The Rams have a new coach and a new offense and a still-kind-of-new quarterback who’s still trying to figure out how to play in the NFL. On Monday, Jared Goff addressed his adjustment to Sean McVay’s system.
“It’s way different,” Goff told reporters. “It’s a way different offense. Personally, from my brief experience with it. I’ve had a quicker time learning it, easier time learning it. I don’t know whether that’s scheme or the way it’s taught or whatnot, but I’ve enjoyed spending time with the coaches and picking it up pretty quickly.”
Goff agrees that McVay is trying to make the quarterback position the easiest to play on the field.
“[Y]ou can definitely tell,” Goff said. “There’s a lot of things that may have been on our plate before aren’t now. But there’s also some things that are. It goes back and forth. . . . He’s taken a lot off of our plate.”
As he learns how to play quarterback, he also needs to learn how to lead. Goff understands the importance of that aspect of his role.
“The quarterback is the leader of the team, and again, that’s something that’s always evolving,” Goff said. “It’s just like you work on your passes, you work on being a leader. It’s something that you try to be the best teammate and everything you can be every day. Just trying to be the best you can be.”
McVay separately offered up a more pragmatic look at the situation.
“It’s a one day at a time approach,” McVay said of Goff’s leadership skills. “I think it’s really just him getting comfortable with whatever is true to his personality. I think there’s different types of ways that guys lead, but what resonates with players is if you’re genuine and authentic about it. I think he’s got a nice way of just being himself and guys naturally gravitate towards him from what I’ve seen so far.”
It’s an important facet of the overall quarterback experience; as former NFL offensive coordinator and college head coach Charlie Weis said after the draft on PFT Live, leadership is the primary quality that determines whether a college quarterback will succeed at the next level. For Goff, then, learning how to run the offense is equally important to learning how to lead the team.