The Los Angeles Rams are an even 3-3 on the season, and while the NFC West franchise remains very much in the mix heading into Week 7, it is safe to say that the reigning NFC champions have underwhelmed in a major way in 2019. After producing a perfect 3-0 start to the year, quarterback Jared Goff and the Rams have since dropped three consecutive games at the hands of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers, respectively.
Now in third place in the divisional standings in addition to losing back-to-back games to NFC West rivals Seattle and San Francisco, the Rams will need to turn things around in a hurry if Los Angeles is going to remain relevant into the back end of the regular season — Goff included.
Limit Turnovers
Los Angeles Rams quarterback Jared Goff has appeared in six regular season games in 2019-20 and has already turned the football over 11 times. With seven interceptions and four fumbles already under his belt this time around, Goff has supplemented this negative production with just seven passing touchdowns and one rushing score.
Last season, Goff appeared in all 16 regular season games for the playoff-bound Rams and accounted for a whopping 21 turnovers with 12 picks and nine fumbles to his credit. However, the difference is that Goff was able to overcome these turnovers by throwing for 32 touchdowns alongside another two scores via the ground game.
It is no secret that securing the football is the key to success for NFL quarterbacks while Goff must protect the rock if the Rams are going to do a full 180 by the end of the regular season. It is also worth mentioning that limiting turnovers will help the Rams defense as well as this once dominant unit has struggled at times this season.
Throw The Football Downfield
Over the course of his first six regular season appearances in 2019-20, Los Angeles Rams quarterback Jared Goff has thrown for 1,727 yards while averaging an even seven yards per completion. Completing 62.2 percent of his passing attempts, Goff has posted these pedestrian numbers in part because he has been forcing the football with the Rams playing from behind more often than normal. This sense of urgency has not behooved Goff, but rather has caused him to panic at times rather than feeling confident in the pocket.
Because Goff has a litany of talented wide receivers at his disposal, he shouldn't be afraid to throw the football anywhere — and especially down the field. With the likes of Cooper Kupp, Robert Woods and Brandin Cooks line up along the outside, Goff should be averaging much more than just seven yards per completion. For reference, he averaged 8.4 yards per completion across 16 regular season games last season and completed just shy of 65 percent of his passing attempts en route to compiling 4,688 yards through the air.
Although Goff isn't too far off from last season's figure of about 8.5 yards per completion, the veteran signal caller must up the ante if the Rams are going to compete against the surging Seattle Seahawks and undefeated San Francisco 49ers. To be clear, Goff shouldn't throw it downfield just to do it, but rather to spread the wealth and capitalize on his wide outs regularly beating their respective defenders.
It should be noted that in order for Goff to throw downfield, the Rams offensive line — a stable and effective unit from a season ago — must be significantly better down the stretch.
Win
In the end, winning cures all in the NFL. If the Los Angeles Rams overcome the current odds and reach the postseason, all will be forgiven and this recent stretch of losing will be nothing but a distant memory. However, on the other hand, if the Rams are unable to turn things around and fall short of returning to the playoffs just one year after becoming NFC Champions by way of an appearance in the Super Bowl, the fans in Los Angeles will be none to pleased with quarterback Jared Goff — among others — to say the least.
Adding to this notion of winning now, the Rams infamously signed Goff to a contract extension this past offseason, much to the dismay of many that feel that the veteran quarterback hasn't quite lived up to the hype of a former No. 1 overall pick. Goff inked a massive four-year, $134 million deal to remain with the Rams for years to come, which will not bode well for Los Angeles if the team cannot revert back to its 2018-19 ways.
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