Rams QB Jared Goff on SoFi Stadium debut: “It was very galvanizing.”
INGLEWOOD, Calif. -- Without fans generating ear-splitting noise in the 70,000-seat, SoFi Stadium, Los Angeles Rams quarterback Jared Goff said he and his teammates knew that they had to create their own energy.
So they clapped and howled when safety Jordan Fuller made a big play to get the defense off the field on fourth down late in the game, and when cornerback Jalen Ramsey delivered a bone-jarring hit to Dallas Cowboys receiver Amari Cooper.
And you could hear cheers from the Rams sideline when former teammate kicker Greg Zuerlein pushed his 53-yard field goal attempt wide right.
The sideline antics are part of a new normal for NFL teams during the COVID-19 pandemic, with fans for now at most NFL stadiums not allowed in the stands.
“It was very galvanizing,” Goff said. “To kind of be only out there by yourselves, knowing that we're at home -- but at the same time, it's us and them and there's no one else in the building and it's really mano-a-mano. I thought it was really cool that we could really, throughout the game hear our sideline.”
Added running back Malcolm Brown: “I felt like us as a team, we brought a lot of juice with us. We knew we had to do that. And I feel like we did a great job with it. Everybody on the sideline was going crazy -- our defense, the coaches, the trainers -- everybody.”
On the field Goff was solid, but not spectacular. He finished 20 of 31 passing for 275 yards, with no touchdowns and one interception on a ball where he appeared to be hit in the head by a Dallas pass rusher.
Goff was sacked once, finishing with a 79.4 passer rating. Head coach Sean McVay relied on the short passing game, moving Goff outside the pocket and creating easy throws for big gains on the perimeter of the Dallas defense on screens and play-action passes.
“I thought he did a great job getting us in and out of some of the right looks ,” McVay said about Goff’s performance. “So, overall, very pleased.”
And on the environment at SoFi Stadium, McVay said the lack of crowd noise created a strange, eerie enviroment.
“I was really pleased with the energy we had from our sidelines,” McVay said. “But man when that’s the only thing you’re hearing -- when Dallas made a couple plays and you hear just from their sideline, it is. Eerie is a great way to be able to describe it.”
