What were the Rams waiting for to start Goff?
Jeff Fisher and the Los Angeles Rams' brain trust were mocked when it appeared the quarterback they took with the No. 1 overall pick couldn't start in a league in which a fourth-rounder is thriving.
They were universally panned when they waited 10 weeks to unveil their prized possession in game action.
After allowing Jared Goff his first taste of NFL action last week against the Miami Dolphins, the rookie QB put together an impressive performance against the New Orleans Saints in his second career game. Goff completed 20-of-32 passes for 214 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception. He finished the game with a 100.3 quarterback rating.
It all begs the question, what were the Rams waiting for?
They let Goff sit and watch for the first nine games of the season as Case Keenum was merely average as starting quarterback.
Instead, Goff looked the part of a pro by throwing for three touchdown passes in the first half of Sunday's game. He kept the Rams neck and neck with the Saints before New Orleans pulled away in the second half. The Saints' porous defense is prone to giving up yards and points, but would Keenum have matched points with Drew Brees as Goff did through the first 30 minutes?
It's likely, that in the final year of his current contract, Fisher was coaching for his job in electing to start and stand by Keenum for so long. Keenum had 15 career starts under his belt heading into the season and kept the Rams in the playoff hunt by going 4-5.
But with more than half of the conference in better standing in the playoff race and the Rams owning some of the worst offensive statistics in the league, there was a clear need to kick-start the future iteration of the Los Angeles Rams. Such projects are already underway in Dallas and Philadelphia to encouraging returns.
The Rams bet the farm on Goff, trading their 15th overall pick, two second-round picks, a third-round selection, and their first and fourth-round picks in 2017 for the rights to the California product. It's understandable Fisher wanted to shield Goff if he deemed him not ready for the bright lights, and it's obvious he also wanted to protect the team from any derision if the rookie was terrible early in his career. Nonetheless, Goff proved competent against the Dolphins and Saints. clearly deserving the opportunity to showcase his skills earlier in the year.
His first touchdown pass was a beautiful touch feed just over the shoulder of receiver Tavon Austin. His third TD pass was the picture of accuracy as he put it square in the middle of Lance Kendricks' chest 15 yards down the field.
Goff faces some of the best competition the league has to offer in the next three weeks as the Rams will play the New England Patriots, Atlanta Falcons, and Seattle Seahawks. Goff will struggle and the Rams will likely lose two if not all three of those games, but as he showed against the Saints, at this point in his development, the process outweighs the result.
Goff was a celebrated college quarterback and was deemed a better choice than Carson Wentz, Paxton Lynch, Cody Kessler, and Dak Prescott.
On Sunday, he showed why.