Roughly two and a half years after he was shipped off to what was supposed to be a wasteland in Detroit, Jared Goff is playing the best football of his career.
The Lions have a strong record of 4-1, with Goff significantly contributing to their impressive beginning. From the 9th week of 2022, Detroit has achieved a 12-3 record with Goff as the starting quarterback, who has posted an impressive 26-4 touchdown-to-interception ratio. As of the fifth week in 2023, he is ranked in the top 10 for completion percentage, passing yards, and passing touchdowns.
If you used a time machine to go back to the spring of 2021 and shared this information, you’d be met with uproarious laughter. This illustrates the tremendous progress Goff has made with the Lions, transforming from a presumed temporary solution at quarterback to a potential long-term option.
“Very, very proud of Jared,” Lions general manager Brad Holmes said Wednesday on The Insiders on NFL+. “Again, like you said, I never thought of him of just a bridge or stop-gap or whatever just because I was all around the success he had early in his career in L.A. (with the Rams). It seems like when he got here (Detroit) when the trade was made that all that success was forgotten about. It was just this narrative that he was just a bridge. I always thought that was a lazy narrative. … Just because of, I guess, the narrative of how the trade went down and all of that.
In 2021, he found himself in a tough predicament. Our team lacked talent, we didn’t have enough funds for free agency, and we were plagued with injuries. We even had to replace our offensive coordinator midseason. It was a lot to deal with. Consequently, everyone latched onto the trading rumors. He really went through a lot in 2021. People were saying, ‘he can’t be the quarterback’, but we never lost faith in him. Coach Dan and our offensive coordinator, Ben, have been exceptional in giving him authority. He’s brimming with confidence and performing exceptionally well at the moment.
The transformation of Detroit from an underdog to a spirited competitor started in 2022 when the Lions scored an 8-2 record in their last 10 games, nearly clinching a playoff spot. Many predicted that 2022 was just a one-off, however, the Lions have shown they mean business through the first five weeks of 2023, particularly with the impressive performance of their quarterback.
Goff’s greatest strength is not pulling off superhuman feats, but playing clean football within Johnson’s system. It also helps that Holmes has supplied Goff with upgrades at the skill positions around him, adding the likes of David Montgomery, Jahmyr Gibbs and Sam LaPorta in 2023 alone.
Holmes stated, “We’ve certainly made some additions around him, but he’s currently in an excellent position. I hope he can maintain this momentum. Even if he experiences a few setbacks, I’m not concerned about Jared. One of his overlooked qualities, I believe, is his mental resilience. He’s demonstrated that, shown it and is doing an outstanding job for us.”
If things continue this way, the Lions will not require a new quarterback in the near future. They may even consider extending his contract before it ends in 2024.
