With the Rams loaded for 2018, can Jared Goff deliver the goods?

By all appearances, the Los Angeles Rams will be loaded when they kick it off for real come the 2018 NFL regular season. Then, it will be up to quarterback Jared Goff to do the rest.

As Los Angeles Rams fans wait on whatever may be next, eventually, thoughts will need to turn to what happens when what’s on paper, is on the field in real time.

Los Angeles is becoming a trendy, hyped team that will have a monster bandwagon come the fall, and they should. With a Hollywood setting, the Rams will be able to pack the LA Coliseum for every preseason game and all seven home dates.

At least, they should.

For the sake of argument and this post, let’s play out the possibility that Ndamukong Suh signs a deal in LA. Expect the Rams to pick defense, most likely a linebacker (though I still say they go offensive live) with their first round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. From there, they manage to dot all the “I’s” and cross all the “T’s”, enroute to high marks for the draft and offseason.

Experts will offer praise, and rightfully so, for the remarkable turnaround authored by head coach Sean McVay, General Manager Les Snead, and defensive coordinator Wade Phillips.

Then it’s ALL on quarterback Jared Goff.

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For all the moves and acquisitions, it will ultimately boil down to the growth and maturity of the third year starter from California. If he continues to track upward, it can be a magical season in Los Angeles.

But if he struggles, endures something of a slump, the brilliance of the 2018 offseason will dull quickly.

Bottom line, Goff has zero margin for error.

Hey, I was a doubter heading into 2017. But like most who were ready to write his epitaph, he proved us all wrong and even flirted with, albeit briefly, MVP talk. He’ll have to do it better this coming season if all this is to mean something.

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McVay and Snead have captured some lightning in a bottle. They saw a chance to do something special, and went for it. If they manage to land Suh, that pressure to win is ratcheted up tenfold.

Goff will have to answer the bell and be even better than what he did last season.

Because he may not pass this way again.