It’s time to take Jared Goff and the Rams seriously
By Josh Hill
Los Angeles has graduated from a 7-9 joke to a legit contender to win the NFC West this year.
Everyone loves a movie where the main character bootstraps their way from rags-to-riches. So it’s only fitting that the Rams are playing out an unexpected redemption story against the backdrop of Hollywood.
A year after moving to Los Angeles, the Rams have gone from the butt of 7-9 jokes to a team that needs to be taken seriously as a playoff contender. Sean McVay and quarterback Jared Goff may look like they’re in college, but they’re part of what is making Los Angeles a team ready to brawl with the big boys of football.
Need proof? Look at how Los Angeles performed on Sunday in Dallas.
Not only did the Rams go on the road and play the Cowboys tough but they convincingly won the game. This wasn’t a case where they were bailed out by some questionable calls and came back at the last minute. Los Angeles manhandled Dallas in a fashion that forces us all to take them seriously as playoff contenders this season.
Consider how the Rams adjusted after falling behind early. Here’s a young team with a first-time head coach and an unproven young quarterback on the road against a potential Super Bowl team. Rather than get down on themselves, the Rams picked themselves up and rallied to take not only the lead but control back. Usually, when a young team like the Rams goes up on the road against a better team there isn’t an aura of confidence.
That wasn’t the case with Jared Goff on Sunday, which is itself is an astounding turn of events from where he was last year. Last week he was making smart decisions (including recognizing and throwing into a pass interference which resulted in a touchdown) and has turned a 180 from where he was as a rookie. Los Angeles’ defense gets a lot of credit, but Goff has slowly moved his way up the quarterback rankings in the NFL and after Sunday needs to be taken way more seriously.
Through the first four games, Goff has already eclipsed 1,000 yards passing and boasts a 7-to-1 touchdown to interception ratio.
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If there’s one guy to credit with this turnaround — both of the team and Goff — it’s head coach Sean McVay. He epitomizes the unexpectedness of the Rams success. When teams hire young, unproven head coaches they want their guy to turn into what McVay has for Los Angeles. The first year head coach already looks like an early Coach of the Year candidate and has taken a team from ‘7-9 bullsh***’ to a team that is now in control of the NFC West and looks to have arrived as the next young team bare-knuckle brawling its way to a seat at the table.