What Stafford Does That Goff Cannot

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Great Read! Best summary I’ve seen on differences between Stafford and Goff’s performance as QB’s an why McVay needed Stafford. Basically, the league had cracked McVay’s original scheme and Stafford can win without it. Goff led the league in turnovers because he couldn’t.

McVay’s original offense relied heavily on trap-blocking the DLs on run plays and play action passing and crossers. When Belichick showed the league how to take those away during the SB 4-years-ago “Goff’s struggles” began. Goff subsequently held the ball, was susceptible to the blitz, and turned it over.

They needed a QB who didn’t need that scheme in order to produce. Enter Stafford.

  • Stafford doesn’t need a play-action driven passing game. " A staggering 84 percent of Goff’s passing EPA came on play-action dropbacks in 2018" SB run. But this year, the Rams ranked 22nd in play-action passes. That’s the 1st time they’ve been out of the top-5 under McVay.
  • Stafford reads faster, and beats blitzes much better than Goff - well better than every QB in the league this year. He is #1 against the blitz. #1.
  • And Stafford can make the deep pass under pressure (as he did to win the playoff game against the Bucs).

Stafford’s SB run and Goff’s SB run look statistically similar but Stafford is running an offense that relies much more on QB’s talent, ability to read blitzes, and possession of big ol’ brass balls!

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https://youtu.be/7cpN4tXXO0M

Here’s a good listen from McVey on Stafford, and how the rams build their team, what they look for in a player etc

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Not taking anything away from Stafford because he is significantly better than Goff, but the Rams have stayed pretty healthy. Kupp and AD especially.

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Thank you for posting this. It totally retroactively wins more games for the Detroit Lions than actually happened. I hope there is room in the Detroit parade, even if its standing room only.

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“What can Stafford do that Goff cannot”…not win a playoff game in Detroit!!!

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Win more than 3 games?

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Beat a 0 blitz to win the game with 32 second’s.

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It’s no secret the Rams wanted Stafford because he brings more to the table but I think the article touches on a key point.

McVay knew his offense had been figured out and he was limited on what he could do. His prior offense relied heavily on play action. But for good reason. They had a stellar run game. As their run game declined it became easier to exploit the offense.

This brings the question. Can you win with Goff.

I believe you can. I think he’s good enough to win with. He’s no Stafford but he requires less talent around him to win. The Rams had mortgaged their draft picks and their talent level has declined. They needed Stafford to win.

The Lions have draft capital and if they can build a stellar defense. Pair it with a top 10 run game then I think they can win with Goff.

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By that Standard, Erik Kramer is the best QB in the NFL.
Noice!

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The Rams would soon find out Robert Frost’s famous idiom – Nothing gold can stay – definitely applies to the NFL

The Rams would soon find out Robert Frost’s famous idiom – Nothing gold can stay – definitely applies to the NFL

McVay to Stafford…

Stay golden, PonyBoy!

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A little bit of referees pushing you, a little bit of injury spares you, you don’t play a little bit against GB in the frozen stadium, a little bit of Jimmy G helps, you don’t play against KC or Bills in the final and here’s a surprise.
Of course you don’t have Donald, Kupp, OBJ, Miller, Ramsey …
What would he do with that team, miss the playoffs.
Matt is ok to me, but it’s not that a lot of qb wouldn’t be in sb with this team.

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Rams OWE Detroit big time. We trained him for 12 years to be better:

With Goff at the helm, the Rams were blitzed at the sixth-highest rate from 2017 through 2020. Defenses couldn’t do that against Stafford – and as a result, he was blitzed at the third-lowest rate this season (23 percent). Stafford was able to identify blitzes and get rid of the ball quickly (2.52 seconds) before the pass rush had the chance to get home. Goff’s average time to throw in 2018 (3.02 seconds) was a half-second slower against the blitz, and as a result, he was pressured at twice the rate.

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I think this is roughly the calculation of Holmes & Co
First, Goff came here somewhat damaged goods. The Lions represented his “fresh start”
MCDC recognized that Lynn was not going to be able to get Goff right, so he decided he needed to be the one in his ear. If he couldn’t “fix” Goff, they’d have to move on.
Early returns suggest mission accomplished.

I’m last years draft, it’s no accident they were thrilled Sewell fell into their lap. Adding him meant that the Lions could develop that OL to be a top 5 OL

The kind of OL that provides pass pro and you can put any RB behind and have a respectable run game for Goff

This year they can add a decent FA WR and pick up a serious weapon in the draft.

Offense will be good enough for Goff to perform at his full potential.

Defense
Last year it’s no accident they went heavy DL early. Hopefully those two develop this offseason.
This year the DE makes total sense at #2
Wouldn’t shock me if they picked up another DT within the first three rounds.

Cliche, it all starts up front…

I’m FA pick up one upgrade at LB and at safety.
Interest in Peppers is possible. I doubt they want to dump money on one of the top guys. Peppers may be a nice complement to Walker.
Not going to wow this board, but there’s no reason to blow their wad on elite guys either.

Cost/benefit — relative value — the objective is not to dish money on the best players. The objective is to be efficient with limited capital.

Rookie contract players become FAs. Retain the guys you’ve invested so much time in.

The defense may still take a couple years, but they have 6 year contracts.

I seriously believe they can be a WC team next year and a contender starting in 2023.

No guarantees, but everything suggests they are going to do this the classic right way.

They’ve proven they are mature enough to stick to a plan and I believe their coaching staff will remain strong as long as MCDC is here.

Sorry if this is all too positive for some!!

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That’s a pretty dismissive statement and the reality is that the statement is false.
Do you not understand the factors laid out in that, high quality article?
Did you not see what happened this playoffs?

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I’m not trying to defend goff or anything but I’d be curious how stafford would have done here with injuries hitting almost every position going down to 3rd and 4th string as #1 starters.

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Matt will win SB, Goff will win his first play off victory for the Lions after a long time.
Then we will make a full circle and be at the beginning.

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MCM, the text is good, but I’m not an expert on those big analyzes.
As an ordinary NFL spectator, I only notice superficial things.
Matt is the best against blitz, hasn’t Mahomes been that way in previous years, and what happened, two deep safety and no blitz.
As the author of the text wrote, the NFL is a copycat league.
McVay spent the game with Goff and Gurley and moved on.
He didn’t quite manage that concept to the end, so he took Matt and took a different path.
Whether that one is better, we’ll see on Sunday.
I think Matt is a better qb, but Goff is ours now and only he interests me.

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Seems likely …

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We would definitely have a top 10 draft pick.

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It wasn’t BB that showed the league. It was Patricia earlier that season that showed BB.

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