At the tail end of his debut season, after a deflating home loss to San Francisco, Goff stood at the Coliseum podium.

"I promise you guys it will get fixed," he said on December 24, 2016. "[I'll give] everything in my heart and soul to get it all fixed."

At the time, Goff had just lost a sixth consecutive start to begin his professional career. The next week, he'd drop a seventh to conclude a dreadful rookie campaign.

But by December 24, 2017, Goff had emerged as a division champion and the first player in Rams history to throw at least 25 touchdowns with single-digit interceptions.

The following week, when his team again hosted the 49ers, Goff wouldn't address the media from the Coliseum podium. He wouldn't have to. He'd made good on his promise and was taking Week 17 off to prepare for the postseason.

Along the way, Goff had somehow maintained the confidence of a fledgling group of Rams that had seen him falter and earned the trust of veteran additions who would help him turn around the franchise's fortunes.

"He was young but very respectful," said center John Sullivan of his first impression of Goff upon arriving in Los Angeles via free agency. "Smart kid. Had everything put together. Good moral compass. Right from the start you get that feel when you meet him."

And true to his word, Goff gave his heart and soul to his team.

"What really won everybody over and proved it -- him to himself and to everybody else in the organization -- was just the way that everybody worked last year during the offseason program, into training camp," continued Sullivan. "I can say confidently that his performance and our performance as a team a year ago was not a fluke."

"You have to respect a guy like that," wide receiver Josh Reynolds said of Goff's resilience. "Going off on that offseason and working out like he did to be able to improve his second year. That's what everyone says. It's that jump from the first year to the second year that's the biggest jump in somebody's career."

The adage certainly proved true in Goff's case. (And having the 2017 NFL Coach of the Year in his ear didn't hurt, either.)

More comfortable and capable on the field, suddenly Goff's personality has emerged off of it, going into Year Three.

"We were actually just talking about this in the locker room," said outside linebacker Matt Longacre, following a training camp session in early August, "how much he's grown since Day One when he was the shy, quiet guy."