Jared Goff is indeed better with the Lions than he was with the Rams
The Lions mandatory mini camp started up on Tuesday afternoon. Before things got fully into the flow, Lions head coach Dan Campbell took to the podium to speak with the press. It was there where he said something that seemed crazy not too long ago. At first glance, it's easy to see why someone might […]
The Lions mandatory mini camp started up on Tuesday afternoon. Before things got fully into the flow, Lions head coach Dan Campbell took to the podium to speak with the press. It was there where he said something that seemed crazy not too long ago.
At first glance, it's easy to see why someone might disagree with this take. After all, Jared Goff did lead the Rams to the Super Bowl in 2018. You can't ignore that he had a phenomenal season that year.
Still, the wrap on Goff for a long time was that it wasn't so much him as it was just about everything else. You would constantly hear about how he had Sean McVay setting up the offense in a foolproof way for him or he had Todd Gurley keeping defenses honest enough to allow Goff to have moments in the passing game.
In Detroit, its way different. Goff has become a leader on the field and like Campbell stated, he's simply been asked to do more in Detroit than he was by McVay in Los Angeles.
For example, Goff has been out there recognizing and calling protections. That's not something he never had a chance to do in L.A. In addition to that, he's become the elder statesmen of one of the youngest teams in the NFL and he's managed to get his group to follow along.
We're not just seeing that in Detroit. They're seeing it in L.A. too. The Athletics' Ram's beat writer Jourdan Rodrigue makes a great point about Goff's progression.
In terms of on the field work, that's where you see it the most. Goff got off to a pretty rough start with the Lions when his first nine games with the team, he managed to turn the ball over 10 different times and only put up eight touchdowns and 2,109 yards. Since the bye week of the 2021 season, Goff has looked so much better.
In 22 games he only turned the ball over 15 times. He's otherwise put up 5,688 yards and 40 touchdowns. The most impressive feat of that time was when Goff went on a nine game streak of not throwing an interception down the stretch of the 2022 season. That's a franchise record. His 324 consecutive passes without an interception is the fifth best streak in NFL history. He's 79 passes away from beating Aaron Rodgers of 402.
That streak contributed to the best season of Goff's career. I know there are some who might disagree and say that 2018 season was the best one. Here's the thing. Goff was able to do that with the aforementioned Gurley. He also had Brandin Cooks, Robert Woods, Cooper Kupp and Josh Reynolds.
In Detroit he has the great Amon-Ra St. Brown, but outside of that, Goff went through some tough stretches where he was missing DJ Chark, D'Andre Swift, TJ Hockenson, Jameson Williams, Josh Reynolds and, even a short while, St. Brown was out too.
Goff did not slow down at any point. He managed to put up some of the best numbers in his career with guys like Kalif Raymond, Tom Kennedy Brock Wright, Brandon Zylstra and Shane Zylstra. That's pretty impressive for a guy that supposedly has to have everything around him be perfect.
There's a reason why the Lions decided to hold onto Goff and the Lions didn't draft a quarterback that can immediately challenge him for a spot. There's also a reason that the Lions were reportedly exploring a contract extension with Goff as early as right now. They see that Goff is beyond the quarterback that he once was in L.A. Can Goff continue to take steps and lead this team to their first division title and a spot in the playoffs? We'll see very soon.
Featured image via Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
