Los Angeles Rams quarterback Jared Goff, confined to a backup role since being drafted first overall earlier this year, took first-team snaps on Wednesday and said he feels "tremendously more comfortable than I've ever felt."
"I feel confident that if my number's called, I'll be ready to go," Goff told reporters from the team facility in Thousand Oaks, California, after the Rams' only official practice of their bye week. "Just waiting for that time."
Goff still has more waiting to do.
Rams coach Jeff Fisher has stated that he is not ready to make a change at quarterback, even though starter Case Keenum has the NFL's lowest total QBR and is coming off a four-interception game in Sunday's 17-10 loss to the New York Giants.
Fisher dismissed a report that Goff was a long way from being ready to start.
"If he wasn't making progress," Fisher said of Goff, "he'd be a No. 3."
Fisher felt Goff "did a nice job" with additional reps on Wednesday.
"We put him in all different situations," Fisher said. "He participated in 7-on-7, then we had a red zone move, we had a first-and-10 run-play pass period, then we had a pressure period. He handled everything really well -- huddle presence and understanding, snap count, Mike [middle linebacker] IDs. He was going against our defense; he hadn't gone against our defense in a while."
Goff's work with the first team isn't a surprise and isn't necessarily telling. Fisher said Monday that the bye week would allow all Rams rookies to get more practice time, especially Goff, who has been working mostly with the scout team since the start of the regular season.
The Rams sent an assortment of high-round draft picks to the Tennessee Titans in order to move up 14 spots and select Goff out of Cal.
But he struggled in the preseason, completing only 45 percent of his passes while committing four turnovers, and he never really challenged Keenum for the starting job. Goff was inactive for the Monday Night Football opener against the San Francisco 49ers, slotted behind Sean Mannion as the third-string quarterback, then served as the backup over the next six weeks.
Five quarterbacks selected after Goff have already started NFL games, a list highlighted by Carson Wentz of the Philadelphia Eagles (second overall) and Dak Prescott of the Dallas Cowboys (135th).
"It's part of the process; it's part of what's going on," Goff, a couple of weeks removed from his 22nd birthday, said of sitting. "I'm not going to sit here and complain or gripe. I'm going to support Case and continue to get ready and be ready."
The Rams won three straight games earlier this season, giving Keenum six wins over his previous eight games as the Rams' starter, though he hardly ever shined. Keenum played very well in Weeks 5 and 6, completing 76.2 percent of his passes and throwing for 592 yards. But the Rams lost both times, and Keenum didn't take advantage of late drives that would've tied or won games.
Keenum then struggled at London in Week 7, though Fisher noted that half of his four interceptions were the fault of his receivers, saying: "We'll make changes at receiver before I make changes at quarterback."
If Goff were to start, Fisher said he "would not change a thing" with his offense.
"We wouldn't scale anything back, we wouldn't change a thing," he added. "He's got that good of a feel for what we're doing."
But Fisher is clearly more comfortable with Keenum's feel for the offense. Otherwise, there's little sense in not starting Goff now, especially coming out of the bye week, with the Rams playing four opponents -- the Carolina Panthers, Miami Dolphins, New York Jets and New Orleans Saints -- that are a combined 8-18.
"I'm confident in myself and confident in what I can do," Goff said. "I feel like if my number is called, I'll be ready. But it's not up to me to decide when my time is. That's what Coach Fisher and all the other coaches get paid for, to make those decisions. But yeah, I'm confident in what I can do, and I'm confident that I'll be ready."