Jared Goff is now the only player to have multiple games with 400+ yards, 4+ TDs, AND a perfect passer rating. Meaning he didn't get that "perfect" passer rating with a high completion percentage and a large yards/completion number; he absolutely torched those teams. And yet the casual fan still sees Goff as some middle-of-the-road average (at best) QB.
I can't wait for the Lions Super Bowl where Jared Goff can finally get the respect he deserves.
In truth, he deserved that reputation for a good part of his career. I have some Lions fans in my life who really didn’t come around on him until this year. Folks are finally giving him the benefit now.
I don't necessarily agree. The Lions (and formerly the Rams) are the only NFL team I follow more than casually, so I don't want to comment on where Goff should be ranked relative to his peers. But I think the underlying issue is the way that the quarterback gets a disproportionate amount of both the credit and the blame. On the Rams, any failure was due to Goff's failings, but any success was due to McVay's genius. In truth, McVay's schemes were eventually figured out by opposing defensive coordinators, and the Rams would always struggle late in the season and/or playoffs. In 2018, Matt Patricia and the Lions were the first expose the Rams offensive flaws, the Chicago Bears built on that, and Bill Belichick built even further on that in the Super Bowl. Goff was forced into difficult throws against a Pro Bowl corner on every play, which was a failure of McVay and the offensive scheme being outcoached by Belichick's defensive genius, but all people remember is Goff played bad and missed that one throw (quarterbacks miss throws all the time, but it's a lot more noticeable if you're 0/1 rather than 5 for 9 or something). McVay would adjust his offense each year in response to the ways defenses had responded to him, but not taking into consideration his quarterback's skillset (again, failure of coaching in my view). Like the 2019 offense would have been successful with a dual-threat QB, but Goff was a square peg in a round hole there. Instead, McVay threw Goff under the bus.
Now in Detroit, Goff has a fantastic offensive coordinator who has designed his offense around his strengths, rather than the other way around. The narrative around Goff went from "can't read a defense, can't do anything without McVay in his ear" (which was never true, for what it's worth) to suddenly one of the best at pre- and post-snap reads.
Aaron Rodgers went the other direction. He was regarded as an elite QB while playing for an extremely competent franchise that put him (mostly) in position to succeed, to a completely dysfunctional franchise and his play has suffered as a result. But most people seem to underestimate the actual responsibility of coaching staffs and pin blame on their most visible player. Like has every Browns QB in the past 20 years truly been a bust, or did the franchise fail each and every one of those QBs?
Cal WBB plays Auburn on Friday night (Big Game Eve) in Haas Pavilion at 6 pm. Come support your undefeated Golden Bears (4-0). Good seats still available. Go Bears!!
Jared Goff is now the only player to have multiple games with 400+ yards, 4+ TDs, AND a perfect passer rating. Meaning he didn't get that "perfect" passer rating with a high completion percentage and a large yards/completion number; he absolutely torched those teams. And yet the casual fan still sees Goff as some middle-of-the-road average (at best) QB.
I can't wait for the Lions Super Bowl where Jared Goff can finally get the respect he deserves.
In truth, he deserved that reputation for a good part of his career. I have some Lions fans in my life who really didn’t come around on him until this year. Folks are finally giving him the benefit now.
I don't necessarily agree. The Lions (and formerly the Rams) are the only NFL team I follow more than casually, so I don't want to comment on where Goff should be ranked relative to his peers. But I think the underlying issue is the way that the quarterback gets a disproportionate amount of both the credit and the blame. On the Rams, any failure was due to Goff's failings, but any success was due to McVay's genius. In truth, McVay's schemes were eventually figured out by opposing defensive coordinators, and the Rams would always struggle late in the season and/or playoffs. In 2018, Matt Patricia and the Lions were the first expose the Rams offensive flaws, the Chicago Bears built on that, and Bill Belichick built even further on that in the Super Bowl. Goff was forced into difficult throws against a Pro Bowl corner on every play, which was a failure of McVay and the offensive scheme being outcoached by Belichick's defensive genius, but all people remember is Goff played bad and missed that one throw (quarterbacks miss throws all the time, but it's a lot more noticeable if you're 0/1 rather than 5 for 9 or something). McVay would adjust his offense each year in response to the ways defenses had responded to him, but not taking into consideration his quarterback's skillset (again, failure of coaching in my view). Like the 2019 offense would have been successful with a dual-threat QB, but Goff was a square peg in a round hole there. Instead, McVay threw Goff under the bus.
Now in Detroit, Goff has a fantastic offensive coordinator who has designed his offense around his strengths, rather than the other way around. The narrative around Goff went from "can't read a defense, can't do anything without McVay in his ear" (which was never true, for what it's worth) to suddenly one of the best at pre- and post-snap reads.
Aaron Rodgers went the other direction. He was regarded as an elite QB while playing for an extremely competent franchise that put him (mostly) in position to succeed, to a completely dysfunctional franchise and his play has suffered as a result. But most people seem to underestimate the actual responsibility of coaching staffs and pin blame on their most visible player. Like has every Browns QB in the past 20 years truly been a bust, or did the franchise fail each and every one of those QBs?
Cal WBB plays Auburn on Friday night (Big Game Eve) in Haas Pavilion at 6 pm. Come support your undefeated Golden Bears (4-0). Good seats still available. Go Bears!!