riday Wrap-Up: Goff to Go Through Concussion Protocol
By Myles Simmons
At his Friday press conference to wrap up Thursday’s 24-3 loss to the Seahawks, Rams interim head coach said rookie quarterback Jared Goff remains in the concussion protocol.
Goff took a hard hit from Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman on the sideline to finish a fourth-quarter scramble. Before he could enter the huddle on the next play, officials removed Goff from the field and the quarterback did not return.
“A medical timeout was initiated last night from upstairs by the NFL. They got him out of the game,” Fassel said. “He was assessed and he’s currently in the concussion protocol.”
“We saw him today, and he seemed sharp,” Fassel continued. “But he’ll go through the protocol over the next nine days.”
Fassel said he did have a chance to visit a bit with Goff on Friday.
“I went in there this morning and I saw him in the training room, when he was getting treatment,” Fassel said. “Obviously, a little bit banged up. But, like I said last night, just a really tough kid. And I think he was going for the touchdown. And without the experience of being a real runner, the defender got on him a lot faster than he anticipated.”
“From a special teams perspective, we prefer brawn, maybe, over brains. And I told Jared, from the quarterback perspective, brains have got to trump the brawn,” Fassel said. “But as a rookie quarterback, he’ll learn to know when to maximize his yardage, but then protect his body.”
Goff finished 13-of-25 passing for 135 yards. He was sacked four times and hit seven. Fassel said given his expertise, he stayed mostly to encouragement rather than quarterback coaching points when interacting with Goff during the game.
“Before the game we shared a good little conversation,” Fassel said. “And during the game, I didn’t feel like I should offer any input as far as performance. But I just said, ‘Hang tough, man.’ ‘Great throw.’ ‘C’mon, move the chains.’
In five starts, Goff has completed 54.7 percent of his passes for 879 yards with four touchdowns and five interceptions. He’s been sacked 15 times, on 8.5 percent of his dropbacks.
“I’m excited to be involved just a little bit more and learn about the quarterback room just a little bit more, because I think we’ve got a really good quarterback,” Fassel said. “He’s tough. He’s talented. He moves in the pocket. So, it’ll be fun for me to witness him over the next two weeks get better.”
The Rams players will have the next two days off before getting back on the practice field Monday to begin preparation for the 49ers on Saturday, Christmas Eve. Given that, Fassel said Goff will have a couple extra days to go through the protocol, which will determine when he’s cleared to return to practice.
When we come back on Monday, we’re going to treat it like our normal week Tuesday,” Fassel said. “So he’ll get three more days to get treated and become assessed. And we’ll probably make a decision from there, where he’s at, how much he’ll be able to do in practice. And by then, we’ll probably have a better idea how close he’ll be to playing in the game.”
INJURY UPDATES
Fassel had a number of other injury updates to go through following Thursday’s game.
Early Thursday afternoon, the team announced it had placed running back
Benny Cunningham and defensive end
Robert Quinn on injured reserve. Cunningham has a neck sprain, and Quinn is dealing with a concussion.
“Basically a conservative decision with a couple weeks left and not really feeling like he’d be prepared to play the next couple weeks,” Fassel said of Quinn.
Cornerback
Marqui Christian is also headed to IR with an ankle injury. Cornerback
Mike Jordan is in the concussion protocol. Safety
T.J. McDonald suffered a wrist sprain and is day-to-day. Wide receiver
Bradley Marquez is also day-to-day after suffering a wrist sprain. And while wide receiver
Kenny Britt suffered a shoulder stinger, he played through it and likely will continue to do so.
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