On the same day Rams coach Jeff Fisher told reporters that 2016 No. 1 overall draft pick Jared Goff will soon be getting more first-team reps, the annual Hard Knocks inside training camp show debuted on HBO and featured Rams camp.
Goff got the treatment from the show’s cameras and producers that you’d expect a top pick in Los Angeles to get. He’s the headliner, even before he’s the starter, and the first of the show’s five episodes started by showing how far Goff still has to go.
A montage of botched snaps, whether or not they were Goff’s fault, was followed by clips of Goff talking with coaches and trying to relay plays through the huddle. The show’s producers also carefully chose a clip of Goff on set with NFL Network after one practice saying he’s never been a backup quarterback at any level.
At one point cameras caught Rams defensive coordinator Gregg Williams telling Fisher and other Rams staffers that Goff has never huddled -- “not in middle school, not in high school” -- so it’s understandable that he’s getting used to both the verbiage of the offense and relaying it.
“Offenses in the NFL, you’ve got to have a f-----g catalog to call plays,” Williams said.
The HBO cameras were also on hand for a one-on-one session with Goff and quarterbacks coach Chris Weinke.
“Everybody is watching what you,” Weinke told Goff. “You can’t f-----g hide. It ought to give you chills.
“This doesn’t just happen. You don’t just say, ‘Hey, I’m No. 16, I’m the starting quarterback. That ain’t f-----g happening.”
Like happens on any good quasi-reality show, the struggles are followed with brighter moments. Cameras caught Goff getting extra post-practice work with wide receiver Kenny Britt, asking Britt for more reps to make up for poor throws, and later caught Williams telling his defense it needed to keep the offense out of the end zone for one play in an 11-on-11 situation.
Right on cue, Goff threw a touchdown pass.
“That was real,” cameras caught Rams defensive lineman Mike Waufle saying to his fellow coaches after one Goff pass. “He threw a strike. That’s a quarterback, man.”