With the Los Angeles Rams having a bye this week, head coach Jeff Fisher is using it as an opportunity to give rookie quarterback Jared Goff reps with the first team offense in practice.
Fisher said he plans to continue to stick with Case Keenum as his starter in Week 9 when they host the Carolina Panthers, but the Rams traded up to take Goff with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 draft so the Rams are committed to him as the quarterback of the future.
While he may not yet be ready to start, Goff believes that the reps he is taking in practice has helped him gain confidence for when he does get an opportunity to play, via Myles Simmons of therams.com:
“I just think with knowledge and reps you get confidence. And that’s with anybody at any sport, any position,” Goff said. “It’s just reps and doing things the right way, you feel better.”
Fisher outlined what Goff did in practice Wednesday, and said he was impressed with what Goff was able to do:
“He participated in seven-on-seven, then we had a red-zone-move [period], we had a 1st-and-10 run-play-pass period, then we had a pressure period. He handled everything really well — huddle presence and understanding, snap count, Mike-ID’s,” Fisher said. “He was going against our defense — he hadn’t gone against our defense [in our offense] in a while. So I thought he did a nice job.”
Goff added that he will continue to support Keenum, but will be ready when his number is called:
“I’m not going to sit here and complain or gripe,” Goff said. “I’m going to support Case and continue to get ready, and be ready, and continue to be confident in myself, and be ready when the time comes.”
The Rams currently sit at 3-4 after a three game losing streak. If they continue to lose and fall out of the playoff race then Fisher will almost certainly give Goff an opportunity to start some games and gain experience heading into next season when the keys to the franchise will be turned over to him.
