Dear Nick Wright, 2020 is over and it's time to let go of the narratives around Lions' QB Jared Goff
I seriously don't know what Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff has to do to prove to the world that he is a good quarterback. We live in a world of talking heads right now and a lot of the talking heads are expected to cover all 32 NFL teams along with teams from the rest […]
I seriously don't know what Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff has to do to prove to the world that he is a good quarterback.
We live in a world of talking heads right now and a lot of the talking heads are expected to cover all 32 NFL teams along with teams from the rest of sports. In a way you can understand how narratives can get lodged into some of these heads and how it can be easy to just go with that.
I think that's what happened with Fox Sport's Nick Wright on Monday morning when he said this.
Back in 2020 Goff had a bad year with the Rams. So bad that he got benched for John Wolford. He was then traded to Detroit after the season. Since then, a lot of these analysts got really busy with other things and just kept that 2020 version of Goff locked in their heads and refuse to just move off it.
Goff has been one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL since that trade went down. Statistically he's been right there with Mahomes and Allen who he alluded to in the video. He's even turned the ball over significantly less than both of those guys.
I just don't see the civilian in this, I really don't. He's been more accurate and he's been less careless. These guys can make unreal throws and there is nothing wrong with saying they're better than Goff because they are, but the idea that Goff is just some guy that's not doing anything is crazy.
The other thing that always comes with this is the narratives like he can't play under pressure, he's not good in the weather, he makes weird mistakes or he can't make a comeback. Let's break some of those down shall we?
Goff can't play in the weather
We've been told a lot that he can't play in the weather, so we went back and looked at every game of his career to find the ones that he played in the rain and we found four games. Here's what they looked like.
Rams vs Commanders in 2020
When you play in Los Angeles for much of your career, you don't see a ton of rain. There was literally no rain game before this one and this one was in Maryland and it definitely rained. Here's how Goff performed in that game.
21-30 for 309 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. 70% completion percentage and 111.7 passer rating. Rams won 30-10.
Lions vs Packers in 2021
One of the first games that Jared Goff played with the Lions. This was actually his second game with Detroit to be exact. The Lions did lose this game 35-17, but I have to tell you that at the time Goff seemed like 50 times worse than he actually was. It was almost as if we were all overreacting a bit.
26-36 for 246 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. 72.2% completion percentage and 97.7 passer rating.
Lions vs Steelers in 2021
Everyone hates this game. This was the 16-16 tie that seemed like it just lasted for three days. Jared Goff was playing hurt in this one and wound up not even playing the next week. The Lions strategy was to pass as little as possible because Goff was having a hard time throwing. They eventually had to just do it though and it was by far his worst game in the rain.
14-25 for 114 yards, 0 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. 56% completion percentage and 67.6 passer rating.
Lions vs Packers in 2024
Goff didn't light up the stat sheet here, but he had a very good game that saw him complete 81.8% of his passes for 145 yards and a touchdown. This was supposed to be a bad game for him. The gloves were supposed to be a problem and all that. It's just not a thing.
Goff folds under pressure
This has always been the biggest one. There's this thing where everyone ignores how every quarterback is bad under pressure and think Goff is the only one it affects. The thing is, Goff is handling pressure pretty well right now.
He's completing 61.3% of his passes against pressure. That's fifth in the league and higher than both Mahomes (48.9%) and Allen (44.8%.)
He is third in yards per attempt against pressure, and fifth in the league in passing yards under pressure. He has six turnover worthy throws this season. Allen has nine and Mahomes has five.
He's not the best in the league under pressure, that goes to Lamar Jackson, but he's one of the best in the league and the idea that he's the worst couldn't be farther from the truth.
One big mistake per game
This one you don't see a lot, but last year in the playoffs I heard podcasters saying this type of thing every day of the week. I don't know where it comes from, but the last weird thing I really remember him doing was the weird chest pass thing against the Rams in the wild card.
That was bad, but it's definitely not indicative of something that he does every week. In no way do the Lions have to overcome the play of Goff to win. They win in large part because of him.
Can't come back after being down
This one I don't get at all. Goff just had his worst game of the year and still lead the team to a comeback win over the Texans. He currently has 16 total fourth quarter comebacks. That's 10th among all active QB's and only one behind Mahomes.
It's time to just let the 2020 Goff stuff go. He's not that guy anymore. He's an elite NFL quarterback and is playing MVP level football right now. Just finally admit it.
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