Jared Goff's Genius Masking Rams' $76M Defensive Woes

After winning the NFC West with the league's highest-scoring offense a year ago, the Los Angeles Rams set out to improve their defense. They were wildly aggressive in adding veteran difference-makers, signing Ndamukong Suh and Aqib Talib and trading for Marcus Peters.

Add the six-year, $135 million megadeal given to defensive lineman Aaron Donald just before the season began, and the Rams become one of eight NFL teams with more than $75 million invested in defense for 2018, per Spotrac.

If the Thursday night performance of that new-look defense in the 38-31 win over the Minnesota Vikings at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum is any indication, the Rams aren't getting the return on that investment they'd hoped. This team will have to win games just as it did last year—by blowing past opponents.

That seems to suit the 4-0 Rams just fine. The lack of return on that investment hasn't mattered even a little to L.A., which will have the NFC West wrapped up by Thanksgiving at this rate.

Welcome to the Greatest Show on Turf—only outdoors on grass. And 23-year-old quarterback Jared Goff, who looks like the league's MVP a month into the season, leads this circus of scoring.

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To be fair, it isn't completely the defense's fault it hasn't played to expectations. Injuries are piling up. Linebacker Mark Barron (and his average annual salary of $9 million) hasn't seen the field this year because of an ankle injury. Talib (AAV $9.5 million) may not see it again in 2018 after ankle surgery.

It hasn't been all negative, though. Suh and Donald have been forces inside, with each tallying at least one sack against the Vikings. The Rams aren't bad defensively, ala the Kansas City Chiefs. But after giving up 446 yards and 31 points to the Vikings, L.A.'s defense isn't great either.

The offense, on the other hand. Oh my lord, the offense.

Squaring off against the NFL's No. 1 defense from last year, the Rams were a buzz saw. A blitzkrieg. A buzzkrieg, even.

Goff looked the part of a man who is tired of seeing SportsCenter segments about how good Patrick Mahomes is. Goff stated his case to be considered the league's No. 1 gunslinger, throwing for 465 yards and five touchdowns on 26-of-33 passing.

His passer rating for the night? A perfect 158.3. One-quarter of the way through the season, Goff has thrown for 1,406 yards with 11 scoring strikes and two picks.

And the Rams are 4-0 for the first time since the Kurt Warner-Marshall Faulk days of 2001.

While speaking to Fox Sports after the game, Goff was quick to credit his linemen and receivers.

"I thought we protected really well all night," Goff said. "They did a really good job in keeping me upright. Whenever that happens, we have a really good chance with the guys we have outside."

Those guys the Rams have outside make up the NFL's deepest, most loaded receiving corps. And Goff kept every one of them busy.

There was second-year pro Cooper Kupp, who paced L.A. with nine catches for 162 yards and two touchdowns, including this 70-yard bomb that helped put the team up 14-10:

Veteran Robert Woods started slowly Thursday but turned it on late, catching five passes for 101 yards—including this laser from 31 yards out:

When you're undefeated and rolling in L.A., you celebrate touchdowns with rappers. It's just how things are done.

Then there's newcomer Brandin Cooks, who joined the team in an offseason trade with the New England Patriots. Cooks piled up seven catches for 117 yards and a 47-yard score:

Look at those deep passes. Just look at them. They are perfect. Each time, Goff hit the open man right where he needed to. There's no defense for throws like that.

In case you were wondering, Goff's other touchdown went to tailback Todd Gurley, because of course it did. All the 2017 Offensive Player of the Year did against the Vikings was pile up 156 total yards and that score.

That's the thing: Gurley was great against the Vikings. So was the Rams O-line. But on this night, it was Goff's world. Given how lost Goff looked as a rookie, a good portion of the credit for his development has to go to head coach Sean McVay. He's a mastermind. A wunderkind. A smart dude, even.

But the best scheme in the world is only as good as the quarterback who's executing it. On Thursday, Goff carved one of the league's better defenses into pieces so small they couldn't be seen with the naked eye. It was a blur of pinpoint downfield throws.

Ginsu Goff. Start printing the T-shirts.

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The Rams came into the season as a Super Bowl favorite in the NFC. They were going to pair a dominant defense with an explosive offense and become a juggernaut. The defense may yet become great if it can get healthy, and a late strip-sack sealed the deal and perhaps served as positive foreshadowing.

The Rams are the NFL's best team, but they didn't gain that status through defensive improvements. The unit is decent, but not much more than that. L.A. will no doubt be the No. 1 team in Bleacher Report's NFL power rankings on Monday because the league's highest-scoring offense from a year ago did improve by leaps and bounds. Because Goff might be the best quarterback in football in just his third season.

The terrifying part? Goff told Fox afterward the Rams aren't done improving.

"We need to keep getting better," the quarterback said. "Keep finishing drives. Keep putting up points. Keep taking care of the ball. That's all we can do."

That banging sound you hear is from defensive coordinators around the NFL slamming their heads into their desks.

Because the Rams look unstoppable.

And Goff is the reason.