One thing is clear: The Rams' next coach has to be able to help Jared Goff
The Los Angeles Rams fired Jeff Fisher on Sunday, just four days before their Thursday night matchup in Seattle against their NFC West rival, the Seahawks. It wasn’t a lot of time for interim coach John Fassel to work miracles, and it’s unlikely anyone was expecting one on such short notice.
But whoever the Rams hire as their new head coach, or maybe their offensive coordinator, has to be someone able to work a little magic with Jared Goff. A quarterback whisperer, if you will.
The No. 1 overall pick out of Cal-Berkeley, Goff made his fifth start on Thursday night, and there was little good for Los Angeles in a 24-3 loss, the 10th defeat of the season. The Rams’ 32nd-ranked offense continued to struggle moving the ball: their first three plays of the night went for minus-11 yards. Yes, really – an incomplete pass followed by a 2-yard loss on a pass to Todd Gurley and a 9-yard loss on a sack.
Their second possession was arguably their best of the night, marching 65 yards on 11 plays. Facing fourth-and-1 from the Seahawks’ 7, Fassel went for it (Los Angeles would go 0-for-4 on fourth down on the night), with Gurley getting the ball; initially officials said the second-year back got the first down, but Seattle challenged the spot of the ball and the call was overturned.
Before Goff was forced out of the game – he was checked for a concussion after Richard Sherman drilled him at the end of a 15-yard scramble, a run that was negated by a holding penalty – he completed just over 50 percent of his passes (13-for-25) for 135 yards, with no touchdowns, no picks and four sacks.
And Goff wasn’t the only player in the game suspected of suffering a concussion. Seattle almost inexplicably tried a fake punt in the fourth quarter, up by three touchdowns, with punter Jon Ryan tucking the ball away and taking off up the wide-open middle of the field. Ryan bobbled the ball, and as he tried to corral it, he was drilled and lost the ball. He lay on the field for a minute before getting up, clearly in a fog.
Goff has completed just 54.7 percent of his pass attempts, with four TDs, five interceptions, and has been sacked 15 times in five games.
Yes, the young man needs help, but not just from the coaching staff: as those 15 sacks indicate, he needs a better offensive line in front of him, a better line would also help Gurley, who is now averaging just 3.22 yards a carry this season, a huge drop from last year’s 4.8 YPA, and Goff also needs receivers who can consistently catch the ball; in the first quarter, wide-open Mike Thomas dropped a deep ball that would have been a huge gain and may have let the Rams get on the scoreboard first.
Clearly, there are no quick fixes. But it can be done: since the Miami Dolphins drafted Ryan Tannehill, they haven’t had the best offensive line, but he’s had some solid skill players around him. This season, with new head coach/QB guru Adam Gase aboard, Tannehill has played the best ball of his career as Miami has won seven of its last eight.
Rams fans have already started to lose their excitement over the team’s return to Los Angeles, and who can blame them? They don’t put points on the board (197 points in 14 games, just over 14 points a game), and since winning their first game back in L.A. (by a 9-3 score, natch), they haven’t won again at the Coliseum. Team owner Stan Kroenke is spending a lot of money to build a new stadium in Inglewood, but it’s going to be sparkling and empty if the Rams don’t start getting on a winning path.
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