Detroit Lions Mailbag: Is Goff still getting paid?
Welcome to Week 15 of the Detroit Lions mailbag. The Lions are coming off a rough loss to the Bears, so naturally everyone is in a great mood right now. We got some good questions this week. Let's jump right into with a quarterback question that's on everyone's mind right now. I don't think Jared […]
Welcome to Week 15 of the Detroit Lions mailbag. The Lions are coming off a rough loss to the Bears, so naturally everyone is in a great mood right now. We got some good questions this week. Let's jump right into with a quarterback question that's on everyone's mind right now.
I don't think Jared Goff's recent stretch of games is going to change the Lions mind on whether or not they want to keep him. Goff has had four bad games recently, but he had over 30 plus good games previous to that. At the end of the day, that's always going to outweigh things.
If there were a chance that Goff goes on a four game run from here where he were to turn the ball over multiple times a game and then it happened in the playoffs, maybe they're really thinking about things then. Goff has shown in the past that he can get out of this bad run though and that will help.
I still think Goff gets paid what he would have gotten paid. There just might be some language or incentives placed in the deal now. Like Brad Holmes said, it's a lot easier to get worse at quarterback than it is to get better. No shot the Lions let Goff walk.
Here's the thing. I think the Lions have the right ideas with what to do with Jameson Williams when they target him. The problem is that they don't try to do it more than once. Goff took a deep shot at Williams on Sunday and then didn't do it again after that. They've had moments where he got put into good situations where he could get yards after the catch and they'd go there and then not go back to it. They have to stop doing that. They need to go for it more.
I think Goff does get a lot of flak for the deep ball and part of that is earned. He has trouble gauging Williams crazy speed. Williams is part of the problem there too. He very clearly has trouble tracking the ball in the air and it causes him to be looking all over the place and he misses it.
I would hit Williams in short yard and crossing routes. Let that speed do the work after the catch. The deep shots can be there, but it's just not reliable right now.
It's really hard to falter as badly as some Lions fans fear the Lions may falter. I think the Lions can beat the Broncos and, at worse, I think they can split with the Vikings. This team just needs to win two games and they're divsion champs for the first time since 1993. Everyone is afraid of everyone right now, but the Lions match up well with their future opponents.
The Broncos have the worst run defense in the league and the Lions are third in rushing yards this year, the Vikings are on their fourth quarterback of the year. That defense is good, but they've scored 13 points in the last two weeks. The Cowboys are going to be a tough out. There's just no getting around that.
I think they can go 2-2 or 3-1 in this stretch.
I need to see that offense back to what it was just a few weeks ago. They look like they'll have a healthy offensive line starting this week and that will help, but getting Gibbs and Jameson Williams more involved in the pass game will help too. Keep Goff clean and let him work the field.
The playoffs are a completely different animal. It's essentially the start of a brand new season. We've seen a lot of teams, that weren't supposed to compete, go on deep runs. Sometimes they win it all. You just never know what can happen.
A million different signs are pointing to C.J. Gardner-Johnson making his return next week. The biggest one is him announcing on Instagram that he's cleared and that he's back. My expectation there, and it's just my expectation, is that he starts his clock on the 20th and they activate him and put him on the roster on the 27th and he plays against the Cowboys.
As for Houston, that might be the final game of the year against the Vikings. It's harder to tell with him because he's clearly not as outspoken as Gardner-Johnson. Then again, nobody is.
In my opinion, doing something this team has not done in 30 years in the third year of a rebuild with one of the youngest teams in the NFL should absolutely be enough to call this season a success.
I understand that Lions fans want it all and they want it all right now. I've been trying all season to temper expectations and explain that this is the beginning of what everyone wanted. The window just cracked open. This team is building for long term success. The goal is to always be good instead of being good that one year. That takes time.
I've long thought that Lions fans are acting this way a year too early. That's on everything too. Season expectations, free agency and trade deadline. They're asking the Lions to do things that the 49ers and Eagles are doing and they aren't close to being at the point of those two teams yet. Their windows are closing. Not rapidly, but it's happening. Their no greater sign of that then the going all in sign.
Next season is when you can really get on the Super Bowl hype train in my opinion. That's when you can demand more. This team just isn't realistically there yet and that's ok.
Look, defensively, this team just is what it is right now. They're not ready. The hope is that they can just bend more often than they break.
The offense is what worries me. It's not so much the players on the field, it's the coaching. My worry for them is that they don't adjust to the moment. Defenses have this group figured out. This is the time that you have to turn the page in the playbook. I'm concerned that they try to just stick to the gameplan and try to make it work.
I'm not saying you have to install a new offense, but it's time to get more creative.
Not very far. This happens all the time. A rookie surprises with a big rookie year and then hits the sophomore slump wall. Year three is the year to really learn who Joseph is.
Tracking the quarterbacks the Lions could have drafted over keeping Goff
I love going back in time on Twitter or X or whatever it is that you prefer to call it. It's fun to find your old takes or your feelings about things from the past. Sometimes you find out how right you are and other times you find out how wrong you are. It's fun […]
