Jared Goff: From ‘hero’ to ‘goat’. No, not G.O.A.T. as we have been accustomed to seeing on printed pages lately (WORST acronym EVER by the way), but GOAT, as in the person to blame for something.
Goff of course was the first overall pick in 2016 by the Rams to bring in a new era. An era of winning that appeared to be on the right track. Especially after the Rams hired Sean McVay to replace interim coach John Fassell who had replaced the fired Jeff Fisher 2016.
In 2019 the Rams committed to Goff signing him to a four-year $134M extension that seemed to cement the Goff/McVay era would be together for many years to come. But almost a year and a half into that extension, the Rams sent 26-yr old Goff to the Lions to get the 32-yr old Matthew Stafford, in effect, giving up on Goff after what the team decided was a ‘lackluster’ season by their standards, even though Jared Goff won a playoff game with a dislocated right thumb. A playoff game in which he beat Russell Wilson in Seattle before losing to Aaron Rodgers and the Packers at Lambeau on Jan 10.
That was enough for the Rams, who saw his decline in the regular season and decided that was all they needed to see (apparently the Philadelphia Eagles aren’t paying attention here) and made it clear in the post-season that Goff was no longer in their future plans with statements from McVay like, “he’s the quarterback right now.”
But the great Peter Schrager made it clear on twitter that Goff was sought after by more than the Rams.
But the Rams chose the Lions’ offer of Stafford, sending Goff, two first-round picks and a third-round pick. The Rams HAD to include Goff since they don’t have a first-round pick in 2021 that they could send to Detroit.
Goff gets a fresh start in Detroit, but is that a good thing? He had all the support and offensive backing in Los Angeles and could still only muster a 3-seasons and done situation with all the support and coaching behind him. While in LA, he managed 107 touchdowns to 55 interceptions, a completion percentage of 63.4, and a quarterback rating of 91.5. That was WITH McVay, a presumed offensive genius who not only served as head coach but the de-facto offensive coordinator behind him.
Goff now moves to a franchise that’s had zero leadership and zero success over the past 30 seasons, with 9 playoff appearances in that time but their last post-season win in 1991 and last division title in 1993.
He has a first-time GM who previously was a college scouting director, a first-time head coach who has only served as an interim coach in Miami in 2015, and an offensive coordinator who last year was a head coach for LA’s other team.
If Goff couldn’t satisfy the fan-base of LA with all the previously mentioned support, how can anyone expect him to be successful while learning a new system behind a new coaching staff? You can’t. However, with expectations low in Detroit, he does have an opportunity to shine, and bring this franchise back from obscurity. But he’ll have to do it alone, without McVay. Only time will tell.
