It remains to be seen if Jared Goff will suit up for the Rams (10-6) when they play the Seahawks (12-4) in Seattle this Saturday, but it’s possible that John Wolford gives Los Angeles a better chance to win.
“When I was talking to some people, they were like, ‘I like the energy that John Wolford brings them,’ which, to me, that’s not a standalone comment,” NFL and NBA analyst and podcast host Adam Lefkoe said on The DA Show. “That also means that you don’t think Jared Goff brings that team energy, and that’s what fascinates me.”
Goff (right thumb) completed 67.0 percent of his passes for 3,952 yards, 20 touchdowns and 13 interceptions in 15 games this season. He was steady but unspectacular.
Wolford finished 22-of-38 for 231 yards and one interception in an 18-7 win over Arizona in Week 17. He also ran six times for 56 yards.
“Jared Goff is a better thrower of the football, he has a better understanding of the offense – he throws a better ball,” Lefkoe said. “However, this Rams team, in the last half of the year, has become a defensive team with a running back stable. Cooper Kupp is going to be back, Cam Akers is supposed to be getting a little bit healthy, but this whole game confuses me.”
And not just because of the Rams. The Seahawks started 5-0 but lost four of their next seven games. They finished the season with four straight wins, but three of those came against teams with losing records.
“Where are the Seahawks from the first five weeks of the year where they were the Super Bowl favorites and Russell Wilson and that offense was clicking?” Lefkoe asked. “This is a matchup in which D.K. [Metcalf] has been held under 100 yards [in] two games [against the Rams]. It’s a matchup in which Russell Wilson has been sacked 11 times in two games this year to the Rams. If you think scrappy John Wolford is the guy that’s not going to turn the ball over, isn’t going to be afraid when there’s pressure in his face from a Seattle Seahawks team that really doesn’t get a lot of pressure . . . then I kind of think he’s the way to go.”
Goff is throwing at practice and looked “pretty good” according to teammate Robert Woods. Whether Goff starts against Seattle, though, is unclear.
“Look, I saw some of the pregame throws of Jared Goff, and he looked like he still had some zip out there,” Lefkoe said. “But what’s interesting is we’re talking about the energy, the intellect and all of those off-the-field attributes of a quarterback – and not just about the throwing, which I think says a lot more about Jared Goff than anything that’s been said thus far.”