Sometimes to help a quarterback you have to look backwards rather than forwards.
Familiarity is a critical component to the success of a QB. The more familiar they are with the elements around them, be they personnel, playbook, coaches, scheme, the better prepared they are, the more comfortable they are, and ultimately the more successful they are as a result.
A few years ago I wrote a piece for the Pro Football Weekly draft preview magazine. I spoke with a number of people about quarterback development, including former NFL scout Dan Hatman, former college quarterback and now quarterback coach Tony Raccioppi, Seth Keysor who has chronicled the rise of Patrick Mahomes through his coverage of the Kansas City Chiefs, and Ted Nguyen of The Athletic, who also played the position and knows offense and quarterbacks inside-out. But it was something that Matt Bowen, who played safety in the NFL before moving to the media side, told me that is seared into my brain: “If I am an offensive coordinator in the NFL with a young QB, I am making a visit to his college head coach to learn their playbook and the schemes that I can then use in the NFL to have the QB ready as a rookie.”
When Goff was at California, he was running the “Bear Raid,” a version of the Air Raid offense implemented by Sonny Dykes and Tony Franklin. Goff was in the shotgun on almost every snap and the Bears were throwing the football more than 40 times a game.
It turned Goff into the first-overall selection.
So while McVay’s offense, with the eye-candy and the condensed formations and the reliance on play-action propped Goff up, if it did hold back his development a bit perhaps the key to unlocking the QB within is by going to more of a spread-based, wide open offense that Goff is familiar with?
Curious, I spent my Saturday night/Sunday morning charting out Goff’s 2020 season, like all normal people do. I found 22 plays last year with a gain of over 20 yards in the air, and a throw of more than 15 yards. I am trying to strip out big gains that are more a result of the QB himself rather than yardage after the catch or a schematic element such as a screen play.
Of course, a lot of these came due to the McVay system. Play-action boot-action and all the elements that have the young head coach labeled as a genius. But there were eight plays where Goff was in an empty formation. So I dug into those eight.
I found a decisive quarterback. One that looks nothing like the hesitant passer we have seen over the past few years.
Take this third-down throw from back in Week 1 against the Dallas Cowboys:
Goff hits his drop depth and immediately the ball is out on a vertical route to Van Jefferson. No hesitation, and when Goff makes his decision to throw Jefferson is not exactly wide open. But the QB drops this in perfectly, and the Rams have a huge gain.
Against the Buffalo Bills in Week 3, attacking the middle of the field to once more move the chains on third down, without any hesitation at all:
Then there is this throw against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 10. Again Goff moves the chains on third down, finding Tyler Higbee on the corner route:
No hesitation at all. And Goff drops in the corner route, one of the toughest throws to make, extremely well. This is a pass that he has excelled at since his days at Cal.
Finally, perhaps his best throw of the season, all things considered:
NFC Divisional round. On the road at Lambeau Field against the first-overall seed. Surgically-repaired right thumb. First read taken away so he has to reset and attack downfield while pressure is collapsing the pocket.
And against one of those middle-of-the-field open coverages that have given him so much trouble to boot.
This is the quarterback that Goff can be, the quarterback that was at one time the first-overall selection in the draft. Anthony Lynn, who was instrumental in developing Justin Herbert, has to find this player again.
Going back to campus might be where to start.