Jared Goff made great progress in each of the last two years for the Rams. After a disastrous rookie season in 2016, Goff went on to make the Pro Bowl the last two seasons and looked poised for an even better 2019 campaign.
As everyone has seen, though, Goff has regressed instead of continuing to get better. There have been several contributing factors, primarily the poor offensive line play, but Goff has made his share of mistakes, too. He has 12 interceptions in 11 games, which matches his total from 2018 with 21 fewer touchdowns than he had last season.
All of this has come after he signed a four-year, $134 million contract with an NFL-record $110 million guaranteed. He wouldn’t be the first player in league history to have a down year after signing a massive extension, but he’s certain the contract hasn’t had any effect on his game or added extra pressure.
“No, I don’t. I need to make sure that is never the case,” he said this week. “I always want to play like I’ve always had since I was a little kid. Always having fun – enjoying it. Never let the business side of it creep in as far as the way you approach every day or every game. I think I’ve done a pretty good job of that. But there are times where you do think of it. But no, I don’t feel any differently.”
Goff has always had an even-keeled personality, never getting too high or low. It’s an important attribute for a quarterback, and that aspect of his game hasn’t changed since inking that massive extension.
“I think through the ups and the downs I’ve always been myself,” Goff said. “I don’t think anything like that will ever change the way I approach every day the way I approach every game. Obviously, there is a little bit more responsibility, I think. But I don’t think it’s more pressure.”
Goff has been fortunate enough to work with Sean McVay since 2017, which really helped his development. It’s a big reason he turned into a Pro Bowler so quickly, improving in each of the last two years.
McVay isn’t having his best season, either, struggling with his decision-making at times, as well as play calling. He said this week that he and Goff are still growing together and continuing to learn as time goes on.
“I think as we’ve now gone into working through our third year together, there’s a lot of things that both he and I, and really a lot of our team in general, can continue to learn from and make sure that we use those as things to improve upon or the things that you did do right,” McVay said. “Let’s continue to do that when those things or when those defensive structures, or when that play is being run versus a certain look ends up coming up in the future. The accumulation of the experience, and we always talk about that repetition is the mother of learning. Those will kind of go hand in hand.”
The Rams hope both Goff and McVay can turn things around soon, because their 2019 season is quickly getting away from them. One more loss on Sunday could be the final straw for their playoff hopes.
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