Jared Goff played 58 snaps on Saturday against the Seattle Seahawks compared to only 15 for John Wolford. But it’s the way the game started that caused some frustration for Goff. Wolford took the first snaps as the starter before exiting with a neck injury, which also landed him in the hospital.
Being the competitor that he is, Goff was not happy about Sean McVay’s decision to start Wolford over him, according to Mike Silver of NFL Network. Silver shed some light on the situation, calling the relationship between Goff and McVay “complicated.”
“He’s a competitor and he was not happy,” Silver said after insinuating that smoke was coming out of Goff’s ears. “Yes, he was 12 days removed from thumb surgery and had three pins in that right thumb, but he believed he should’ve started this game and he and Sean McVay had some long, heartfelt conversations leading into that decision.
The current state of the Jared Goff-Sean McVay working relationship? It's complicated. From The Aftermath on @nflnetwork @RhettNFL @wyche89 @MoveTheSticks pic.twitter.com/SQzhzMBtrU
— Michael Silver (@MikeSilver) January 11, 2021
“Stylistically and professionally, they’ve gotten a bit crossed-up from where they were two years ago when the Rams were rolling all the way to the Super Bowl and then you add this decision, and he was in a tough place.”
So it turns out it’s not all sunshine and roses with Goff and McVay, apparently. It was a difficult decision for McVay to make, knowing his quarterback likely wouldn’t be 100% healthy – which Goff admitted himself after the win over Seattle. But he said his thumb feels fine and refused to use it as an excuse for his struggles on Saturday.
It’s understandable that Goff would feel strongly about starting, especially given the circumstances with Los Angeles playing a do-or-die playoff game. He told Silver afterwards that “it was extremely hard … one of the hardest things I’ve had to handle.”
McVay told Goff they weren’t benching him, which the quarterback understood – but only “to an extent.”
“Sean made it very clear to me, ‘We’re obviously not benching you. We need to have a plan moving forward and this week, with where you’re at physically and what not…’ I got it, to an extent. But it was tough,” Goff said.
McVay still hasn’t announced who will start against the Packers on Saturday, but considering Goff played 58 snaps and didn’t have any real setbacks, he could be in line to start. If McVay goes with Wolford again, though, it could ruffle some feathers even more.
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