Cal Football in the NFL: Goff Goes Off Again for the Rams

Former Cal football star Jared Goff continued his remarkable start to the 2018 season, leading the many former Golden Bears who played roles this weekend.

Two-and-a-half years after being drafted number one overall, Jared Goff is taking over the NFL. The Cal football legend was incredible on Thursday Night Football, leading his Rams to a big shootout win against the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings’ defense is an impressive group, but Goff had a career night.

The 23-year-old quarterback threw for 465 yards and five touchdowns against Minnesota, while again having an extremely efficient day, completing 26 of 33 passes (78.8%). The yards and touchdowns both set a career-high, and it was the third-most prolific passing yardage day by a Cal quarterback in the NFL. Vince Ferragamo threw for 509 yards in 1982, and Aaron Rodgers had 480 yards in 2013. Goff tied the Rams’ franchise record for touchdowns in a game, and had the second-most passing yards in a single game (coincidentally, a record also held by Ferragamo).

Goff is playing the type of quarterback that the Rams haven’t had in years. On Thursday, he was the first Rams’ passer to go over 400 yards since Marc Bulger went for 450 in the 2003 regular season finale. They hadn’t had a five-touchdown day from a quarterback since Kurt Warner threw for a handful on October 10th, 1999. Goff was the winning quarterback for the 15th time in his career on Thursday, already moving into a tie for 10th place in Rams’ history.

On the year, Goff is second in the league in passing yards (1,406) and passer rating (127.3), tied for second in touchdowns (11), and third in completion percentage (72.4%). It’s still very early in the season, but Goff and the Rams certainly look like Super Bowl contenders, with the quarterback looking like an MVP candidate.

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Also in the state of California, Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch continued his Hall of Fame career with another stellar performance on Sunday. He carried the ball 20 times, running for a season-high 130 yards. It was his first 100-yard game of the season and the 34th of his career, and his most yardage since a 140-yard game on November 9th, 2014.

Lynch has now racked up 10,303 yards on the ground in his 11-year career. On Sunday, he moved past Ottis Anderson for 28th place on the all-time rushing list.

Buccaneers’ receiver Desean Jackson had another big game on Sunday, despite Tampa Bay’s blowout loss to the Bears. He made five catches and piled up 112 yards, giving him three 100-plus yard games in four tries this season, and 36 such games in his career.

Jackson is closing in on 32 years old and in his 11th NFL season, but he is still as dangerous as ever. He’s seven in the league with 424 receiving yards so far this year, but leads everyone with 24.9 yards per catch. He also leads the league with four catches of 40-plus yards, and is tied for fourth with seven receptions of at least 20 yards.

He also stands just 89 yards shy of 10,000 yards in his career. When he reaches that mark in the next couple weeks, he will be the 47th player in NFL history to hit the milestone. He will join Tony Gonzalez as the only former Golden Bears in the 10,000-receiving yard club.

Around the League:

Cowboys long snapper L.P. Ladouceur was involved in his 209th consecutive game in the Cowboys’ comeback win over the Lions. He was the snapper when kicker Brett Maher nailed a 38-yard field goal as time expired to win the game.

Tampa Bay punter Bryan Anger played in his 100th career game on Sunday, punting five times for a 42.8-yard average. He punted for the 500th time last week.

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Chargers’ receiver Keenan Allen made seven catches for 63 yards as Los Angeles beat the 49ers…Lions’ receiver Marvin Jones caught three balls for 56 yards against Dallas, including a season-long 34-yard catch. He’s seven yards short of 4,000 in his career.

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