Jared Goff’s turnaround from his rookie season to his sophomore campaign has been remarkable by every measure. He’s improved in all areas, has taken control of the offense in a big way and looks like a completely different quarterback at the line and in the pocket.

A big part of his development has been the job Sean McVay’s done in transforming the offense and elevating the play of Goff. Some are using McVay’s success against Goff, however, and discrediting the second-year quarterback’s play as a result.

The Rams have come under some unwarranted criticism of late for their usage of the coach-to-quarterback headset. A video showed McVay calling audibles for Goff at the line of scrimmage, which Chris Simms of ProFootballTalk called “unethical” and “cheating.”

It isn’t, and it’s completely within the confines of the rules.

“To say that you’re in his ear — because I’ve seen some of the things out there — I think it’s a discredit to what Jared has done,” McVay said. “And really, when you just look at it with the experiences that I’ve had in Washington and here, it’s totally at the quarterback’s discretion whether they want to have you be able to talk to them, give them any sort of reminders or if they say, ‘Just give me the play and then let me go ahead and just play the position.’”

In the NFL, coaches are allowed to talk to the quarterback until there are 15 seconds left on the play clock. At that point, communication goes dark and it’s up to the quarterback to audible. There’s no question McVay is helping Goff during that 25-second window before the headset is cut off, but that’s not out of the ordinary. McVay even said he had a similar approach with Kirk Cousins and Colt McCoy in Washington.

Goff is free to make any changes he wants at the line, too. McVay said the second-year quarterback can “absolutely” call an audible after the 25-second window without him being told to.

That’s not to say McVay isn’t in Goff’s ear frequently, though. The quarterback wasn’t afraid to admit that, saying it depends on the play.

“Sometimes he talks all the way up until 15 seconds, sometimes he talks for five seconds, sometimes he talks for 10 seconds – it all varies,” Goff said. “Just like every other quarterback in the league, it stops at 15 seconds and we’re on the play. He’s great on the headset though. He does a really good job and gives me as much or as little information as I need and does a great job.”

So how often does Goff make a change at the line of scrimmage after the communication cuts out? Not as much as you might think, but when you have an offensive mastermind like McVay, why not trust him to make the right call?

“Not too often, no,” Goff said of how much he changes plays on his own. “Most of the time he calls the play and he knows what he’s talking about, so I let him do it. But there’s plenty of times where it gets below 15 and we have to adlib it a little bit.”

So is it cheating? Absolutely not. Should it discredit Goff and the job he’s done in his second season? Some would say he isn’t trusted to make adjustments the way other quarterbacks are, but that has nothing to do with his play on the field.

Instead, it’s a testament to McVay installing a system where he can get the offense to the line quick enough to allow him to read the defense and make a change. If it’s working, why change?