The guys at the Pat McAfee show had a Lions fan call into the show on Wednesday to talk about his concerns on Jared Goff's deep ball. The concern centers around a moment that I honestly don't remember and, don't think ever happened to be honest, where Jameson Williams was supposedly mad at Goff on the sideline for underthrowing him. 

The only moment I can remember where Goff underthrew Williams on a deep ball was against the Jets. There's no instance shown anywhere after that where you can see an upset Jameson Williams. Not upset with Goff and not upset with the coaches. I just don't think this ever happened and if someone remembers seeing something, I'd love to see the video. 

That's not totally what we're talking about today though. What I really want to attack is the idea that Jared Goff is not a good deep ball passer or that he won't throw the deep ball. Let's look into this narrative and break down whether its true or not. 

Does Goff refuse to throw the deep ball?

That may have been a thing in 2021 when Goff just didn't have it in the deep ball area of his game. That was not the case in 2022. Jared Goff threw the fourth most balls of 10 plus yards, the second most of 20 plus yards, the 10th most of 30 plus yards, the third most in 40 plus yards and was tied for third with Patrick Mahomes on the most 50 plus yard passes attempted in 2022. 

Wait, there's more. Goff finished 12th in the league in intended air yards. That's the amount of yards the ball traveled through the air whether it was completed or not.  

Goff was throwing the ball everywhere in 2022. The idea that he doesn't want to throw deep anymore just isn't a reality. 

Deep Ball accuracy

This is the part where Goff really comes under fire. Yes, he underthrew Jameson Williams twice last year and everyone can't let that go. This must mean that he's inaccurate as a deep ball passer right? Well, I'm sorry to burst that bubble, but it's just not true. 

There's one man that knows the deep ball better than anyone out there and that's Deep Ball Project creator Johnny Kinsley. He recently put out his annual Deep Ball Rankings By Accuracy Percentage project. 

He charted the accuracy of 33 quarterbacks in 2022 and ranked them all based off their deep ball accuracy. Goff ranks 17th. He's not the very best in the league, but that's not what the argument is. 17th is pretty good when you consider that he was 27th the year before. Here's what Kinsley had to say:

"Goff's deep accuracy can be split into how he did with play action vs. without. With play action he was the second best deep passer. Without play action he was the fourth worst.

That doesn't mean there weren't some great throws in between those highs and lows, there certainly were. Goff did well on throws of 21-30 yards, to his left, and without pressure, and he was kept clean quite often which gave him his best deep passing season since 2018. I'm not the biggest Goff fan in the world, but I'm eager to see if it can get any better with a healthy Jameson Williams under his helm."

Again, nobody is disputing whether or not Goff is the best quarterback in the league or something. He's not, but he is accurate with the deep ball. Especially in play action. Something you can expect the Lions to able to do more of with a more athletic and potentially more healthy run game. 

So in conclusion, The Lions have a guy that's willing to throw deep and can complete the passes when he does so. There's no secret that chemistry with Williams needs to be worked on, but the two have the benefit of spending OTA's, mini camp and training camp together. That's something they did not have at all when Williams was plopped onto the roster after being cleared from a torn ACL he suffered in college. It'll get there in time. 

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