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THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. -- Jared Goff talked to Carson Wentz a couple of weeks ago, congratulating his offseason training partner on a stellar start to his rookie season with the Philadelphia Eagles.And then Goff went back to waiting for his own chance to make things happen for the Los Angeles Rams.I dont think Ive ever gone backward, Goff said Wednesday. Ive gotten better every week, every day, so I feel good.The No. 1 pick in the NFL draft hasnt played a snap through five games for the Rams, whose season is off to a solid 3-2 start in spite of the NFLs least productive offense. Coach Jeff Fisher and his staff have given no indication Goff will debut anytime soon, instead praising Case Keenums performances for the struggling unit.Goff works with his fellow backups in practice and studies intently in the film room, but spends his Sundays on the sideline analyzing defenses for Keenum. The rookie will be on the sideline again when the Rams visit Detroit (2-3) on Sunday.All around, Im just trying to improve and make everything become second nature, Goff said. Continue to get better and continue to feel more natural in the offense.Goff spent Tuesday night watching his San Francisco Giants melt down in the NL Division Series, but he also pays attention to the rest of the NFL -- and sees his fellow rookies having success. Along with Wentzs strong start in Philly, Dak Prescott is doing exceptionally well in Dallas. Jacoby Brissett and Cody Kessler also have already started games as rookies.Every situation is different, Goff said. All these guys that are doing well right now, Im very happy for them. Most of them Im good friends with, and theyve done a really good job.Although Keenum has the NFCs 15th-best passer rating at 75.4, the veteran has done a capable job of managing the Rams offense, which clearly has bigger problems than the quarterback. For instance, star running back Todd Gurley is averaging 2.7 yards per carry.Although another loss or two could change everything, the Rams dont appear overly anxious to see what theyve got with Goff, who is still learning the nuances of coordinator Rob Boras offense.A lot of times, you understand how a person is learning by the questions hes asking, Boras said. (Goff) is not asking rookie questions anymore. Hes starting to ask those more advanced (questions). ... The easiest way to understand if somebody knows it is when they can regurgitate it back to you, and hes able to do that right now. (He can) ask you some of those questions where youve got to look up at the sky and try to think, `OK, thats a good one, and try to give him the right answer.While Fisher and Boras insist things are getting better, the Rams had the NFLs worst offense last season, and they have the NFLs worst offense again through five weeks this fall. Theyve managed just 284.2 yards per game, and they rank near the bottom in most statistical categories, including an NFL-low nine trips to their opponents red zone for just four touchdowns -- 28th-best in the league.Fans increased their calls for Goffs debut after Los Angeles struggled in a 30-19 home loss to Buffalo last week. Goff turns 22 years old on Friday when the Rams head out on a two-game road trip to Detroit and London, where theyll face the New York Giants.Goff will return a year older, but its too soon to tell whether hell get his first snaps along the way.Hes putting a lot of work in as if hes the starter, which I know is not an easy thing to do, especially for a young player, Boras said. But to watch him go ahead and study Detroit and get ready for this week as if hes playing, I think that says a lot about his maturity as a 21-year-old.---AP NFL websites: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP-NFL NFL ratings, which have been down significantly this season, have improved slightly since the U.S. presidential election.While viewership is down 10 percent overall through the first 14 weeks of the season compared to that time span in 2015, thats four percentage points better than the collective broadcasts were down a little more than a month ago.Its an encouraging rebound, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell told ESPN on Friday. I think it proves that the election was certainly a factor.For the first nine weeks, NFL games averaged 15.5 million viewers, which was down 14 percent compared to 2015. But following the Nov. 8 presidential election, which took place two days before the start of Week 10, viewership has increased. During Weeks 10-14, NFL games averaged 18.1 million viewers, off just 2 percent compared to those weeks in 2015.As Goodell noted in a memo sent to NFL teams in October, the league has been affected by the presidential election before. In 2000, the memo said, Fox games were down 4 percent, and ABCs 7. Even worse, CBS and ESPN were down 10 and 11 percent, respectively.Goodell told ESPN that he doesnt blame all of the viewership woes this season on the political news cycle, saying he and the leagues executives have for years looked into various ways to make the game more digestible to fans.The average length of an NFL game is about 3 hours, 8 minutes, which hasnt changed substantively in the past several years, though the game might seem slower as the attention span changes due to the media landscape and social media.Im a big believer that its about the pace of the game, not the length of the game, Goodell told ESPN. If you have a great game, no one is talking about the games length. But pace is something weve been working on.One of the first experiments the league will conduct, in cooperation with its television partners, is different times and lengths of ad breaks within every Week 16 games. ?We want to re-evaluate what commercial pods should look like, Goodell said. Commercial breaks have been 2 minutes and 20 seconds for our entire history. Well, what happens if we try shorter breaks and put them in different places. It might be better for us, our fans, our television partners and even the advertisers. And its not just a media exercise, its about making it feel right to the fans in the stadium, as well.?Goodell says the average time spent for instant replay -- approximately 15 minutes per game -- also could be lessened soon.Weve had instant replay reviewed in our central office for two years now, Goodell said. In the beginning, there was a sense that it might be hard for us to have an integral role in all the games going on at one time, but theres more confidence now that were in a position where maybe instead of the official coming to the sideline, we could have a (Microsoft) Surface tablet brought out to hhim and we could get in his ear and make the decision quicker.ddddddddddddAs for the notion that games arent competitive enough, Goodell says the facts dont back up that assertion.?Were having our most competitive season since the early 1930s, Goodell said.The league says the average margin of victory through Week 14 is 9.83 points per game, which would be the lowest for a full season since 1932 (9.13). Some 69.2 percent of all games played this season have been within seven points in the fourth quarter (144 of 208), which would be the highest percentage for a full season since 1935 (71.7 percent), according to the league.Addressing those who say the decline in ratings is a product of too much football, Goodell says he doesnt see an issue with the quantity of games, including Thursday Night Football.I dont think weve seen anyone who wants less football, said Goodell, referencing the recent Dallas Cowboys-Minnesota Vikings game as the most watched Thursday Night Game ever.In fact, its the rise in the Thursday Night viewership that partially helped the league rebound. Those games from Weeks 10-14, which also included a highly anticipated Kansas City Chiefs-Oakland Raiders matchup, were up 35 percent compared to 2015.?Big games certainly have helped ratings rebound from the 15.5 million average seen from Weeks 1-9, as have the success of the Cowboys, who at 11-2 are tied with the New England Patriots with the best record in football.?The Week 10 Sunday game on Fox featuring the Cowboys versus the Pittsburgh Steelers drew 28.9 million viewers. Two weeks later, the Cowboys versus the Washington Redskins pulled in 35.1 million viewers on Fox. And last week, the Cowboys game against the New York Giants on NBCs Sunday Night Football was watched by 26.5 million people.Through the first 14 weeks, the biggest declines have been for ESPNs Monday Night Football and NBCs Sunday Night Football, which are down 15 and 13 percent, respectively, compared to 2015. Thursday Night Football, which is shared by the NFL Network, CBS and NBC, as well as with Twitter, is down 17 percent.Networks that air Sunday day-time games have had the narrowest drops. Fox is down 4 percent in viewership, while CBS has seen a 7 percent decline.?While the league wants to provide fans with a way to see the best moments of games on social media, executives have been weary of letting them do too much, so as not to discourage fans from watching at all. This year, the NFL put limits on what teams can put out editorially within the games and required that highlights be pulled from the leagues server.Said Goodell: You have to prepare to cannibalize yourself to deliver what the consumer wants. But we want to make sure to have the right balance. ' ' '