It seems like ages ago that Jared Goff made his NFL debut with the Rams. Granted, it was four years ago and since then, he’s made two Pro Bowls and led the Rams to the Super Bowl. As most fans will remember, Goff’s rookie season didn’t go according to plan.
He didn’t win a single start, he threw five touchdown passes and seven interceptions and was sacked 26 times in only seven games. But he’s rebounded from that difficult year in a big way by throwing 94 touchdown passes and only 39 interceptions since.
Coincidentally, his debut came against the Dolphins back in 2016; Tua Tagovailoa will now make his first NFL start against Goff’s Rams. Goff remembers some parts of his first NFL start and will never forget having his family there to watch, but he’d probably rather not watch the game.
He said this week that it would be “probably pretty cringe-worthy to watch it now,” knowing how far he’s come in his development.
“I remember it was raining. It was a weird rainy day for L.A. I obviously, you know, I would hate to watch it now,” he told reporters. “I mean, it would be probably pretty cringe-worthy to watch it now, as far as, how far I feel like I’ve come, but a lot of stuff going on in that game. I was excited. My parents were there, my whole family was there, and a lot of people are very excited. I remember we actually played decently on offense. It wasn’t our best game of the year, but it wasn’t our worst and had a chance to win and ultimately didn’t. It was a fun day to be out there and to get my career started, but don’t really want to watch that film any time soon.”
Goff doesn’t have the fondest memories of that loss, though he didn’t play as poorly as he did in some other games that year. The Rams fell to Miami 14-10, and Goff completed 17 of 31 passes for 134 yards but didn’t turn the ball over.
“I don’t know. I mean the whole game. I don’t know,” he said when asked what was so bad about his performance. “Did I throw any picks? I can’t even remember, but it was a loss and I think we scored 13 points, I think we lost 14-13, but yeah. It was the kickoff to my career. A day I’ll never forget, absolutely.”
Goff hopes to have a different result on Sunday against the Dolphins, looking to snap the Rams’ four-game losing skid to Miami. A win would send the Rams into their Week 9 bye at 6-2 and at least in a tie of second place in the NFC West. A loss means they could drop to last place in the division.
