Rams’ rookie QB Goff has terrible pro start
Pivot falls to third on team’s depth chart after unimpressive pre-season
Beneath the glut of concluding pre-season games Thursday night, the continuing Colin Kaepernick controversy and the beginning of mass roster paredowns, you might have missed this not insignificant NFL news.
Hotshot rookie quarterback Jared Goff not only wouldn’t have started if the Los Angeles Rams season began this weekend, he’d be the third-stringer.
Yup. Behind the designated starter, fifth-year Case Keenum, and second-year Sean Mannion.
Goff, whose selection in April at No. 1 overall cost the Los Angeles Rams a fortune in future draft picks, concluded a bad pre-season with an even worse performance at Minnesota on Thursday night.
Afterward, Rams head coach Jeff Fisher had little choice but to confirm what any astute observer already deduced: Goff isn’t ready yet even to serve as backup.
Asked specifically if he’d be confident in Goff as Keenum’s backup, Fisher said:
“You know, I think it’s going to take a little bit more time. That’s not to say he can’t be a two, or start, but if we’re starting right now, I’d probably have Sean as the two. Because it’s all about being patient with (Goff ). He’s not frustrated or anything.” Maybe he should be. Goff looked fine on the Rams’ opening drive at U.S. Bank Stadium. He capped a 62-yard, seven-play drive with a one-yard TD pass to Kenny Britt. Goff went 3-of-4 for 53 yards on the drive, all from the shotgun, even if all three passes were short.
Then his game crumbled. He completed only 3-of-12 over the rest of the half, for 14 yards. And he committed two ugly turnovers, both in the final two minutes: one a lost fumble, the other an unwisely thrown interception.
Goff finished the pre-season exactly as a not-ready-for-primetime player would: 22-of-49 (44.9 per cent) for 232 yards, two TDs, two interceptions, only 4.7 yards per attempt and a 55.8 passer rating.
Before Goff’s dud at Minnesota, ProFootballFocus.com found that he’d completed only two passes for 13 yards when pressured, on 12 dropbacks. On the other 10 dropbacks he was sacked four times and threw a pick. Just. Not. Ready. Fisher and Rams GM Les Snead probably are disappointed Goff hasn’t progressed faster, especially as they’re having him pass from the shotgun on almost every play, as he did at Cal. But they’ll never admit it publicly.
“He’s much better now than he was when we started,” Fisher said. “He has made significant progress. He’s comfortable. He understands things.
“We know what goes on in the practice field and in the meeting rooms, his understanding and his grasp of everything. He’s confident with it right now. He’s not ready, but he’s really, really made significant progress.”
But he’s still really, really not ready. And he’ll be the first No. 1 overall quarterback not to start his first regular-season game this decade.
NINKOVICH OUT ‘AGAIN’: We knew New England edge rusher Robert Ninkovich would miss the Patriots’ first four games (at least), as a result of a triceps tear earlier this summer. Now he won’t get paid for those first four games.
Ninkovich told ESPN’s Mike Reiss on Friday that he has been suspended by the NFL for violating the league’s policy against performance-enhancing drugs. He said it was inadvertent, because he didn’t check the contents of a supplement he took.
Arguably the most impactful Patriots D-lineman, Ninkovich joins QB Tom Brady, banned from the team and all contact with the team until Monday, Oct. 3, before the Pats’ game at Cleveland.
GENO No. 2: The New York Jets named disgruntled Geno Smith the first backup to starting QB Ryan Fitzpatrick, according to head coach Todd Bowles. That’s a minor surprise, and it means that Bryce Petty — last year’s over-drafted project — probably is the odd man out, so that the club can hang onto this year’s over-drafted project, Christian Hackenberg, who looked even more lost than Goff in the preseason.
CUTS START COMING: Teams have until 1 p.m. today to pare their rosters from 75 to 53. Buffalo started the axe-swinging early Friday afternoon, dropping 21 players, including veteran OLB Manny Lawson and FB Jerome Felton.
Among QBs set free already are Kansas City’s Aaron Murray and Minnesota’s Brad Sorensen.
PRACTICE-SQUAD RULES: A reminder that a team cannot start signing up to 10 players to its practice squad until 9 a.m. on Sunday. No doubt each team has that destination in mind for a handful of this week’s cuts.
Only players without an accrued season of free-agency credit, or who were on the 46-man active list for less than nine regular-season games in their only accrued season or seasons, are eligible for the practice squad.
No player can be parked on the practice squad for more than three seasons, and practicesquad players are free to sign with any team, at any time, so long as that team places him on the active 53-man roster.
UPON FURTHER REVIEW: On his first weekly explainer video this season, the NFL’s senior vicepresident of officiating, Dean Blandino, said the league will review after Week 4 the new one-year experimental touchback rule, which might encourage more kickoffs rather than discourage them, as intended. The rule calls for the ball to be brought out to the 25-yard line, not the 20 as in the past.