Jared Goff doesn't impress in NFL debut and Dolphins come back to beat the Rams

We finally got a chance to see Los Angeles Rams quarterback Jared Goff play in the NFL. We still don’t know much about him.

The Rams kept their playbook very simple for the No. 1 overall pick, who made his NFL regular-season debut on Sunday. Passes rarely went downfield, perhaps because of the steady rain. The Rams allowed him to try a bunch of safe, short tosses, and he had forgettable results. For a while it looked like it might be enough, but the Rams defense couldn’t keep holding on despite getting almost nothing from the offense. The Dolphins came back with two fourth-quarter touchdowns to win 14-10.

And near the end, when the Rams needed a play to put away the game, Goff played it safe.

On third-and-10 late in the fourth quarter, with the Rams leading 10-7 and needing a first down to milk more of the clock, Goff threw well behind the sticks for just a 6-yard gain and the Rams had to punt. That summed up his day. Miami took that possession in for a go-ahead touchdown with less than a minute left. Goff couldn’t complete a Hail Mary on the final play of the game.

Goff had some OK moments. His best play might have been either a third-and-10 throw when he was moving to his left and hit Lance Kendricks for 20 yards, or a fastball to Tavon Austin that Austin grabbed and turned into a 21-yard gain. Goff finished 17-of-31 for 134 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions.

It didn’t say much about Goff that the Rams were so careful with him. The Rams didn’t have Goff take one snap in the first 10 weeks of the season, even though they had the lowest scoring offense in football with Case Keenum at quarterback. The Rams finally let Goff play, and it ended up being a dull performance in wet conditions.

After waiting 10 weeks for Goff to get a snap, we don’t know much more about him than we did before his debut.