Jared Goff’s strained oblique was sorer than expected after last week’s tie with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Detroit Lions quarterback admitted Wednesday the injury could keep him out of Sunday’s game with the Cleveland Browns.
“It has gotten better since the game,” Goff said. “Will it be better by Sunday? I don’t know. We’ll see. Hopeful.”
Goff did not practice Wednesday and is day-to-day with an injury Lions coach Dan Campbell said impacts his throwing motion.
Tim Boyle took first-team reps in practice and likely will start Sunday if Goff cannot go.
Goff was hurt late in the first quarter against the Steelers, when he underthrew Kalif Raymond on a deep pass one play after Julian Okwara’s interception.
Goff stayed in the game despite the injury, but finished with his worst statistical outing of the season. He had minus-1 yard passing in the first quarter, was 11 of 20 for 54 yards in regulation and finished the game 14 of 25 for 114 yards.
MAILBAG: How long before they’re a legitimate contender in NFC North?
BIRKETT’S POWER RANKINGS: Taking stock of top playoff contenders in NFC, AFC
He said he will play this week only if “there’d be no limitations” to the Lions gameplan with him on the field.
“I think last week, I don’t know if the gameplan was adjusted based on the weather or based on my injury. Better question for Dan, probably,” he said. “But there was definitely some limitations there that I don’t know if I kind of realized in the moment.”
Goff, in his first season with the Lions, has missed one game for injury reasons in his six-year NFL career, in Week 17 last season after he broke his thumb in a loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
He returned the following week in a reserve role, when he came off the bench to lead the Los Angeles Rams to a playoff victory over the Seahawks.
Asked how confident he is he will play Sunday, Goff said, “I’m usually a fast healer, but again we’ll have to see.”
“The thumb was broken, the thumb was a bone. This is a muscle, so it’s different in that regard,” Goff said. “But the oblique, unfortunately, so critical to the throwing motion whereas my thumb I could kind of get away with it and do some different things but until this kind of calms itself down I kind of just need to let it run its course.”
To do that, Goff said he will spend the week getting “a lot of rest” and helping prepare Boyle and third-string quarterback David Blough for potential playing time.
Boyle, 27, has not played since breaking his right, throwing thumb in a preseason loss to the Indianapolis Colts. He underwent surgery in August and has been on injured reserve since early September.
The Lions started Boyle’s three-week return-to-practice window last week.
“He looked good (last week),” Campbell said. “Worked his way back in there. There again, it was scout team was what he was doing. But he looked good. I mean, he looked comfortable and was throwing it well. You can tell he’s — the finger looks like it’s good. It’s recovered.”
Boyle, who has the strongest arm of the four quarterbacks on the Lions roster, appeared in 11 games with the Green Bay Packers in 2019-20. He is 3 of 4 passing in his career for 15 yards, but completed just 56.4% of his passes in the preseason.
Blough went 0-5 as a starter in 2019, when he played as an injury fill-in for Matthew Stafford. He played one series in replacement of Goff and did not attempt a pass in a loss to the Philadelphia Eagles earlier this season.
“Those guys are confident in themselves,” Goff said. “They’re ready to go if they need to fill in.”
Goff said his availability this week will be more about functionality than pain management.
“The pain is whatever, I can mask that,” he said.
Asked how he will judge his functionality, Goff said, “If I can throw it as hard as I want to and it doesn’t pull on me then I can go. If not, I can’t.”
“It’s hard for me to say, ‘Hey, I can’t go,’ when I’m going to try to fight through it,” he said. “But I also have to be honest with myself and by Friday or Saturday whenever that comes around and be able to make that decision.”
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.