SUPER BOWL
Feb. 3 | 5:30 p.m. | CBS-2
Rams’ Jared Goff aiming for the stars.
LOS ANGELES — The starstruck phase ended early in Jared Goff ’s first game against the Patriots and quarterback Tom Brady.
Goff, the first pick in the 2016 NFL draft, was a rookie. It was his third start for the Rams.
A week from Sunday, Goff will be on the field again with Brady. And Goff won’t be starry-eyed, even if it is Super Bowl LIII.
“I was probably 7 or 8 years old when he was winning Super Bowls to begin with,” Goff said, “and now I get a chance to play in one with him.”
When the Rams play the Patriots on Feb. 3 at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Brady, 41, will be chasing his sixth Super Bowl title in his ninth appearance with coach Bill Belichick, 66.
Goff is 24. Rams coach Sean McVay turned 33 on Thursday. They are making their first Super Bowl appearances, the Rams’ first since the 2001 season, when Brady led the Patriots past the St. Louis Rams for his first Super Bowl victory. The Rams quarterback said he’s up for the challenge.
“You don’t have a choice — you better get ready,” Goff said, chuckling. “It’ll be fun. I’m excited.”
Goff is establishing clutch credentials. He led the Rams back from a 13-0 deficit in their NFC championship game victory over the Saints at the Superdome. He completed numerous pressurepacked passes near the end of regulation and in overtime.
Goff was “at his best when his best was required,” McVay said. “The competitive greatness showed up in a big way.”
Said Goff: “It gives you some confidence and gives you something to look back on as a way that you handled some stuff correctly.”
Now Goff must prove he can do it on the sport’s biggest stage. Brady has done it repeatedly. In eight Super Bowls, he has thrown for 2,576 yards and 18 touchdowns with five interceptions.
“Getting to this game nine times is unbelievable,” Goff said. “You can’t put into words how remarkable it is ... everything he’s done.”
In the 2016 meeting, Goff passed for 161 yards and a touchdown with two interceptions in a 26-10 Patriots win. That was a different era. A Super Bowl appearance for the Rams in those days was only a dream.
Not anymore.
“Now we have a chance to be world champions,” Goff said.