Jared Goff stood in a corner of the Detroit Lions locker room and his reaction time was just as sharp and decisive as in a game.
“How would you gauge the emotional response to Saturday’s game,” he was asked by a reporter about Carolina’s 35-13 butt-whupping of the Lions. “Has there been a shell shock?”
Goff seemed shocked by the question.
“No,” he answered sharply, seemingly letting out a disbelieving breath. “No, not at all. Sorry no, it’s another game, and we respond accordingly.”
Goff reacted like that, with so much conviction, because he has so much confidence in this team — as well as himself. He has no panic about a single loss, just perspective; the kind that the Lions will need to win out and have a chance at the playoffs. If they win their final two games and get some help, they’re in.
“We had a tough game,” Goff said about the Carolina disappointment. “We didn’t play well. We lost, they played better than us, and it’s the National Football League. That’s going to happen. Now, that doesn’t mean we don’t go back and look at it and see what we need to get better at and fix and improve and get coached on it and hold ourselves accountable, but we know every game’s tough, and we’ve won six of eight, and need to find a way to win eight of 10.”
Since Goff arrived in Detroit, the focus has fixed on what’s next: Should the Lions extend him or should they draft another quarterback? It seems an endless debate on sports talk radio.
But something has been lost about Goff. The dude can win football games. He has faced pressure before, he’s won must-win games and he took his team to the Super Bowl.
The Lions have won 10 games in the last two seasons under Campbell; and three of those have been game-winning drives engineered by Goff, including a 31-30 victory over Chicago on Nov.13.
When you take away Goff’s rookie season in the NFL, he has been a consistent winner. Here are his records as a starting quarterback:
In 2017: 11-4.
In 2018: 13-3.
In 2019: 9-7.
And in 2020: 9-6.
Last season’s 3-10-1 debacle? It was a reflection of how bad the Lions were and actually an aberration in Goff’s career. So when he says that he wants to finish 8-2, it’s because that’s what he expects.
“He’s a great leader, man,” defensive lineman Isaiah Buggs said of Goff. “Just sitting beside him in the locker room, it’s been amazing. We talk a lot. We have a lot of fun, funny conversations. But JG — he’s a great leader.”
You want to know what’s different about this team? Why I still believe in it?
It no longer feels like the blind leading the blind.
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“Our guys will be ready to go because I know them,” coach Dan Campbell said. “I know we’ll be ready to compete.”
To see an example of that, let me take you into the Lions locker room, to the back corner.
Several players with postseason experience sit together.
Goff has played in six playoff games, the same number as defensive lineman Michael Brockers. Lions kicker Michael Badgley has played in two playoff games — once making five straight field goals for the Chargers in a 23-17 victory against the Baltimore Ravens on Jan. 6, 2019.
And Buggs played for the Steelers from 2019-21, making the playoffs twice.
That area of the locker room is like a center of perspective and experience.
And Goff is at the core.
“He doesn’t have a big head,” Buggs said. “He doesn’t have a big ego. He treats everybody the same and has conversations with everybody. I know in some places, in some locker rooms, it is different, and quarterbacks don’t really speak to guys like that. I think that’s a great big part of the winning success that we have so far here. And if we continue to do that, and he keeps leading us the way he’s been, we will be really good.”
The Lions got shellacked against the Panthers because the defense couldn’t stop anybody.
Goff actually played well, throwing for 355 yards and three touchdowns with a 110.7 rating, his third game with a 100-plus rating in December, tied for first in the NFL.
In fact, Goff has had a tremendous month. He did not throw an interception in December, has nine touchdowns, three 300-yard passing games and has a 109.3 QB rating, which is second in the NFL.
Translation: As the pressure has increased, he has played even better.
“He’s just got great focus,” Badgley said. “I mean, being around JG, you just see it in practice. His focus, I mean, it’s something I haven’t seen from a quarterback in a while. But he’s in the zone and he’s playing for these guys.”
You can make a strong case the Lions are getting more out of Goff than the Rams did.
Goff’s biggest improvement has been taking care of the ball. In 15 games for the Rams in 2020, he threw 20 touchdowns and had 13 interceptions (which was similar to 2019 when he threw 22 touchdowns with 16 picks).
This season, he has thrown 26 touchdowns and has seven interceptions — that’s a drastic improvement. He has proved he can still get explosive plays and TDs without the turnovers, and he has thrown for nearly the same yardage (3,952 for the 2020 Rams and 3,959 for the Lions). He is taking fewer sacks, throwing for a higher touchdown percentage and is suddenly far more careful with the ball.
I’d say that’s a tremendous success story.
But more than the completions or the stats is the perspective and leadership.
Not just from Goff. But how all these veterans are meshing together, leading the youngsters.
You hear it in the words of Goff and Buggs and Brockers, all these guys who know what it takes to get to the playoffs.
“We haven’t done any of that,” Brockers said. “It’s almost like coach said, ‘Man, it sucked to get whupped, but it was almost a good thing.’ We reset and recalibrate. We’re locked in and ready to go. So, yeah, it’s a good thing moving forward.”
Moving forward with confidence that comes from experience, instead of blind faith. And with a quarterback who is getting better and knows how to win.
That’s a formula for success in the NFL. The Lions might still be in the building process. But it’s encouraging to say the least.
Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @seideljeff.
To read his recent columns, go to freep.com/sports/jeff-seidel.