Rams head coach Sean McVay admitted he shoulders some blame for not getting more out of quarterback Jared Goff, who was recently traded for Matthew Stafford.
Just a couple of years ago, Jared Goff was at the top of the world. He was a Pro Bowl quarterback taking his team to the Super Bowl.
Two seasons of diminishing returns with the Rams later, he was shipped off the Lions as a makeweight in a blockbuster deal for his replacement. What happened?
On Thursday, Rams head coach Sean McVay owned up to the role he played in Goff’s downhill slide.
McVay also went to bat for Goff in terms of the blame he’s received for diminished production across the offense.
Still, Goff would give you the impression McVay privately pinned the issues on the QB.
The Rams dipped to No. 11 in total offense in 2020. They were seventh in 2019 and fourth in 2018. Clearly, they have been headed in the wrong direction. Goff’s passer rating dropping from 101.1 in 2018 to 86.5 in 2019 and 90.0 in 2020 reflects that.
Sean McVay and Jared Goff weren’t the perfect pair after all
McVay’s star has dimmed alongside Goff’s, but he’s been given a chance to prove he’s still the offensive guru he looked like in 2018. Unfortunately for the two, this is likely a zero-sum game. Either McVay will have success with Matthew Stafford running his offense, thus proving Goff was the weak link, or the Stafford trade will not make the difference, proving McVay was the problem all along.
An alternate scenario won’t do Goff much good: Maybe McVay will use his experience with Goff to avoid the same pitfalls with Stafford. That’s what a good coach would do, at least.
Goff, meanwhile, will have his shot to prove the doubters wrong. Succeeding in Detroit would be the ending to this story that very few people expect.