Rams QB Jared Goff out to prove he’s cracked code to New England defense

The last time Jared Goff faced the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LIII two years ago, the Los Angeles Rams did not score a touchdown in a disappointing, 13-3 loss in the NFL championship.

Goff finished 19-for-38 for 219 yards, no touchdowns and an interception in that game. He also missed Brandin Cooks on a couple deep shots that could have changed the complexion of the contest, which has been written about extensively since then.

Bottom line for Goff is he understands that he did not play well in the biggest game of his NFL career up to this point, he needs to play better for the Rams to return to the big game and win it -- and ultimately the Super Bowl loss is in the rear-view mirror.

“First of all, you take away how good coach (Patriots Head Coach Bill) Belichick is,” Goff said, when asked about the Super Bowl this week. “He did such a great job, obviously keeping us limited and doing a great job of keeping us from moving the ball, especially when we crossed the 50 (yard line).

“Him and Coach (Dolphins Head Coach Brian) Flores who’s with Miami now who was calling the defense that night, they did a great job and like I mentioned. It’s not a night that you are particularly happy with, but an experience that you’re able to hopefully draw from as time goes on throughout my career.”

NFL observers nationally wrote about (subscription needed) how the 6-1 defense the Patriots employed in the Super Bowl (and teams like the Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions before that) grinded Rams head coach Sean McVay’s prolific offense to the halt.

Since then, the Rams have seen a steady diet of that front, so McVay and Goff have had ample opportunity to figure out how to move the ball against that scheme.

“We were such a heavy 11-personnel grouping and so it gave you some different things in terms of changing the math and the numbers,” McVay said about the 6-1 scheme. “One of the things that I think does help, but certainly doesn’t mean you have all the answers, is you’re a lot more multiple in some of the personnel groupings that we can activate.

“But, we’ve seen varieties. Everybody wants to talk about the 6- 1 structure and some of the different coverage contours that they’ve played behind. That’s something that we’ve definitely seen a lot of from a variety of teams. And like I mentioned, sometimes we’ve handled it well and sometimes not so much. It doesn’t feel as foreign anymore where I think it was more than anything, when you’re looking at it, felt so foreign going back to when we first saw it against Chicago, that (2018) season. There’s a more of a comfort level in terms of the things that you like.”

The Rams are more multiple in terms of personnel groupings, using two or three-tight end sets 31 percent of the time this season. So, McVay has moved away a bit from three-receiver sets. The Rams used only two different personnel groupings against the Patriots in the Super Bowl.

Goff’s play certainly has been uneven at times this season. He’s struggled taking care of the football, with 14 turnovers through 12 games. And he’s been inconsistent when pressured. According to Next Gen Stats, Goff has completed 41-of-93 passes (44.1 percent) for 482 yards, with one touchdown and four interceptions when pressured this season.

That said, Goff has been productive this year, throwing for 3,372 passing yards and 17 touchdowns. And McVay knows what makes the 26-year-old quarterback effective. The Cal product is at his best when the Rams are balanced on offense, leaning on an effective running game and using play-action off that.

According to Next Gen Stats, the Rams have been under center a league-high 58 percent of the time since McVay took over the team in 2017.

So, look for Goff and McVay to run the football a variety of ways from under center against the Patriots, use multiple formations to keep Belichick and the rest of New England’s coaching staff guessing and get to the play-action game to create chunk plays down the field.

According to Next Gen Stats, New England is allowing 10.1 yard per attempt on play-action passes, No. 31 in the league.

“He’s got a good arm, has got good vision on the field,” Belichick said about Goff this week. “Obviously, a lot of good receivers and tight ends to throw to. He does a nice job of spreading the ball around and executing the offense.

“There’s a lot of a checks on the line of scrimmage. So, you can tell his overall awareness and decision-making, handling the offense, he’s pretty comfortable doing that. So, he helps them in a lot of ways.”