Jared Goff was on the bench. There is no other way to write it. There was no other way to see it.
The Rams’ Super Bowl fullback was in the playoffs for a man who played in one NFL game. The Rams’ $ 134 million quarter with a surgically repaired right thumb was healthy enough to be activated, but was still suitable for a man who had yet to throw an NFL pass.
Going with John Wolford on Saturday was the smart call, the right call, but it was a daring call that could rattle the franchise, and when their NFC wildcard playoff game began in cold Seattle, the Rams had a cold question. .
Where does Jared Goff come from? Are you trying to trade with him? Are you losing his confidence? How can you handle a team leader who has been ordered to sit down at the greatest moment of the season?
Where does Jared Goff come from?
It turns out that barely ten minutes after kick-off, he takes off his mask and takes off his headphones and goes into play.
He’s going to shake. He’s going sloppy. But goodness, he goes and goes, replaces the injured Wolford with a meticulous and clever version of himself, drives the Rams to a 30-20 victory and a trip to next week’s NFC semifinals, also known as the division round .
He’s going to chase sheep in a dark corner of the sideline until he runs across the field, pumping both fists and screaming, that’s where he’s going.
“It feels good,” he said afterwards, the quiet satisfaction filling his voice. “It feels really good.”
It feels really weird, praising a quarterback who was nine for 19 for 155 yards and one touchdown. But it feels really appropriate, as Goff has finally done the one thing he needs to do: make no mistakes and let your top defense do the rest.
It was one of his most terrifying hours, holding his breath with every wobbly pass, constant concern that the player with the most turnover in the NFL since 2019 would lose control against a flying Seahawks defense.
The medical staff, John Wolford,’s fullback of the Rams is being cared for after he was injured in the first half against the Seattle Seahawks. He sustained a neck injury and was taken to a local hospital.
(Ted S. Warren / Associated Press)
But oddly enough, it was one of his best hours, fighting through the thumb and the doubt to make three big plays that led to 17 points, including a 15-yard attack late in the fourth quarter after a wide open Robert Woods to clinch it.
‘We felt like John [Wolford] was really getting ready to get into a rhythm, and then Jared stepped in and handled things incredibly well, ” Rams coach Sean McVay said. “You could see he was just struggling … I was very pleased with his effort … a real honor for him.”
He struggled in every corner. Goff takes away the embarrassment of his first benching since becoming the starter for four seasons. He had just inserted three pins into his broken right thumb a dozen days earlier during the operation. It wasn’t pretty, but he showed a dirty side of himself that Rams fans were waiting to see.
Jared Goff, survivor.
“My thumb is good, I’m not going to use that as an excuse for something that did not go my way today,” he said. “It’s not 100% … but it’s in a good place.”
OK, how was your mood when the game started?
“It was difficult, as a competitor I obviously wanted to be there and want to play, and I felt I could make a difference,” he said.
McVay claims that his choice is based on Goff’s physical status – ‘The thought process we would play in the game was our quarterback, a thumb operation’ – but he also admitted that he made the decision and the team at the start of the week. That meant he did not wait for updates on Goff’s thumb rehabilitation. And Goff, of course, was healed enough to play, otherwise McVay would have activated Blake Bortles.
Make no mistake, Goff was on the bench. And for sure, McVay made the right call. The versatile Wolford was the right back. It was obvious when their second possession of the game, when Wolford led the attack down the field at 60 yards, completed a pair of passes for 28 yards in total, taking them to the Seahawks’ first time 20 moved.
Then football happened.
On a designed run, two yards further than the line, Wolford was hit on the ground and then nailed to the head by the flying right shoulder of Jamal Adams of the Seahawks. It was a cheap shot. It was an illegal shot. It should have been marked.
Under his helmet, Wolford pressed his eyes in pain. Before half-time, he left the stadium in an ambulance and a neck brace. He later returned to the locker room after suffering what McVay called “a sting.”
“It’s a shame for John that he got hurt … I thought he saw the field very well,” McVay said.
Goff immediately looked like the usual frustrating Goff. In his second play, he was fired, and Rams had to settle for a 40-yard field goal. On Goff’s second series, he overturned once and knocked down one pass. On his third series, he threw the ball wildly over everyone.
He looks unprepared. He looked injured. He looks shaken. He smiled later. “I was ready to go,” he said, adding a non-subtle reminder. “I’ve played in big games before.”
Sure enough, things started to happen. Early in the second quarter, Cooper Kupp saved him by coming back for a submerged ball and turning it into a 44-year-old finish that resulted in a running 39-goal kick by Matt Gay.
And on his next series, at a third-and-nine deep in the Rams area, a scrambling Goff lobbed a short pass that turned the amazing Cam Akers into a 44-yard win that eventually led to Akers’ five-yard run to give the Rams a 20-10 halftime lead they never lost.
Goff later concluded it with a shaky but perfect pass that Woods carried into the final zone and an appointment next weekend at either Green Bay or Tampa Bay.
Who will be the starting quarter …?
“Jared did a good job today, he’s our quarterback,” McVay said, but then quickly added. “There’s going to be a lot of prediction about how Jared’s thumb will come out.”
So this is Goff. Can be. Probably. For now.