The subtle hints of a divorce between Rams coach Sean McVay and quarterback Jared Goff slowly intensified as the season progressed, culminating on Saturday when a deal was made to swap the defender for the Detroit Lions, along with 2022 and 2023 first choices of draft 2021 selection of the third round, in exchange for Matthew Stafford.
But there may be no better illustration of what went wrong and what needs to be corrected than what happened in a two-game streak against the New York Jets with no victory in December.
The Rams lost 23-20 at the end of the fourth period and was at New York 37 needing four yards on the third downhill to convert a first, but McVay saw an opportunity for more.
Often praised for his offensive ingenuity, the coach saw a chance to explore the Jets’ man-made cover and shoot into the final zone on the third and fourth descents, with shorter alternative options.
In both moves, Goff caught on to his main target and missed open receivers on the routes below. McVay recognized after the game that these were aggressive decisions, but he believed they would convert one way or the other.
“Clearly, we have to be able to progress there,” said McVay after the game. “Ultimately, we didn’t make those moves.”
This may have been the culmination of the Rams’ frustrations in the attack, but Goff has been inconsistent throughout the season. He had 20 touchdown passes, the lowest since his debut season, and spun the ball 17 times. He fumbled three more times, but the Rams recovered.
This is the kind of game that keeps coaches up at night.
His three twists and turns against the San Francisco 49ers in November cost the Rams the game and prompted McVay to make a rare public criticism that Goff “must take better care of football”.
Stafford has had fewer passes intercepted than Goff in each of the past three seasons, and that with a terrible Detroit team often playing from behind and being forced to shoot. Stafford had 26 in those seasons, including just five in 2019 (in eight games played), and Goff had 41.
Last season, Stafford averaged 7.7 yards for a pass attempt and Goff 7.2. This may not seem like much, but consider the following: Stafford made 13 touchdowns in passes of 20 yards or more, according to Next Gen Stats / Zebra Technologies. Goff played only four of those touchdowns.
After the Rams negotiated the fast Brandin Cooks to create a salary cap, they no longer had a profound threat to increase defenses. This narrowed the coverage and forced the Rams to endure long trips to score points.
This was also a drop in the playoff loss of the NFC divisional round to the Green Bay Packers.
The Packers defense had Rams quarterback Jared Goff on the run during Green Bay’s playoff game.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
“This is not the world I want to live in,” said McVay the day after Green Bay’s defeat. “I think you have to create explosives. I think it is important to have opportunities to catch and escape, but the margin of error is so small and when you are not efficient on the first descent, it seems like a lot to overcome. “
Cooper Kupp and Robert Woods receivers ended with 974 yards and 936 yards, respectively, but most of that production came on short or intermediate routes. The free agents that the Rams could target in their price range to increase speed include Nelson Agholor and Marvin Jones, a former Stafford teammate.
“There is an element in the skill set that players bring that goes beyond receptions, yards and touchdowns, but comes to life in a game of 60 matches,” said Rams general manager Les Snead. “The way the defenses are having to defend you – things open up.”
Goff thrived on a game-action system with bootlegs and a solid racing game, and it doesn’t seem like a coincidence that the Rams’ attack was in tandem with Todd Gurley’s left knee decline.
In his place, newcomer Cam Akers and Darrell Henderson struggled to stay healthy, although Akers still ran for 625 yards and scored five times, despite losing three games and being slow due to an injury. Henderson ended the season on the reserve for the second consecutive season. but it ran for 624 yards and five touchdowns.
Compared to what Stafford is used to in Detroit, this looks like a puppy. In its 12 seasons, Lions have had only one running back top 100 yards in a game 11 times.
Still, since 2016, when Goff joined the league, Stafford has led 18 winning attempts on a team with a 32-47-1 record. Goff produced eight. More intriguing, only 1,738 of Stafford’s 4,084 yards that passed last season came after the capture. Goff shot for 3,952 yards and 2,131 came after reception.
Stafford was successful in the lower camp.
“The long explosives and some of the shots in the field were not as common as last year,” said McVay the day after the Rams’ season ended. “I think it made it more difficult, and your margin of error is much smaller as an attack when you feel like you need to make 10 and 13 moves to score touchdowns.”