IMO they maybe realized that GOAT had so much hype around it, that it might be hard to meet.
So I think they're trying to genuinely make a solid album here, and if people say it doesn't live up to the hype, you can see that they're already setting the stage by saying "Reject 3 is dropping 1st quarter 2018 and that's where the real fire is."
The hype for GOAT got out of control, and Conway and WSG were comparing it to Illmatic. By saying "Hey we're just gonna go ahead and give it to you guys in 2 days" it sort of helps cut down on some of the hype they created, as well as gives them room to cut some songs off and say they're going to be on the next project.
Kind of a smart move. At this point of they put all their chips in on GOAT and it's not received as well as they hoped, then they backed themselves into a corner and lose some steam going into 2018.