Jared Goff came up big in Week 17 to help the Los Angeles Rams secure the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoff picture.
By making the tough decision to rest Todd Gurley for the second week in a row due to a knee injury, the Los Angeles Rams knew the best chance they had at defeating the San Francisco 49ers in Week 17 would need to consist of a strong game from Jared Goff.
Prior to Week 16 when the Rams pulled off a big win over the Arizona Cardinals, the former No. 1 pick hadn’t exactly been playing his best football after Goff struggled for the most part during a three-game span.
In fact, when Goff played poorly against the Chicago Bears and Philadelphia Eagles, many were beginning to wonder if he would even be capable of leading Los Angeles on a deep playoff run once January rolled around.
Sunday’s win over the 49ers may have come against a team that ranked near the bottom of the league, but also the Rams have plenty of reasons to be thrilled over Goff stepping up big the way he did in this one.
By completing 15 of 26 passes for 199 yards to go along with four touchdowns (two to Brandin Cooks, two to Josh Reynolds), Goff made a statement while helping Los Angeles lock up the No. 2 seed in regards to having what it takes to be the quarterback for this offense.
Goff was one of the members of the Rams who benefitted the most from the hiring of Sean McVay in 2017 when seeing his history of developing quarterbacks from his days working with the Washington Redskins.
If McVay was capable of helping Kirk Cousins reach a whole new level in such a short period of time, the sky seemed to be the limit for Goff working with the Rams head coach.
Like most quarterbacks in the league, Goff has certainly experienced plenty of ups and downs, but as Sunday showed, he’s the right man for the Rams under center.
Now that Los Angeles no longer has to worry about missing out on a first-round bye since one can only imagine the high level of concern if that ended up happening, at least Goff and the Rams can feel better about their chances for the Divisional Round in two weeks.
As long as Goff plays like he did during Week 17, Los Angeles will certainly feel confident about their chances in making a deep postseason run.
Source: “Los Angeles” – Google News