The Goff Era Begins: Rams' No. 1 Draft Pick to Start Sunday

LOS ANGELES, CA -- The Rams will give quarterback Jared Goff, the top pick in the NFL draft, his first start Sunday in an effort to give new blood to the team's anemic offense.

The team announced the move Tuesday, two days after the team stopped a four-game losing skid with a 9-6 win, the second time this season that the Rams won without scoring a touchdown. The team now has a 4-5 record and faces an uphill battle to gain a playoff berth.

Goff will play his first NFL game against the Miami Dolphins at the Rams' home game Sunday.

In other Rams news, Los Angeles Rams defensive end Robert Quinn admitted himself to a hospital Monday for tests for a non-football related illness, the team announced.

Rams coach Jeff Fisher said during his regularly scheduled 5 p.m. news conference that he had spoken with Quinn "several hours ago" and his wife Christina and "he's feeling much better."

"He kept saying to me over and over, `Coach, I just want to get back, get my body right and get on the practice field as fast as I can,"' Fisher said.

Quinn was continuing to undergo tests "and things look encouraging," Fisher said.

Fisher said Quinn sat behind him on the bus ride from the airport to the team's headquarters in Agoura Hills and shared "some thoughts on the game and watching some plays on the game with him."

"Something happened between the time we got back last night and this morning, but we're very encouraged," Fisher said.

Fisher said it was "highly unlikely" Quinn's hospitalization was related to the benign brain tumor he underwent surgery for as a high school senior in 2007.

Quinn missed the Oct. 9 game against the Buffalo Bills and Oct. 16 game against the Detroit Lions because of a shoulder injury.

Quinn returned in a reserve role for the Oct. 23 game against the New York Giants, then started each of the next two games, including Sunday's 9-6 victory over the New York Jets in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Quinn played in 50 of the Rams 60 defensive plays and three of their 24 special teams plays Sunday, making one tackle, one quarterback hit and two passes defensed.

Quinn performed a celebratory dance after linebacker Alec Ogletree intercepted a pass by Bryce Petty with less than two minutes to play to seal the victory that ended a four-game losing streak.

City News Service contributed to this report. Photo by Jeffrey Beall via Wikimedia Commons