THE VOICES IN HIS HEAD
Rams hired not one, not two but three coaches to drive young quarterback Jared Goff — just hopefully not crazy
Sean McVay developed Kirk Cousins into one of the NFL’s most productive passers.
Matt LaFleur was 2016 league MVP Matt Ryan’s position coach.
Greg Olson coached Drew Brees in college before working with numerous passers during 15 seasons as an NFL quarterbacks coach and coordinator.
The coaching triumvirate is now responsible for Rams quarterback Jared Goff.
After going winless in seven starts at the end of his rookie season, the No. 1 pick in the 2016 NFL draft is preparing to lead the Rams as the full-time starter. His development was the focus of nearly every move the Rams made in the offseason, including hiring the 31year-old McVay as coach to replace defense-minded Jeff Fisher.
The challenge for McVay, offensive coordinator LaFleur and quarterbacks coach Olson is to make sure Goff does not get mixed signals in the meeting room, on the practice field and during games.
“It’s always striving to make sure our message is very clear and consistent across the three voices that he’s dealing with,” McVay said. So far, so good, Goff said. “Ultimately, Sean is the final say on most everything,” Goff said. “But Matt and Oly have been a great extension of him. I’m able to ask any one of those three questions and get pretty much the same answer.
“And at the same time, they will have different opinions on things on stuff that isn’t so cut and dry. You can ask, ‘Hey, what’s your experience with this?’ and get different answers. That’s good for me as well.”
McVay, who will call plays, has experience working with LaFleur and Olson. LaFleur, 37, was the Washington Redskins’ quarterbacks coach for four seasons when McVay was tight ends coach and then offensive coordinator. Olson, 54, was a member of Jon Gruden’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers staff in 2008 when McVay began his NFL career as a coaching assistant.
“We all have the same philosophy,” LaFleur said. “When you have the same philosophy, it’s a lot easier to be on the same page.”
McVay helmed the Redskins’ offense when Cousins, a fourthround draft pick, evolved into a quarterback who last season ranked third in the NFL in passing yardage. LaFleur joined the Atlanta Falcons’ staff as quarterbacks coach in 2015. Last season Ryan passed for 38 touchdowns, ranked second in passing yardage and led his team to the Super Bowl.
Proximity to a player who prepared as meticulously as Ryan on a daily basis “helped me be more prepared to help with Jared,” LaFleur said.
“Sometimes, a lot of these guys coming into the league, they don’t always know what that looks like,” LaFleur said. “You almost have to be around it. I’ve tried to articulate that as best as I can to him . ... We’ve all kind of drawn on our own past experiences to try and help equip him with the best way that he can get prepared for Sundays.”
Olson said there are very few times that he, LaFleur and McVay are not in the same meetings. So they are able to relay a consistent message to Goff and backup quarterbacks Sean Mannion and Dan Orlovsky.
“That’s what’s most important,” Olson said, “that they’re hearing the same language from all three of us.”
But is so much quarterbackcoaching knowledge from three different sources too much for one player to absorb without confusion?
Olson’s first NFL job was as the quarterbacks coach on a 2001 San Francisco 49ers staff that included head coach Steve Mariucci and offensive coordinator Greg Knapp. Both had extensive backgrounds working with quarterbacks. That season, Jeff Garcia ranked second in the league in touchdown passes and ninth in passing yardage. The 49ers finished 12-4 and made the playoffs.
“I could never envision it becoming disjointed,” Olson said.
The Rams cannot afford for it to become so.
To help Goff ’s performance on the field, they added three-time Pro Bowl tackle Andrew Whitworth, receivers Sammy Watkins, Robert Woods, Cooper Kupp and Josh Reynolds, and tight end Gerald Everett.
Goff was up and down in the first three preseason games — completing 19 of 24 passes for 194 yards and a touchdown in the first two, before committing two turnovers Aug. 26 against the Chargers — but confusion with coaches did not appear to be the issue.
Should it become so, McVay is prepared to reset.
“If there’s any confusion, or if Oly or Matt have a question, they come to talk to me,” McVay said. “We get it squared away and we end on the same page.”