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At one point during Sunday’s game between the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers, one of the broadcasters referred to Jared Goff’s foibles as “uncharacteristic mistakes.”
If you’ve been watching the Rams over the last few weeks, that qualifier, like the bulk of Goff’s passes, feels anything but accurate. Goff’s miscues were on full display during the Rams’ deflating loss, and only the most optimistic of fans felt surprise as balls flopped short, sailed long, and repeatedly found the wrong set of hands.
Despite being 7-4, the Rams have now lost twice to the sub-.500 Niners, and there’s some poetry and symmetry in that. After a Week 6 loss in San Francisco in which he frequently missed open receivers, Goff pledged that such a performance was, “Uncharacteristic stuff ... and something I’ve never done in my life and do not expect to repeat.”
Fast forward two and a half months, and the results were almost comically similar. In the second showdown against San Francisco, Goff completed the same number of passes (19), on a similar number of attempts (31 this week vs. 38 in Week 6), for the same number of yards (198).
Only this time he doubled the interceptions by tossing a pair, and didn’t have any touchdowns. And that’s become quite a trend.
Turnover machine
Goff not only hurled two interceptions in Sunday’s loss, but coughed up a fumble as well, and it brings his running tally to a rather grim mark.
The Rams have ridden their elite defense to impressive wins over the Seattle Seahawks and Tampa Bay Buccaneers in recent weeks, and it’s taken the attention away from Goff’s constant gifting of the football to his opponents.
In the last four weeks, the Rams quarterback has a whopping 10 turnovers — six by way of the interception, and another four due to lost fumbles. He’s had just four touchdowns during that span.
In fairness, Goff did a much better job earlier in the season, but in 11 games this year he has 10 interceptions, seven fumbles, and four lost fumbles.
Not good.
Rams fans are over it
Goff hasn’t been bad enough for the Rams to just mercilessly dump him. But Los Angeles is five years into the Goff experiment, and the relationship seems to be stagnant.
For their part, the fans are certainly ready to move on. Let’s take their temperature.
we do, and his name is John Wolford. All I want is Goff to break a pinky, just so he could miss a few games for the Rams to realize what they have on the bench.
— Eddy Flame (@lightshadowwolf) November 29, 2020
Jared Goff goes from bad to worse. He's unwatchable.
— Fred J. Robledo (@SGVNSports) November 29, 2020
imagine having faith in jared goff.
— Tony X (@soIoucity) November 29, 2020
Jared Goff at quarterback... #Rams pic.twitter.com/6h9DK3Y0eQ
— Mark Brockett (@Tuff_Overlord) November 29, 2020
This loss is 100% on Jared Goff.
— BretthewRams (@BretthewRams) November 30, 2020
Bench Jared Goff!!! https://t.co/YYyD24DXSW
— D.Starz (@Thatz_DeeStarz) November 30, 2020
Football is a team sport, but it’s increasingly clear that the Rams have a winning record in spite of their quarterback, not because of him. At this point it would be foolish to not question his future with the team.
Poll
Who do you want quarterbacking the Rams next year?
This poll is closed
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25%
Jared Goff
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52%
A suitable replacement
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22%
Anyone — literally anyone — but Jared Goff