Jared Goff’s sharp performance vs. Bills is a big reason for optimism
It’s hard for a team or its fans to feel good after a loss, especially a dramatic one like the Rams suffered on Sunday afternoon in Buffalo. But even after mounting a huge comeback, only to let the win slip away, the Rams should be thrilled with the way Jared Goff played.
Rams fans should, too.
He had arguably his best game of the season against the toughest defense he’s faced through three weeks, completing 23 of 32 passes for 321 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. And even as well as he played against the Eagles, this performance topped it.
Just look at his passing chart from Next Gen Stats, which puts into perspective how accurate he was against Buffalo.
He completed 10 of 12 passes thrown at least 10 yards downfield, with his lone mistake being an interception thrown in the direction of Van Jefferson, who was tightly covered. His other incompletion was a throw on the run to Josh Reynolds along the sideline on a desperation fourth-and-4 attempt where no one was open.
Five of Goff’s other incompletions were at or behind the line of scrimmage when the Bills snuffed out a screen pass and gave Goff no open targets. Those are hardly the quarterback’s fault, and are more about the defense making a great play than Goff throwing an inaccurate pass.
If you eliminate his five incompletions behind the line and his spiked throw into the turf after being pressured (not shown on the chart), he only threw three incompletions down the field. That’s pretty darn good and is an example of just how good Goff can be when given time in the pocket.
Goff threw more passes into tight windows on Sunday, too, with an aggressiveness rate of 21.9% – tied for fifth-highest in the NFL this week and up from only 3.7% in Week 2. He didn’t have to take many deep shots, but the throws he did make at least 10 yards downfield were accurate ones.
The progress Goff has made this season is highly encouraging and if he can keep up this level of play, the Rams will be back in the playoffs come January.
