Rookie QB Goff not reason Rams lost
Top pick wasn’t great, but lack of discipline hurt team
With Thanksgiving approaching, it’s crunchtime for NFL teams. But even with teams entering the final stretch, fans shouldn’t be too quick to draw wild conclusions based on some of this week’s results.
Here are five overreactions we’re pushing back on after Week 11. JARED GOFF IS A BUST The Goff era finally started in Los Angeles, and the result wasn’t what the Rams had in mind.
The No. 1 overall pick made his NFL debut Sunday in a 14-10 loss to the Miami Dolphins. After he had a shaky preseason and sat behind ineffective Case Keenum for the first 10 weeks (while fellow rookies Dak Prescott and Carson Wentz got off to fast starts), people around the league started to wonder whether Los Angeles made a mistake in drafting Goff.
It’s crazy to think that not even one season into a rookie’s career can go by without whispers of the dreaded draft bust label cropping up.
Goff was not the reason the Rams lost.
Cheap shots, lack of discipline, foolish penalties and lapses of concentration on defense allowed Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill to score two touchdowns in the game’s final five minutes.
To be sure, Goff wasn’t spectacular.
He completed 17 of 31 passing attempts for only 134 yards but did not throw any touchdown passes or interceptions. He attempted only four passes of 20 or more yards down the field and didn’t complete one of them.
The Rams called conservative and restrictive plays. The offensive line broke down and failed to protect Goff adequately. But despite all that, Los Angeles was in position to win in the fourth quarter.
Goff will have plenty of chances to prove the Rams right. INJURIES WILL DOOM SEATTLE The Seahawks are hitting their lateseason stride — as they always do — under coach Pete Carroll. They look like a legit Super Bowl contender. But will a string of injuries derail their season?
Rookie running back C.J. Prosise, safety Early Thomas and cornerback DeShawn Shead left Sunday’s 26-15 victory against the Philadelphia Eagles. Carroll said Prosise would be out for a while, but he noted Monday that Thomas and Shead were each dealing with first-degree hamstring strains that should sideline them for a week or two at most.
Seattle is one of the only teams in the league, however, built to withstand injury issues. Prosise had started to develop into a gamechanging weapon, but his departure comes at a time when the Seahawks are getting last season’s starting running back Thomas Rawls back from a leg injury. Seattle also has depth with rookie Alex Collins able to fill in.
The injuries are a concern, but the best health news is on quarterback Russell Wilson, whose mobility and athleticism seem to be back after he suffered ankle and knee injuries earlier in the season.
Seattle (7-2-1) is three games ahead in the NFC West and should cruise to a division title. As long as the Seahawks don’t suffer any other setbacks to their core players, they should be a strong title contender as well. CHIEFS ARE PRETENDERS The Tampa Bay Buccaneers broke the Kansas City Chiefs’ five-game winning streak Sunday to drop them to 7-3. Kansas City had been hailed as one of the most consistent teams in the NFL. A productive rushing game and a stingy defense made Andy Reid’s crew look like a lock for the postseason.
So the disappointing 19-17 loss is a significant setback, right?
Well, the Bucs are trending in the right direction and are fighting in the NFC South. They’re an ascending team.
Kansas City (7-3) is still a legitimate contender in the AFC West alongside the Oakland Raiders and Denver Broncos. There’s a good chance all three teams will earn playoff berths.
There’s no question the Chiefs will look back on Sunday’s loss at home and regret it. It’s a game they should’ve had — especially considering that quarterback Alex Smith, who normally protects the ball well, tossed an unfortunate red-zone interception late in the second half that proved to be a 14-point swing.
That pick set up Tampa Bay’s only touchdown of the game.
Sunday was a difficult loss for the Chiefs that raised concerns in their game, but future opponents should not take them any lighter because of it. MARVIN LEWIS IS STILL SAFE IN CINCINNATI The Cincinnati Bengals (3-6-1) are almost certain to miss the postseason for the first time since 2010 after a disappointing 16-12 loss at home to the Buffalo Bills.
This development is all the more disheartening given the up-for-grabs AFC North, with the division-leading Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens tied at 5-5.
Star receiver A.J. Green could be out for the season with a hamstring injury, and running back Giovanni Bernard tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. Quarterback Andy Dalton has been inconsistent. The Bengals might be mathematically alive, but their odds are long.
So if Cincinnati sputters the rest of the way, the focus will shift to coach Marvin Lewis and whether it’s time for a transition.
Lewis is the second-longest tenured coach in the NFL behind Bill Belichick. His teams have been a mark of consistency, both good and bad.
The Bengals were once a doormat. Lewis has led them to seven playoff appearances in his 14 seasons in Cincinnati, including a running streak of five trips.
But he is also 0-7 in his career in the postseason. Last season, his team disintegrated late in the team’s divisional round game against the Steelers.
Lewis has been good, but he hasn’t been good enough.
The question now is that if the Bengals decide to fire Lewis, can they get an upgrade? TIME TO BAN EXTRA POINTS Sure, the 12 missed extra points set a single-week NFL record for PAT fu- tility. That means the natural reaction some might have will be to call for the execution of the extra point.
But just because kickers struggled Sunday doesn’t mean the extra point should vanish. It should continue to be an integral part of the game.
The NFL decided before last season to move the extra point back to the 15-yard line, effectively making the PAT a 33-yard field goal. Since then, teams have converted 93.9% of extra point tries, a slight downtick from the near-automatic format the NFL used to have.
The NFL’s goal was to make the PAT a more competitive and uncertain play. Success in that regard was always going to be measured through missed attempts. The league got its wish.
Is the extra point perfect? Definitely not. Should it be pushed back even farther? The NFL’s competition committee can address that at the end of the season.
What’s clear, however, is that the lengthened extra points have added a wrinkle, increased the value of consistent kickers and become a point of debate — something that never would have been possible two years ago.