LA Rams witnessed Eagles collapse, know they must fix QB Goff’s play

The LA Rams staff watched as Eagles QB Wentz collapsed and know the same fate awaits unless they can bolster QB Goff

The LA Rams coaching staff have chained themselves to the success or failure of quarterback Jared Goff. In many ways. In fact, the same pledge used to describe a marital bond applies to the relationship between an NFL head coach and his franchise quarterback.  The phrase ‘remaining together for better or for worse’ is applicable to the relationship between a head coach and a franchise quarterback.

Whether the bond is purely financial, scheme driven, or personnel added to build around him, the wisest head coach knows that his career depends upon finding, developing, building around, and compensating the franchise quarterback. Pay the quarterback too little? And he walks when his contract is up. Pay him too much? Suddenly, the team is crippled by overpaying the offensive leader and is virtually powerless to turn things around quickly.

Just ask the Philadelphia Eagles about their experience with franchise quarterback Carson Wentz in the 2020 NFL season. Now, I’m not here to kick Wentz when he had a bad season. But the drams that happened as a result of his struggles with the Eagles is nothing short of a case study of how to end the career of a head coach.

The struggle for any head coach working with their quarterback is drawing the line. In short, where is the right place? If the coach applies tough love, then the quarterback and coach relationship appear adversarial to the general manager and ownership. If the coach is too supportive, then he appears incapable of making tough decisions.  It can prove to be a no-win situation.

Provoking parallels

Doug Pederson was hired by the Philadelphia Eagles in 2016. Sean McVay was hired by the LA Rams in 2017. Pederson took the 13-3 Eagles to Super Bowl 52 in 2017. McVay took the 13-3 Rams to Super Bowl 53 in 2018. Pederson took the Eagles to the playoffs in three of his first four seasons. McVay has taken the Rams to the playoffs in three of his first four seasons.  In his fifth season, the Philadelphia Eagles played to a 4-11-1 record, and Pederson was fired.

In 2020, Carson Wentz threw 251 of 437 passes for 2,620 yards, 16 touchdowns, and 15 interceptions. It was his worst NFL season. Even his accuracy plummeted from an estimated 64 percent completion rate, down to a paltry 57.4 percent completion rate.

Now Sean McVay faces his fifth season.  And quarterback Jared Goff has plateaued in the past two seasons, stuck with no progress even as the Rams offensive line and running game improved in 2020. For a head coach whose career is clearly just as much at risk over Goff’s performance as Pederson’s job depended on Wentz’s performance.

Is it merely a coincidence that both Pederson and McVay have had such an uncanny parallel career track? With a few minor differences, both have followed an in-step career path. They seem to be eerily linked. Now McVay must fight the trend and forge a trek independent of the Pederson/Wentz trajectory. And that may explain the recent turn of events.

Urgency explained

The sudden urgency for the Rams at quarterback is simple. Goff can rebound in 2021. Just as easily, Goff can struggle in 2021. Imagine a season of the LA Rams falling to 4-11-1? As close as HC Sean McVay is with GM Les Snead, I would expect the same outcome. McVay will be ousted, and the Rams will be back to another rebuild.

Suddenly, the intensity of focusing upon the Rams quarterback position begins to make sense. The Philadelphia Eagles attempted a similar ‘create competition’ at the quarterback position, but that was revealed at the 2020 NFL Draft when the Eagles drafted quarterback Jalen Hurts in the second round.

The move stunned Philly beat writers when it went down. And if it stunned reporters, imagine the shock to Wentz himself? Now a similar scenario is taking shape for the Rams.  While the team endures an endless stream of rumors linking the Rams to NFL veteran quarterbacks, no rumor has a ‘feel’ of authenticity.

Will veteran QB Aaron Rodgers truly refuse to play for the Green Bay Packers unless the Packers agree to trade him to the LA Rams? Will the Rams trade for Matthew Stafford from the Detroit Lions, who is merely an older version of Goff? Will the Rams win the bidding war for Houston Texans’ QB, Deshaun Watson?

Rams’ defections align with refocusing the offense

Ultimately, I suspect that new contributor Jay Blucher is truly onto something. He writes that the Rams have added a third mobile quarterback to their roster to prepare for drafting a mobile quarterback. And by attrition, the Rams’ assistant QB coach Liam Coen has accepted a chance to be the offensive coordinator for the University of Kentucky Wildcats.

Adding more evidence, Rams passing game coordinator Shane Waldron is interviewing for the Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator vacancy. That is a pretty bold step to interview with a division rival if there were no questions about his job security with the Rams. The Rams are reconfiguring their offensive way of thinking.

The Rams are making all the moves now to suggest that they, too, will aim at a ‘Jalen Hurts’-like quarterback in the 2021 NFL Draft. What’s more, they are not applying their typical Ninja-style camouflage as they do.  In fact. the Rams are being rather obvious at this point. So what is their end game?

It’s clearly a wise course of action to create a larger number and better quality options for the team at the quarterback position. In one year, a bad season from starting quarterback Jared Goff could end careers. And while I truly believe that Goff has the potential to become an elite quarterback, the speed at which Carson Wentz struggled in 2020 surprised everyone.

The Rams won’t be taken by surprise as easily. While the clues are faint and scattered, there is a pattern to events.  At some point, the Rams will address the quarterback position in a big way. They have not done so since 2016, and clearly believe that it’s time to do so once more. Competition does not happen because the head coach says it will. It occurs when two or more similarly talented players are vying for one position.

The Rams do not have anyone on the roster with a skillset that can match Jared Goff.  So they must either sign a free agent (very expensive), trade for a veteran (very expensive), or draft a quarterback who can truly compete. This is not just about putting up better statistics. This could very likely be the fight of HC Sean McVay’s career.