Detroit Lions’ Jared Goff: ‘Hope to be out there’ for season finale vs. Green Bay Packers

Detroit Free Press

Jared Goff had a “good” workout testing his injured left knee Tuesday morning and the Detroit Lions quarterback said he hopes to be on the field for this week’s season finale against the Green Bay Packers.

“Last week was leaning a little bit the other way from 50-50, and as the week went on just didn’t really progress fast enough,” Goff said in his weekly Tuesday interview on WXYT-FM (97.1). “Was hopeful, but this week is a little bit more hopeful but we’ll see.”

Goff has not played since the Lions’ Week 15 win over the Arizona Cardinals, when he hurt his knee just before halftime but finished the game.

Goff tested positive for COVID-19 the day after the game and missed a Week 16 loss to the Atlanta Falcons. Last week, he did not practice because of his knee.

Lions coach Dan Campbell said he is preparing for Tim Boyle to make his fourth start of the season in Goff’s absence.

“They told me this morning I’ve got to be able to prove I can protect myself and prove that I can compete (in order to play),” Goff said. “So during the week I plan to do that and if I can, great. If I can’t, it’ll be pretty disappointing but hope to be out there.”

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Goff has struggled in his first year with the Lions, going 2-10-1 in 13 starts, but was playing his best football before the injury.

He led the Lions on a late game-winning touchdown drive against the Minnesota Vikings and threw three touchdowns in an upset of the Cardinals.

Boyle is coming off a three-interception game in a 51-29 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, but Campbell said he showed improvement for the second straight start.

“There’s something about this guy and I think he’s going to get better,” Campbell said Monday. “And I just, I think these reps are invaluable for him. And look, he got put in a tough spot. Now that’s what he was charged with, we all were, but that’s not the type of game we envisioned. And I don’t care who you are, man, you don’t want to get into those type of games. That’s hard on a quarterback. But even through all that, I did see improvement and he plays fast, he’s efficient and it’s just some of those things, man, we’ve got to calm him down.”

Boyle said he made a bad decision on his first interception, which came on the first play of the third quarter with the Lions trailing 31-7. He fumbled the snap, then picked the ball up and threw high to intended receiver KhaDarel Hodge.

Campbell said Boyle’s second interception, which came late in the fourth quarter, was a product of rushing the play. Boyle threw wide of Tom Kennedy on an option route.

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And Boyle’s third interception, on the Lions’ final offensive series, was an underthrown pass to Amon-Ra St. Brown.

“I’m not discouraged,” Campbell said. “I’m not. But he knows better than anybody, he’s got to learn from this and he’s got to cut those things out. But there’s some stuff in there that I’m pretty encouraged by.”

Boyle, who played his first three NFL seasons in Green Bay, said he has to turn last week’s performance into a positive if he gets another chance to start.

“It’s start No. 3,” he said Sunday. “I expect myself along with my coaches and my teammates for me to continue to get better. But ultimately, like I tell you guys, it’s how many opportunities am I going to be given to make these mistakes? And in my mind, in the NFL, it’s all about production so I have to address and assess my ability to make decisions and be more accurate and that’s going to be a conscious effort moving forward.”

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.

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