ATLANTA – Sure, Jim Leyland said without hesitating. He remembers Jerry Goff. “A tall, lanky kid. A good-looking kid. A left-handed hitting catcher. An excellent human being.”
Maybe your memory isn’t as good as Leyland’s. You have to be a terrific Pirates fan to know Goff backed up Don Slaught and played in 22 games over the 1993 and 1994 seasons. He hit .215 with seven home runs and 19 RBIs during parts of six major league seasons with Montreal, the Pirates and Houston.
“He didn’t make it big,” Leyland said, “but he made it.”
Goff is thrilled to tell you his son, Jared, has made it bigger.
“What an unbelievable story for that family,” Leyland said. “The kid playing in the Super Bowl. As a quarterback. Against Tom Brady. Wow!”
Jerry Goff, 54, and a fireman now in the small town of Novato, Calif., population 30,000, is making sure his son enjoys every second. Jared will lead the Rams against the Patriots Sunday night in Super Bowl LIII. Jerry Goff said the two don’t talk football much — “That’s his job, so we talk more about life” — but made an exception this one time.
“I told him about Dan Marino,” Jerry Goff said. “He didn’t know that Marino went to the Super Bowl in his second season and never went back. You never know if you’ll ever get back.”
Jerry Goff said he wasn’t going to believe his son is in the Super Bowl until he arrived here. He and his wife, Nancy, came in Thursday along with his parents, John, 82, and Gail, 78. “They’re ready to roll,” Goff said. “They’re so proud.” A family dinner is planned for Friday night, Jared’s one free night this week.
Jerry Goff thought his son might follow him into baseball. The kid played shortstop through high school. “Then I saw him throw the football and I thought, ‘This dude might have a chance,’” Jerry said. “There was just something different about him. Football came easier for him.”
Not always.
Not in Goff’s freshman season at California. The team went 1-11. Not in his rookie year with the Rams. He went 0-7 as a starter with five touchdown passes and seven interceptions.
But Jared Goff has a thing about getting better. In his third and final season at California in 2015, he led the Bears to a bowl win against Air Force, their first bowl win since 2008. You bet he improved. The Rams traded up from No. 15 to make him the No. 1 overall selection in the 2016 NFL draft and gave him a four-year, $28 million contract. His next deal will be astronomical.
“I think about the people who labeled him a bust,” Jerry Goff said. “I find those people not to be super bright. A kid drafted that high doesn’t forget how to play the position.”
Jared Goff handled his many media duties here flawlessly. It helped that Brady is the other quarterback Sunday night. Even among the Rams, Aaron Donald received more attention.
Jerry Goff said his son hasn’t changed much since he attended a small Catholic high school. Jared shares a house in Calabasas, Calif., with his boyhood pal, Patrick Conroy.
“If you know him, you would think he’s a really nice kid,” Jerry Goff said. “None of this is going to change him in any way. He comes from a blue-collar background. He treats everybody the way you want to be treated. He’s as humble as you would like him to be.”
Forgive the Goffs if they think it is a small world. Brady grew up in the Bay Area in San Mateo, about 40 miles from Novato. Jared wears No. 16 in honor of Joe Montana, who won four Super Bowls with the 49ers before the kid was born.
Now Jared Goff, who was 7 when Brady played in his first Super Bowl, will try to slow the Patriots dynasty.
“Surreal,” Jerry Goff said.
Surreal, indeed.
Ron Cook: rcook@post-gazette.com and Twitter @RonCookPG. Ron Cook can be heard on the “Cook and Joe” show weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on 93.7 The Fan.
First Published: January 31, 2019, 9:56 p.m.
