Tim Boyle is ready to let it rip, and if quarterback Jared Goff cannot play Sunday because of COVID, Dan Campbell might just give him a chance.
Campbell said Wednesday the Detroit Lions offense will not be limited in any way if Boyle makes his second career start Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons.
Goff’s status for the game is uncertain after he tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this week.
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“I think this’ll be good,” Campbell said. “And I don’t feel like we’re going to be hindered. Certainly, we’ll have a plan to where he can succeed as (well as) the offense, but I don’t think we’re going to be hindered. I don’t feel that way.”
Boyle made his first NFL start five weeks ago against the Cleveland Browns, when he completed 15 of 23 passes in a choppy performance.
He finished with 77 yards passing, threw two interceptions — including one on his only deep ball of the game — and attempted just two other passes that traveled more than 10 yards downfield.
Campbell’s ultra-conservative approach against the Browns was partly the product of circumstances, some of which no longer appear to be an issue:
• Campbell was in his second game as offensive play-caller; the Lions have since found stability on offense with a reliable rushing attack and a complementary play-action passing game.
• The Browns game was played in 44-degree temperatures and a light rain; Sunday’s game against the Falcons will be indoors at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
• Boyle had returned to practice from thumb surgery just two weeks before the Browns game, after going 10 weeks without throwing.
Boyle estimated Wednesday his thumb was 95% against the Browns, and while he said it likely won’t be 100% until next season, the injury is less of a burden now.
“Just the gripping the football,” he said. “The confidence in the grip, and you kind of feel some aches and some tightness, but as every week progresses and every day progresses, it gets better and better. So even today, and the past few weeks, being able to have the confidence in my ability and go out there and get back in the flow of the game and see the coverage and move in the pocket, it’s definitely — not doing it for 10 weeks and jumping into a game — not as an excuse, but it was difficult not being able to reflect on now how I’m out there practicing and how I feel, in my opinion, night and day.”
A career backup who attempted only four passes in his first three NFL seasons with the Green Bay Packers, Boyle said he is a more confident quarterback now with an NFL start under his belt.
He jotted down a series of notes from his performance against the Browns and said he references those notes regularly — reminders to stay in the pocket longer and work his progressions down field, to stay calm in two-minute situations and get in plays he likes, and to mix up his cadence and checks.
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“Every snap’s in my head,” he said. “You build on the good, and you learn from the bad and I’m certainly, the next time I enter a football game, I’ll certainly have those things at the forefront of my mind moving into the game.”
In all likelihood, that will be this week.
Every Lions player to test positive for COVID has missed at least one game, and Campbell said the Lions are preparing as if they will not have Goff on Sunday.
Boyle took first-team reps in practice Wednesday for just the second time since the Browns game — Goff missed one day of practice earlier this month with the flu — and Campbell said he has progressed steadily the past month.
“He’s got his feet back under him, he’s got his rhythm back to him,” Campbell said. “He’s throwing it well.”
And he might throw it more often against the Falcons, too.
“I want to win. If I throw for 77 yards again and we win, I don’t really care,” Boyle said. “I think, as I get more reps and they see my ability and it kind of changes a little bit due to my confidence in my throwing ability now that my thumb’s getting better, hopefully it changes a little bit. But kind of out of my control, so I’m going to call in the huddle what he calls.”
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.