By Michael Silver | Published Jan. 29, 2019

Now, Goff and the Rams have a chance to make some legacy-defining noise in Atlanta, where on Sunday they'll face living legend Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LIII at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The matchup between a pair of quarterbacks raised in Northern California a generation apart is not one Goff will take lightly; he called the opportunity to compete against the 41-year-old Brady, who has been to eight previous Super Bowls and won five, "an honor."

That said, he is highly unlikely to get overwhelmed by the enormity of the occasion. For if Goff, the first overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft, has a defining characteristic, it's probably not his golden arm, wicked release or bold nature; rather, it's his uncanny ability to remain calm and collected in adverse conditions or, similarly, to stay grounded when things are going great.

Or, more succinctly: His chill factor is off the charts.

"He is unfazed," Rams coach Sean McVay said of his quarterback. "He has unreal poise and confidence that allows him to handle the success and adversity the same -- which is a great characteristic for your quarterback to have."

And Goff, who has absorbed an inordinate share of outside skepticism during his young career -- having been stigmatized for, among other things, having small hands, going 0-7 during a rough rookie season and being a so-called system quarterback -- believes that staying even-keeled gives him the best chance to be exceptional.

"I think that's the way you should be as a quarterback," he told me last Wednesday. "I think there is some time to show emotion and to have passion, and to show that intensity to people. At the same time, I think having a guy that can be the same all the time, good or bad, is super important."

And, it turns out, Super: In becoming the first passer to guide the Rams to the Ultimate Game since Hall of Famer Kurt Warner 17 years ago -- with a chance to emulate Warner's Lombardi-seizing performance in Atlanta two years before that -- Goff has made a mockery of those critics who wrote him off as a bust as recently as the summer of 2017.

Some of the negative perceptions quickly evaporated. Goff, who as a freshman had been pulled from a game at Oregon because he'd struggled amid rainy conditions, refuted that stigma when he shined during a wet pre-draft workout for the Rams in Berkeley. At the NFL Scouting Combine, Goff's hand measurement caused a stir -- at nine inches, he was supposedly deficient in that department. To this day, Goff and his closest friends laugh at the "small hands" imbroglio. As he said last week: "They're big enough to get to the Super Bowl, I guess."

When the Rams traded up to land the first overall pick a couple of weeks before the draft, they were targeting Goff, who would begin his career as Case Keenum's backup. He got his first start on Nov. 20, when the Rams were 4-5; three weeks later, after a blowout home defeat to the Atlanta Falcons, head coach Jeff Fisher was fired. Playing behind an underperforming offensive line, Goff would end up losing all seven of his starts as a rookie, and the 'B' word -- bust -- began popping up in TV segments, newspaper columns and various social media platforms.

"It didn't really mean anything to me," Goff said. "I played seven games, and three of them without a head coach. I had a good perspective on it. I understood that seven games shouldn't define me and won't define me. I know what I can do and I know who I am. I never lost any confidence. And I hope all the rookie quarterbacks out there this year can look at my story and see how quickly it can turn around, and just continue to keep their head up."

The Rams' hiring of McVay, who at 30 was the youngest head coach in modern NFL history, was inspired by his reputation as a budding quarterback guru. It would end up being a game-changer, for both the franchise and the young franchise quarterback, but Goff's transformation wasn't as sudden or immediate as is commonly perceived.

"Honestly, we didn't really know how it was gonna go, 'cause there were so many things he needed to improve upon -- from having consistency with his football, to his movement in the pocket, to reading defenses with his feet, to having the confidence to stand in there and deliver the throw," recalled newly hired Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur, who was McVay's offensive coordinator in 2017. "He got beat up pretty good the year before, and it wasn't like we got there and it was magical. Early on, in OTAs, our defense made a ridiculous amount of sacks. But to his credit, he worked extremely hard, and it was the coolest experience I've ever had in coaching -- to see his confidence grow by the day, to see a young player mature before our eyes. It was like watching a boy become a man."

At first, Greg Olson -- now the Raiders' offensive coordinator, he was the Rams' quarterbacks coach at the time -- didn't embrace Goff's chill.

"Initially, I thought it was indifference," Olson admitted. "But I soon realized it was a calm demeanor under pressure. I've never, ever sensed panic in him. It's just his personality. He never gets rattled. He has nerves of steel."

Said LaFleur: "That's the one thing I can say about him as a person: He's got a resilient mindset. A lot of people would have crumbled and failed. He's unfazed. The thing that's so cool about him is, if he makes a mistake, he's able to bounce back. Some guys pile on; he's able to hit the reset button."

After a strong second season that featured the Rams winning their first NFC West title since 2003, Goff got much, much better in 2018, spurring the Rams to an 8-0 start. Yet even as he entered the upper echelon of quarterbacking, Goff's achievements were often marginalized by outsiders who credited the team's offensive success to McVay's innovative game plans.

Goff, some critics charged, was merely executing the coach's orders, sometimes receiving input through his helmet before receiving the snap (as allowed by NFL rules before the play clock reaches 15 seconds). Others claimed he was simply a product of -- wait for it -- The System.

The tag became a running joke among Goff's cadre of close friends since childhood -- one of whom, Patrick Conroy, showed up at the Rams' playoff opener wearing a T-shirt he'd just ordered off the internet, complete with Rams colors and the words "Los Angeles System QB" scrawled across the front.

"When people started coming out with that, we kind of laughed -- people wanted to put that claim on him," Conroy said. "So when I saw that online (on a website with merchandise that poked fun at various L.A.-based athletes), I had to grab it. He saw it and said, 'That's pretty good.' And yes, I'll be wearing it to the Super Bowl."

Said another of Goff's close friends, Cam Croteau: "We've had some fun with that. We'll be at a game, and every time Jared drops a dime, we'll go, 'Oh, wow -- that was a great throw, Sean.' McVay has been hyped up as The Guru, and understandably. For a lot of people, things like (the Rams' rapid improvement) are binary: There's one reason why this happened. It's a little bit of a chip on the shoulder for [Goff], but it's not what defines him."

For what it's worth, the person most bothered by the System QB label is McVay himself. Said the coach: "He makes 'The System' what it is -- because he's great."

Goff's response: "I appreciate him defending me. And, you know, it means a lot. But [the label] doesn't bother me. I mean, honestly: We win games, and you can call me whatever you want."

At the end of the first quarter, the Rams trailed 13-0 and would need a fake punt from their own 30 to extend their first scoring drive -- with Goff's shut up and let me handle this huddle speech sparking a new level of focus.

"I essentially realized how much of a premium communication in there needed to be," Goff recalled. "Even more so than we initially thought, because of the noise. I don't remember what I said.

"It was definitely a stressful first few drives there. You never want to start off that way. I could barely hear anything. I'm wearing someone else's helmet. They got up 13-0. It was not a good situation for us, but it was an awesome one to scrape our way back and come out on top."

In other words, even though he stays calm on the outside, Goff is not completely impervious to pressure.

"I think part of it is just the way I am," he said. "Stuff just kind of rolls off my back pretty easily, regardless of the situation, if it's pressure-packed or not. And I think a lot of it is, I am feeling that pressure. I'm just trying not to show and trying to be the steady, calm personality that I think a quarterback needs to be."

"I hope so," he said. "I hope we win and I hope it's great. (But) I don't think I'll change too much; I don't think my immediate circle will change too much."

And if Goff starts to show signs of affectedness -- well, the noise he hears from his friends and family members will be Superdome-level loud.

"He's always been the same, and stuff never gets to his head," said Robbie Terheyden, another of Goff's close friends since childhood. "If it starts to, we'll bring him back."

Goff's father, Jerry, has little doubt about that: "His friends would tune him up so fast. If he wins, there are gonna be a lot of things thrown his way -- at least, I assume there will be -- but in terms of his personality, he would never change, because we would call him on it. We know he has humility, and we know what he stands for. It's not something I'd ever stress out about."

Chances are, neither will his son. And if he does, you can bet he won't show it.

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Editors: Ali Bhanpuri, Gennaro Filice, Dan Parr

Illustration: Chloe Booher, Justin Goldman