12-20-2020, 08:40 PM
(12-20-2020, 07:41 PM)bfine32 Wrote: You accidentally cut off my post before it got to the question posed. So I cannot blame you for not answering it.
I didn't even bother responding to it because the answer is obvious.
Jared Goff didn't suddenly become a worse QB because Zac Taylor left. There's clear reasons to explain the decline in numbers.
1.) Todd Gurley's injury.
Todd Gurley went down with a knee injury late in the year. He's never been the same since. He was easily a top 3 back in the league, and one of the best receiving backs as well. When you lose that level of player and replace them with Darrell Henderson/Malcolm Brown it's going to change the look of your offense.
2.) Brandon Cooks' concussions.
Cooks suffered yet another concussion early in 2019, missed time, and he too has never been the same player since. He was a 1,200 yard 10 TD receiver in 2018 and that player was lost in 2019.
The Rams whole identity was the 3 headed monster of Cooks/Woods/Cupp to pair with an elite Todd Gurley. In 2019 it was basically a two head monster of Woods/Cupp with a Cooks and Gurley who were shells of themselves. They lost two Pro Bowl level players worth of production from their roster.
3.) Deteriation of the Offensive Line.
In 2018 the Rams had the 5th best Offensive Line according to PFF. In 2019 they had the 31st best Offensive Line according to PFF.
They lost two starters after the 2018 and replaced them with younger unproven, cheaper options. Andrew Whitworth finally showed his age, got worse, and then finally got hurt this season. This group went from elite level to one of the worst unilts in the entire league in 2019.
4.) Sean McVay's offense.
Everyone had a full year plus an offseason to figure out how to counter Sean McVay's offense. How many times have we seen this? (We're seeing right now with the Ravens for example.)
Sean McVay was a wonderkid in his first year as an OC. But give all of these other coaches around the league a full year of film to study and full offseason to figure it out and usually you're going to see some regression.
Conclusion: It's real easy to look at it, and say "Jared Goff got really bad when Zac Taylor left". But when you consider that his OL went to shit, he lost a 1st team All-Pro Running back who was a weapon in the pass game, his 1,200 yard receiver fell off the map, and his HC/OC's new and exciting offense isn't so new and exciting anymore, then you might come to realize that Zac Taylor has little to do in any of this. In fact, he never did to begin with.
