Is low-key Goff ready for biggest stage?
Mike Jones: Rams QB’s unflappable nature could be key against Patriots
ATLANTA – There are times Andrew Whitworth wonders about Jared Goff.
The Rams’ 37-year-old left tackle and elder statesman will find himself studying his quarterback, who at 24 ranks among the youngest players on the roster.
Maybe the heat of a moment will feel like it’s about to reach the boiling point. Or maybe a pressure-packed situation will create a near-crippling weight. Then, Whitworth will look at Goff and realize he’s completely unfazed, just as nonchalant and emotionless while simultaneously battling foes, the clock and deafening fan noise as he is on his typical off day.
“He has just a calm to him, and a naiveness sometime that you don’t know if he doesn’t know what’s happening or he knows exactly what’s happening,” Whitworth said.
Naivety would make sense. Goff has only 21⁄2 seasons of starting experience, and maybe the Rams made so fast a rise that he hasn’t even had time to realize his role in that ascension.
But given his performances in the majority of the high-pressure situations he has encountered, maybe — just maybe — the kid does know exactly what’s going on. Perhaps he has
managed to lead the Rams to back-toback seasons with double-digit wins, a pair of NFC West titles and now a march to the Super Bowl because he is indeed wired for this.
“His ability to be himself and be relaxed and play football but the same time have a killer mentality and be able to do whatever it takes to win, I think it makes him a special young kid,” Whitworth said. “And as he grows up, only being 24 years old, he’s going to be a special football player.”
No stage is bigger than Sunday’s Super Bowl LIII. Goff, the owner of two playoff victories, will try to engage Tom Brady, the owner of five Super Bowl rings and eight previous Super Bowl appearances, in a shootout. Goff will try to lead a typically prolific Sean McVay offense against one of the greatest defensive minds in NFL history in Bill Belichick. There, the Rams will try to topple the Patriots’ dynasty while establishing a championship tradition of their own. Is this kid ready for all of this? Everyone around Goff says yes. This Cali kid is unflappable, they say.
When hurriedly labeled a bust after posting a 0-7 record as a rookie, Goff could have doubted himself and the abilities that prompted the Rams to make him the No. 1 pick in the 2016 draft. But he says, “To be honest, I never lost confidence.”
That’s why two years later, he finds himself under the brightest spotlight and instilling confidence in his coaches and teammates every step of the way.
“When you look at Jared and his career trajectory, even high school, college and pro, this is a guy that’s been able to be unfazed by some of the adversities that he’s faced in a game or over the course of a season,” McVay explained Tuesday. “I don’t feel like any job is too big for this guy.”
Goff’s performance in the NFC Championship Game most intensely fuels the Rams’ confidence about his ability to handle the Super Bowl pressures.
“He’s always chill. Never seen him break a sweat,” wide receiver Robert Woods recalled. “Last week against the Saints, we’re trailing 13-nothing, you don’t see any expression from Jared. The same energy, able to bounce back and fight our way to the win, and after we won that game with the kick, still the same emotion from Jared.”
Said McVay, “That atmosphere was as loud as I’ve ever been a part of, and I know it was for him, and I think the way he handled it, just staying even-keeled. … And even, to be down 13-0 and he couldn’t hear, and we had some headset problems where the headset went out ... but he handled it like a vet and didn’t let circumstances dictate to him.”
“The two throws he made to get us into field goal position in the overtime period,” McVay said when asked for the two strongest pieces of evidence of Goff ’s readiness for Sunday’s pressures. “The first one we run a little keeper and he’s got immediate edge pressure to his left and he flips his hips and shoulders around and delivers an unbelievable throw to Tyler Higbee, and he makes a great catch that gets us a first down right away. And then on the second play, it was a play we’d run earlier in the game and I probably came back to it too many times, where (Saints defensive end) Cam Jordan did an excellent job of creating good penetration and (Saints safety) Vonn Bell was right in his face, to be able to get those balls off and get us under 60 yards for the field goal range, that was big.”
The Rams are expecting the Patriots to do everything they can to rattle Goff early, but they also expect that he will respond to that pressure adequately.
He has tremendous respect for Brady. But he’s not going to try to outdo the future Hall of Famer.
Although some have asked him about his low-key approach, Goff will not adapt a different demeanor for this potentially career-defining moment.
His plan is simple: Super Bowl or no, he’ll just always be himself.
“You are who you are. There are plenty of different personalities around the league … I like to take a certain approach, and it’s the way I am. Some guys have a different approach, and I think whatever works is what you should do.”
It’s worked thus far. Why change?