For Los Angeles Rams And Jared Goff, The NFL Clock Is Ticking

The Los Angeles Rams realize they can’t afford to see Jared Goff fall behind with his development process in the NFL.

For Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay, the clock on the wall ticks louder by the day. Heck, it is clicking louder by the minute. When you go 4-12, and are a familiar companion to life below the Mendoza Line, you can’t afford to wait long on getting better.

Thanks to the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement, teams are prohibited from contact with players during this time of year. That means no film, no conversations, no talking about the playbook, no anything. It’s dead time, and in Los Angeles where every moment will count, it’s like waiting to drive the car idling on the 405.

The Rams need this time. McVay needs this time, most importantly Jared Goff needs this time. The current CBA offers no help for those who need it most, like Goff who has yet to win a game in his seven game NFL career. For McVay, it’s time lost with a second-year quarterback who needs to learn a new offensive scheme, and terminology.

It’s also time they won’t get back.

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Come April 10, the Rams, McVay, and Goff can finally get together and talk some football. And there is going to be plenty to talk about.

For a young quarterback like Goff, who spent 2016 on the Jeff Fisher/Rob Boras train to nowhere, time is of the essence, and McVay is keenly aware of that.

After all, this is why he is here.

The reclamation project that is the Rams begins and ends with McVay turning Goff around. The sooner that happens, the sooner Los Angeles can put a sub .500 record squarely in the rear view mirror. With a new NFL palace on deck in 2019, and the Chargers competing for the L.A. fan base, the Rams know every second wasted in the NFL CBA dead zone is an opportunity lost.

The fine line between those who succeed and those who don’t in this league is measured not by incremental progress, but by wins on Sunday. While the dead zone doesn’t affect the Tom Brady’s or Aaron Rodgers of the NFL world, it’s a significant penalty for teams trying to find their way with young players.

Especially one like Goff.

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The Rams are “all in” on the second year man from California, and 2017 has to yield results that change the balance on the Coliseum scoreboard. McVay and Goff don’t need to hit a home run every time out, but they no longer have the luxury of putting up more losses than wins in the Monday morning box score.

The time for improvement begins on April 10. For McVay and the Rams, that ticking clock keeps getting louder and louder.