5 NFL Things Crazier than Rams Not Starting Jared Goff
Conventional wisdom states that you play Jared Goff after you took him with the first-overall pick, but don’t tell that to Jeff Fisher and the Los Angeles Rams.
Jared Goff has yet to take a snap for the Los Angeles Rams and it’s no surprise that this Case Keenum-led team is sitting at 3-4. Keenum has managed to pretend to be a good quarterback on a couple of occasions. For the most part, though, his play reflects his 77.5 QB Rating. Just last week, we saw him produce a nightmare of a performance against the New York Giants in London.
Rams fans who want Goff to play are probably sick when they look at the seasons Carson Wentz and Dak Prescott are having. Seeing other rookie quarterbacks having immediate success has to hurt, especially since Los Angeles took Goff before all of them. Maybe Goff looked worse than all of them in the preseason, but the Rams didn’t think so at the time. So, why don’t they try him out?
The Rams not starting Goff seems crazy, but even crazier things are happening right now in the NFL. In our effort to spare Fisher and the Rams, let’s take a look at five things that are even crazier than Goff riding the pine.
Oct 16, 2016; New Orleans, LA, USA; Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton (1) reacts after scoring a touchdown against the New Orleans Saints during the fourth quarter of a game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. The Saints defeated the Panthers 41-38. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
The Carolina Panthers Are 1-5
Contrary to what your uncle who rarely watches the NFL and still believes Andre Johnson is good thinks, the 2015 Carolina Panthers were not a one-hit wonder. Sure, 2015 was the best season of Cam Newton’s career, and the Panthers were close to pulling off an undefeated regular season. However, Carolina won the division in back-to-back seasons before 2015. And while they didn’t have a winning record in 2014 (and were lucky enough to win a playoff game by virtue of facing a team quarterbacked by Ryan Lindley), they did win 12 games in 2013.
Losing Josh Norman is not the sole reason why the Panthers are 1-5 and dead last in the NFC South. That said, since the Panthers are 30th in the NFL in net yards per pass attempt allowed, it’s safe to say that Norman’s dismissal has at least something to do with the Panthers massive struggles.
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From 2013-15, the Panthers held the distinction of being one of the best-coached teams. Ron Rivera, Sean McDermott, and Mike Shula are some of the brightest minds in the business, and everyone saw that throughout their NFC Championship-winning season. That hasn’t been the case this season, and it was especially concerning to see how they covered Julio Jones in their Week 4 loss to the Atlanta Falcons. No, Carolina did not have anyone who could cover Jones, but why were they so unwilling to provide safety help? How could the coaching staff allow Jones to make so many big plays without even being challenged?
The Panthers have lost three-straight games, one to each team in their division, and have been one of the worst teams in the NFL in 2016. Cam Newton already has six interceptions through five games and Kelvin Benjamin has been their only not-horrible wide receiver. And oh yeah, this passing offense was supposed to be better with him back in the fold.
Did the Panthers miss Jonathan Stewart more than we thought? Maybe, but they still lost when he returned and beasted the New Orleans Saints garbage run defense in Week 6. Carolina is fifth in the NFL in points per game, but they are 29th in points per game allowed. There’s no pass rush here and you have to wonder if the Panthers should have taken an end instead of a defensive tackle in the first round of the 2016 draft.
Oct 24, 2016; Denver, CO, USA; Houston Texans wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins (10) before the game against the Denver Broncos at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports
DeAndre Hopkins Struggling
Last season, Houston Texans wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins was arguably the best player at the position in the NFL—and this came despite playing with nothing around him. Houston had just about no talent to speak of at running back or wide receiver and their quarterbacks were among the NFL’s most ridiculed.
Brock Osweiler, Lamar Miller, Braxton Miller, and Will Fuller were supposed to help Hopkins reach new heights of efficiency. Instead, Hopkins has averaged just 5.65 yards per target. With 390 receiving yards, Hopkins has also totaled even less yardage than Washington Redskins receiver Jamison Crowder, who has been given 25 fewer targets.
Hopkins is 33rd in the NFL in receiving yards, but he is eighth in targets. Aside from Los Angeles Rams gadget player Tavon Austin, I can’t think of a less efficient starting wide receiver in the NFL right now.
Nuclear power plants have planned outages, but it isn’t like the Texans have been scaling back Hopkins’ workload. They continue to try and feed him and I can’t pin this on Bill O’Brien and the coaching staff. This is on Brock Osweiler’s awful quarterbacking. You could make the argument that he has been the worst starting quarterback in the NFL this season. Osweiler does not give Hopkins a chance to make plays, whereas guys like Brian Hoyer and Brandon Weeden at least did that much for the former Clemson star.
Oct 23, 2016; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Miami Dolphins running back Jay Ajayi (23) runs the ball against the Buffalo Bills during the second half at Hard Rock Stadium. The Miami Dolphins defeat the Buffalo Bills 28-25. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
Everything About Jay Ajayi
Before the season, the Miami Dolphins seemed a little sour on second-year running back Jay Ajayi. New head coach Adam Gase did not draft Ajayi, but he was seen by outside observers as important pieces on offense heading into the season. Instead, Gase did not even have him active in Week 1 and some questioned if he simply wasn’t buying in to the new regime.
Ajayi’s Week 2 return to the active roster didn’t make much noise, mostly because his fumble marred his four receptions for 31 yards. It seemed like Miami was giving Arian Foster, Damien Williams, and rookie Kenyan Drake more run than Ajayi. All this despite the fact that the latter was seen as one of the most talented running backs in the 2015 class before a knee issue caused him to tumble to the fifth.
In Week 6 against a lousy Pittsburgh Steelers defense, Ajayi finally got a chance to shine. He came into the game with two touchdowns on the season, but little else production-wise. He left with two more touchdowns and a 200-yard rushing day.
Trying to prove that his Week 6 was no fluke, Ajayi carried the Dolphins to victory over the Buffalo Bills in Week 7, once again rushing for over 200 yards. Ajayi broke some tough tackles and, thanks to those two huge performances, he is now averaging nearly 90 rushing yards per game and over six yards per carry for the year.
Ajayi joined Earl Campbell, O.J. Simpson, and Ricky Williams as the only backs to have back-to-back 200-yard rushing games in NFL history.
Lamar Miller is having an excellent season for the Houston Texans, but there’s a chance Ajayi is an even bigger star. And yet, just a couple of months ago, some were writing him off after the coaching staff had seemingly soured on him.
Oct 20, 2016; Green Bay, WI, USA; Chicago Bears quarterback Brian Hoyer (2) warms up before game against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports
Brian Hoyer’s Stats
No, he isn’t better than Jay Cutler; but let’s just take a moment to appreciate what Brian Hoyer did with exactly 200 passing attempts for the Chicago Bears this season. After his embarrassing display against the Kansas City Chiefs that prevented the Houston Texans from having any hopes of winning their playoff game, Hoyer dusted himself off and played at a high level in spot duty with Cutler out.
Hoyer played four games from start-to-finish, throwing for over 300 passing yards in all of them. He also didn’t throw an interception, meaning he and Tom Brady are the only players with a zero interception rate this season.
In fact, Hoyer had a 67 percent completion rate and a 98 QB rating before going down. That’s not bad for a guy who refused to throw it to Alshon Jeffery, mostly because he can’t turn his head to the left. Or, at least, that’s what I figured, since Hoyer only appeared to be interested in peppering the right side of the field with targets.
So, Hoyer had over 300 yards per game, six touchdowns, and no interceptions in his four full starts. That’s kind of crazy, especially since he went 1-3 in that span, losing to “powerhouses” like the Indianapolis Colts and Jacksonville Jaguars.
Unfortunately for Hoyer, he suffered an injury of his own in Week 7. Now, Hoyer has landed on IR with a broken arm with basically no chance he returns to the field this year. It’s a sad ending to a story that was playing out incredibly well for Hoyer. Yeah, the Bears only won a single game. But Hoyer’s 302-yard game against the Detroit Lions was also their lone victory.
Oct 2, 2016; Santa Clara, CA, USA; Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott (left) celebrates with cornerback Morris Claiborne (24) during the fourth quarter against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi
Dallas Cowboys Are NFC’s No. 1 Seed Right Now
Both the Dallas Cowboys and Minnesota Vikings are 5-1 heading into Week 8, but according to Pro-Football Reference, the Cowboys are actually the NFC’s No. 1 seed by virtue of their in-conference record.
When Tony Romo and Dez Bryant were injured last season, the results were catastrophic for the Cowboys. After going 12-4 in 2014 as a true juggernaut in the NFC, the Cowboys went 4-12 and notched just one win without Romo.
This season, Romo hasn’t played at all and Bryant has been out since Week 3. However, the Cowboys have actually been undefeated in games without both players. The Cowboys narrowly lost in Week 1 in Bryant’s one-catch, eight-yard performance. Dallas wisely got Bryant more involved thereafter (prior to his injury), but they would have won that game against the New York Giants if Terrance Williams had his head been on straight at the end.
It doesn’t matter, though, because the Cowboys are riding a five-game winning streak. Dak Prescott has been just as good as he was in the preseason and you could make the argument that only Tom Brady has been better at quarterback this season. You could also make the argument that fellow rookie Carson Wentz has been better, but that’s immaterial. The point is that Prescott has been so good that Romo vs. Prescott is a legitimate debate, even though Romo has been an MVP-caliber player in the recent past (2014, to be specific).
We all saw how critical DeMarco Murray’s own MVP-caliber 2014 season was for the Cowboys passing offense, and they’ve somewhat recreated that with Ezekiel Elliott. Some wondered why the Cowboys took Elliott so high when they had major needs on defense, but most people at least understood the pick. Elliott had all the traits of an elite, nearly bust-proof back. What’s more, he was someone the Cowboys could build an offensive identity around. They have one of the best offensive lines in NFL history, but we wouldn’t truly get to see the fruits of their labors without a running back possessing Elliott’s football IQ.
Elliott should be the Rookie of the Year front-runner, even if Joey Bosa, Wentz, and his teammate in Prescott will have something to say about that. Murray leads the league in rushing yards, but that’s because he’s played in two more games than Elliott. With 117.2 rushing yards per game, Elliott is in the lead by 19.9 yards per game. This while also averaging 5.1 yards per carry.
We can talk up Elliott, Prescott, the offensive line, and even Cole Beasley, but don’t forget about the Cowboys defense. This isn’t the same lousy defense of years past. The Cowboys are seventh in the NFL in points per game allowed, and it can be hard to explain the improvement.
Suspensions and injury have rendered the Cowboys pass rush as useless as expected. However, Demarcus Lawrence is back and trying to get into a groove. And behind him will be one of the league’s most underrated secondaries. Morris Claiborne has been shockingly good this year, Barry Church is one of the game’s best strong safeties, Byron Jones isn’t a future star because he already is one, and Brandon Carr isn’t the worst option. What more could you ask?
The Minnesota Vikings may have the league’s best defense, and the Seattle Seahawks surely have more talent on their roster. However, the Cowboys deserve to be recognized as the best team in the NFC through seven weeks. You have to admire how the team’s young stars have stepped up and shined.
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