One of the biggest indicators of success in the NFL is turnover margin. And put simply, the Rams haven’t been good enough in that department. After Sunday’s game, they’ve now committed 19 turnovers in 11 games.
Of those 19 turnovers, 14 have been by Jared Goff. The quarterback is always going to be the one to give the ball away most on any given team, considering how often he handles the ball, but Goff’s giveaways have become costly in recent weeks.
In his last four games, he’s fumbled it five times (four lost) and thrown six interceptions. He threw two interceptions on Sunday against the 49ers and lost a fumble while being careless with the ball on a scramble, committing three of the Rams’ four turnovers.
Afterwards, Sean McVay was uncharacteristically critical of his quarterback, saying he has to be better about taking care of the ball.
“It’s taking care of the football. Our quarterback’s got to take better care of the football,” he said flatly.
Both of Goff’s interceptions were squarely on him and no one else. The first was a complete misfire on a throw to Robert Woods, which landed in the hands of Richard Sherman, who was all alone with no receiver within 3 yards of him. The second was a terrible decision, attempting to hit a double-covered Cooper Kupp, with Javon Kinlaw roaming underneath unseen by Goff.
McVay offered a couple of solutions for Goff’s issues, making it very clear that they’re mistakes Goff must correct if the Rams are going to be as good as they’re capable of being.
“Each play is its own situation, but might be keeping two hands on the ball,” McVay began. “Might be understanding that if someone’s swarming around you, you can’t just throw it away when you don’t see where you’re going. Being able to trust your guys to separate. But overall, any time you turn it over as many times as we did and he did, it’s just got to be better. And he’s capable of it, but we’ve got to be able to get it done.”
McVay stopped short of blaming Goff for the loss, saying multiple times that the 49ers deserve credit for showing up and playing well on Sunday. There were mistakes made on both sides of the ball, as well as by other offensive players not named Goff.
But when you’re the quarterback, you get the praise for wins and the blame for losses. And Goff was certainly the Rams’ biggest problem on Sunday afternoon against the 49ers.
“In a lot of instances, just simple execution,” McVay said. “Guys that we’re counting on to be able to make plays that didn’t do it in crunch-time moments. Those are things that if we want to be the team that we’re capable of being, we need guys to be able to step up at certain spots.
“If we expect to do things as we move forward, we just have to take better care of the football. It’s as simple as that. We’ve got to execute in certain spots and it’s something that has to get better, and that’s the bottom line.”