Lions quarterback Jared Goff is enjoying one of the best stretches of success in his career.
After the club started the season 1-6, Detroit has won five of its last six games to head into Week 15 at 6-7. Since Week Nine, Goff has completed 67 percent of his passes for 1,448 yards with 10 touchdowns and one interception. Plus, he’s been sacked only six times.
As the 2016 No. 1 overall pick, Goff has faced plenty of criticism throughout his career — including this year. But he recognizes that comes with being a quarterback and doesn’t necessarily think about proving people wrong.
“I don’t really care. Yeah, I don’t,” Goff said in his Wednesday press conference. “I really just enjoy winning with these guys, and whatever people may have said earlier on in the year, they were probably justified in some ways. We were 1-6, not playing very well. Now, we are playing pretty well, and everyone seems to have changed their minds on us, and we tried to stay right in the middle.
“I think that’s the biggest challenge for us now is show our maturity, show that we can handle a little bit of praise and handle a little bit of people thinking that we’re good, and not change the way we’re approaching each week.”
Goff said it’s about having the right mental toughness to handle both praise and criticism. As he put it, you’ll get praise if you play well, but if you don’t, you won’t.
“What would I lash out about? Tom Brady gets criticized, everyone gets criticized, we all get criticized,” Goff said. “So, part of this business especially when you play quarterback, you’re going to see it. It’s not the first time, probably won’t be the last and I’ll handle it just the same way as I handle success. It’s good and bad, and you go with it and move on.”
Through 13 games this year, Goff has completed 65 percent of his passes for 3,352 yards with 22 touchdowns and seven interceptions. His 97.9 passer rating is the third-highest of his career after his two Pro Bowl years in 2017 and 2018.
