After a week of mystery surrounding the Rams starting defender, John Wolford was the one who ran on the field for Saturday’s first shot of the game against the Seahawks, winning the start over Jared Goff.
Sean McVay spent the whole of last week giving vague updates on the defender’s situation, saying Goff is making progress, feeling good and doing everything the Rams have asked him to do in practice. McVay also said he was not going to publicly name a headline before the start – and kept his word.
But McVay knew who he was going to start against the Seahawks earlier this week. He simply did not want to tell the press and give his opponent an advantage, knowing who would start the Rams.
“I succeeded last week. I think it’s a real credit for our players. I told the team earlier this week, “McVay said after the game. “I thought it was the right decision just because Jared was coming back from an injury. He underwent surgery on his thumb and there were some limitations when he would be able to do even a moment. As soon as we started our training this week, we announced it to the team and I think it’s pretty good that he stayed at home. “
Were there any limitations? Sure. But it’s not like Goff’s passing chart looked different from any other week – and it actually included two deep photos.
With Goff just 12 days away from thumb surgery, McVay opted to go with the healthier defender, despite Wolford never scoring an NFL touchdown and playing his first career game last week against the Cardinals. It wasn’t a shocking decision, but the way the coach handles the whole situation is a bit puzzling and raises some questions.
The first (and biggest) question that comes out of the game concerns McVay’s decision to have only two active defenders.
If Goff was healthy enough to be a backup for Wolford and the only other active defender, why wasn’t he healthy enough to start? Goff played 58 moments and, although his thumb seemed to bother him at times, it wasn’t bad enough to keep him off the field.
McVay knew Goff would be at a distance from being thrown into the game if Wolford were injured, yet he made Blake Bortles inactive, leaving Goff as the only other option behind Wolford.
“If Jared’s thumb hadn’t been able to respond the way he did this week, he would have been our number two,” McVay said. “But it was great to have Blake around. His presence, his experience and, indeed, the fact that he is around him, is one of those guys who find it hard not to like. This was just a decision of the coach, with only two defenders up. “
McVay admitted after the game that “there were some limitations as you saw, which led to the decision to go with John,” but again, if he knew Goff would be limited by the thumb, why was Bortles ? is it not active in case of emergency?
And then there’s the question of deciding on a starter so early in the week.
After Goff underwent surgery on Dec. 28, McVay said “he should actually be available for the playoffs.” Obviously, he didn’t know for sure what Goff’s schedule would be, but all the initial reports were that Goff would be ready for the playoffs – even before the game against the Cardinals, Goff would probably go wild – weekend card.
However, does it look like McVay saw enough of Goff earlier in the week to determine that he wouldn’t be healthy enough to start on Saturday? If Goff was making progress, why not at least give his defender a shot to prove he can start and play an entire game? There’s an advantage in telling the team earlier in the week who will start, but it looks like McVay simply thought Wolford gave the Rams a better chance of winning – no matter how healthy Goff could be on Saturday.
Goff finally said after the victory that his thumb does not cause him any pain, he did not make any excuse for his game and he said definitively to open his press conference: “My finger is fine”.
“To draw near. It’s not 100% because she had surgery 10 days ago or 12 days ago or whatever, but she’s in a good place. I am very capable with what I have at the moment “, he said. “It simply came to our notice then. There is no pain. It has screws and is a bit swollen, but the pain is not the problem. “
Based on everything we know now, it seems pretty obvious that McVay was encouraged enough by Wolford in Week 17 to determine that he would be the Rams’ best option against the Seahawks in the wild-card round. He gave Goff no chance to prove in practice that he should be the starter, considering he made the decision to start Wolford earlier in the week.
So now the question is, if Wolford is healthy enough to play next weekend, will he get the start in the divisional round again? Goff is not 100% healthy at the moment, but another week of healing should put him in a better place than he was on Saturday.
And given that he played 58 strokes, threw for 155 yards and a touchdown and still came out of the game saying “no pain”, it’s hard to imagine that Goff isn’t ready to play in the divisional round.
Now we’ll find out who defender McVay is really prefers, assuming Wolford is healthy enough to play next weekend. Here’s what he said after the game when asked who will start in the next round if Wolford is healthy.
“We work through all of this,” McVay said. “Jared did a great job today. He is our defender. Many of these will be based on how he checks Jared’s thumb, how he feels, what those limitations are going forward. If Jared continues to progress, you feel good about it, but as you can see, it’s a shame John was hurt. I’m very happy, I’m happy with what Jared did today, but John is getting into a rhythm. I thought he saw the ground very well. I’m very upset with myself because I called that stupid piece that left him susceptible to injury. “
While Goff is Rams’ defender, it’s hard to ignore the “gift” McVay threw there. He wanted to see Wolford play the whole game. He thought Wolford was finding a ditch. He clearly thought he had given Rams the best chance of winning, and if he was healthy, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Wolford’s head again next week.