Jared Goff and the Los Angeles Rams twice built double-digit leads only to watch them wiped away by Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs in Monday night's epic showdown at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
No problem. Goff calmly stepped under center each time and regained the lead. Like a conductor silently directing a blaring orchestra, Goff sprayed the ball around the field, completing 31 of 49 passes for 413 yards (8.4 yards per attempt), four touchdowns and a 117.1 passer rating.
On the final scoring drive, Goff deftly read the defense and found tight end Gerald Everett down the sideline with a gorgeous arching throw to put the Rams up for good in a thrilling 54-51 win.
"He was awesome," coach Sean McVay said of his quarterback. "I thought especially on the last drive. I think it was a six-play drive, they were mixing in some two man (coverage) and then going into a little bit of an invert and he was just finding the right completions, guys were separating. But it's one of those deals where the offensive line was doing a great job protecting, especially against some elite rushers up front and guys creating separation and he's got to put it on the money."
Goff became the only Rams quarterback since at least 1950 with multiple games of 400-plus pass yards and 4-plus pass TD. Only Peyton Manning (four, 2013) and Dan Marino (3, 1986) have more such games than Goff's two in a single season.
This was no dink-and-dunk operation in which receivers did the heavy lifting. Nope. Goff dive-bombed a susceptible Chiefs secondary with a hoard of on-point strikes. According to Next Gen Stats, Goff generated a 123.2 passer rating on 10-plus air yard passes in Week 11, and three of his four TD tosses traveled over 10-plus air yards.
"I thought the one play to (WR Brandin) Cooks on the right sideline when they were in a two man, he hits him on an out route," McVay said digging into Goff's performance. "You look at when he lets that thing go before (Chiefs CB Orlando) Scandrick could flip his eyes around and then Brandin runs after the catch. We hit (TE) Tyler Higbee, (TE) Gerald Everett makes a play and then he finishes it off with a touchdown. It was a great job. They dropped the safety down in, he put it up and down and then Gerald ends up just right down the sideline, not stepping out of bounds and so many guys made plays today.
"But I thought Jared's poise and confidence and ability to respond after it wasn't always pretty, especially in some instances, is why you love him and why he's such a great quarterback because of that even-keel demeanor and disposition and that poise that we always talk about."
Respond Goff did as the Rams gave up leads of 13-0, 40-30, and 47-44 only to answer with their own touchdown drives.
"There were times where we felt like we had all the momentum, we thought we were going to put the knife in and finish it and then there were times where it was the other way around where we were like, 'All right, we need to kind of claw back into this.' It was a fun one," the understated Goff said.
It wasn't always pretty for the third-year signal-caller. He missed several open throws that would have made his stat line even more bodacious, and his two sack-fumbles led directly to 14 K.C. points.
Goff might not get the hype of his counterpart Mahomes, but the calming mentality and poise of the Rams QB was on display at the end of a noisy back-and-forth affair.
"Like I said, I thought we were one drive away from kind of putting it away and getting enough of a lead and they would make plays and get back in it," he said. "They were in the lead in the fourth quarter and we're like, 'All right, time to respond on our side,' and we did. We made plays."
Respond Goff did. Time and time again.
