Every Saturday night during the 2018 NFL season, former Los Angeles Rams quarterback coach Zac Taylor and the Rams coaching staff called for a vote.
Head coach Sean McVay or Taylor would ask starting quarterback Jared Goff and backups Brandon Allen and Sean Mannion about which plays they were most comfortable with in specific situations.
One of the coaches would ask, “What are our best three plays on third-and-short?” And then McVay, Taylor, Goff, Allen and Mannion would all give their answers.
Goff’s answer was viewed as the tiebreaker, but these votes usually resulted in a runaway winner.
“It was always funny, usually our answers would all align, and not on purpose,” Mannion said. “We just spent so much time with one another helping each other prepare. It’s funny how we’d all agree by the end of the week. That’s the sign of a good quarterback room.”
The style of that 2018 Rams quarterback room has spread across the NFL over the last three seasons. After the Rams reached the Super Bowl, Taylor became the head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals. Goff was traded to the Detroit Lions, and he’ll match up against his former coach when the Bengals face the Lions on Sunday.
The 2018 season was a formative year for Taylor, who at the time was on the verge of becoming an NFL head coach. Without the success of the Rams offense, a product of Taylor’s relationship with Goff, Taylor’s coaching career might have gone differently.
“What I always appreciated about Jared is he’s a very clear communicator,” Taylor said. "If he needs more information or has a feeling on something, that’s important in a relationship between a quarterback coach and a quarterback and a head coach."
Taylor’s philosophy was encouraging the quarterbacks to ask difficult questions and then spending the next day-or-two watching enough film to get them the answer. When Goff asked Taylor a question about the game plan or the offense, Taylor's response would be one of his biggest priorities for the week.
Taylor also brought his own spin to the quarterback room after he was promoted from assistant wide receivers coach following the 2017 season. As a part of the quarterbacks’ game-week routine, Taylor provided in-depth research on the head referee for the Rams’ upcoming game.
