, it’s the way it works. I expected this coming into everything. All I can do is get better.

“Sean’s incredible, he’s probably the best coach in the league right now, won Coach of the Year last year, we’re doing stuff offensively—I mean, his innovation is incredible. I’m very thankful that he’s the guy I get to ask questions of, I get to learn from and have as the one teaching me.”

And that’s an ongoing thing in L.A., which you’ll be able to see tonight. Back in camp, Goff explained to me how, as he saw it, the Rams had to work to stay one step ahead as teams caught up to what they were doing, and the quarterback says McVay has done that through continued wrinkles in motioning and formationing to give defenses different looks.

It’s also helped, as Goff alluded to, being in Year 2 with Kupp and Woods, and having a quick study in Cooks. And the promise of guys like Higbee doesn’t hurt either.

Add it up, and you see why the guys calling the shots in L.A. feel so good about where Goff is at 23—the same age draft classmate Carson Wentz was as a rookie. Safe to say, too that Goff is pretty excited looking at the future around him, though he wouldn’t bite when I asked about he and McVay having a Asshole Face/Drew Brees-style 10- to 15-year run.

“That’s always the pipe dream for down the road,” Goff said. “We’re two years into this. We’ve been successful to this point, but there are so many good teams, so many good players that you have to keep on it at all times and can’t really look that far down the road. In 10 years, if we’re still together, we can talk about it. I promise you I’ll talk to you about it.”

For now, at least, Goff has proven he’s worth talking about as one of the best young quarterbacks in the game. And that, McVay himself would tell you, is regardless of who’s coaching him.

what a fantastic article. loved reading about jared breaking down those plays.

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