Strap the fuck in, because the 4-5 Los Angeles Rams finally gave us a reason to watch their quest for 7-9. Finally, after months of dithering, Jeff Fisher has made the move. Case Keenum? Benched! First overall draft pick Jared Goff? Ready as shit.
This team has driven me slightly nutty this season, between being completely unwatchable and Jeff Fisher gaslighting me into thinking hey, maybe Keenum has been okay. (He hasn’t! He’s been terrible!)
The offensive line has done no one any favors, but Keenum’s badness has been so reliable, defenses have been encouraged to stuff the box and asphyxiate Todd Gurley. Maybe, at least initially, the threat of Goff being able to go down the field will free up the running game.
But what if Jared Goff is also bad! Maybe he’s worse than Keenum? He sure looked like butt in the preseason, and a No. 1 pick, for whom the Rams traded a ton, has to be pretty darn butt not to win the starting job in camp. Fisher said Goff has been improving each week, but there’s been no way for us to know without him seeing game action.
Jeff Fisher’s job security is tied to Goff’s success, but if the somehow-still-in-the-playoff-hunt Rams discover that they wasted nine games without their best QB, that won’t reflect well on Fisher either. I am excited to see how this goes. Excited enough to actually watch an entire Rams game, by choice? STAY TUNED.