It’s a weird time in football. There’s always weirdness as the NFL stretch drive begins. Like one of the great if lapsed NFL rivalries, Giants vs. Washington, won by a quarterback nobody ever heard of a month ago, who lives in his parents’ house, whose mom still makes his bed. Like the 140th pick in this year’s draft beating the Steelers, or the last pick in the ’22 draft playing the best game a quarterback played this weekend. Like the Jets going touchdown-less on 62 of their last 65 possessions. Like the Buffalo Bills playing for their playoff lives—in Week 11.
Or this: The Detroit Lions are 16-4 in their last 20 games.
“Is that good?” quarterback Jared Goff said from downtown Detroit late Sunday afternoon.
Yes. Yes it is. The Eagles are 16-4 in their last 20. Kansas City’s 17-3. Dallas is 13-7. So, this is no small deal, Mr. Goff. But I thought Detroit’s 31-26 win over Chicago was special because Goff had his first three-interception game in four years, and he led a stirring comeback from nine points down with four minutes left. That’s what great players have to do sometimes—forget the crap and drive 148 yards in four minutes for two touchdowns to win a game you a) had no business losing but b) probably should never have won after the hole you dug.
I’ve come to really admire Goff. I thought he was toast when the Rams gave him away to Detroit. Goff, obviously, didn’t. His resilience was vital mentally and physically on Sunday. The unappreciated part of Goff’s game is he doesn’t press or worry about the things he screwed up. He compartmentalizes as well as any quarterback in football today. The good you’ve done doesn’t matter. The bad you’ve done doesn’t matter. The next play—that’s all that matters. It’s a cliché, yes. But if you watch a player live that cliché and win games, so what?
Detroit Lions, 16-4 since Halloween 2022. I mean, come on.
“Unfortunately, I was hurting us early on,” Goff said. “So late in the game, I had to just play. My number one job is to try to find a way to win the game for our team. I can’t worry about what I’d done wrong. At the end of the game, we had a chance to win. How do I get us there is basically all I was thinking.”
“The big thing for a quarterback is just thinking, ‘How do we play one good play at a time?’ I think everyone on offense had a pretty good feeling once we got to the two-minute drill that we’d be able to move the ball similar to what we did in the first half. Everything done prior to this doesn’t matter. We have a chance to win it. Gotta go fast, but we got a chance.”
That’s the great thing about Jared Goff 2.0. He always gives the Lions a chance.
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Detroit finished last season 8-2 in the last 10 games. Detroit has started this season 8-2. Thus, 16-4. This is the best start for the Lions since Milt Plum was throwing to Gail Cogdill. You know, back in 1962, during the JFK presidency, when in this very week 61 years ago they won to go 8-2 … and moved on to the Thanksgiving Day game against Green Bay. Sound familiar?Hard to find fault with these Lions, averaging 27 points and 400 yards a game. They’ve scored in the forties twice, and twice held foes under 10 points. Just one abominable game, a 38-6 loss at Baltimore. They’re 2.5 games up on Minnesota, with only one game against a premier team remaining, New Year’s Eve at Dallas. The only question now is, can Detroit beat out Philadelphia and San Francisco for home-field and the first-round bye in the NFC?
Down 26-14 with three minutes left at the Chicago 32-, offensive coordinator Ben Johnson called for what Goff said was a Sail Pile On concept. Three receivers to the right., running routes at different depths. Tight end Brock Wright ran a short flare pattern to the right sideline. Amon-Ra St. Brown ran an intermediate out-route to the right, drawing the corner, Jaylon Johnson with him. That left Jameson Williams all the way up the right seam with space over the safety. “I was able to drive it in there on him and finish it off,” Goff said. The Bears went three-and-out, and Goff had another long drive to win it.
“I think I’ve gotten better at not overthinking things that really don’t matter,” said Goff. Like stressing on the three picks. “Everybody in this game makes mistakes. How do you find a way to overcome them, and be the quarterback for your team that they need, and find a way to win?”
I told Goff I was impressed by something I read about him in the Sam Farmer story in the L.A. Times—asking Sean McVay for an exit meeting when the Rams traded him to Detroit in early 2021. Most guys, I thought, would harbor resentment, and not want anything to do with the coach who dumped them. “Well,” Goff said, “I wanted to … hah … We spent four years together and he traded me on a phone call. So, I did wanna talk to him face to face. You know? That was half of it. But yeah, I did want to know what I could do better and where to improve. He was honest. It was a long conversation. There was a lot that came out of it. It was good. Got some clarity. Don’t know if I got all the clarity, but I got some.”
It’s a sign of maturity, and growth. Goff’s a good guy for a young team with hunger, because that’s who he is too.
Read more in Peter King’s full Football Morning in America column.
