ALLEN PARK — Jared Goff isn’t flashy. He doesn’t grab headlines. He just wins.
While the NFL is full of quarterback issues, the only issue in Detroit is whether Goff gets enough appreciation.
After Sunday’s 37-24 win at the Bengals, Goff joins Peyton Manning (2013) as the only quarterbacks in NFL history to accumulate at least 12 touchdown passes, a 75.0 percent completion rate and a 120.0 passer rating through the first five games of any season.
That’s elite company.
That’s not all.
In Sunday’s win Goff completed 19-of-23 passes (82.6%) for 258 yards, three touchdowns and zero interceptions for a 153.0 passer rating. He tied an NFL record by producing his sixth-straight road game with a completion percentage of at least 70.0% (20 attempts per game minimum).
“Goff is playing at a high level, very efficient,’’ coach Dan Campbell said on Monday. “We put a lot on his plate, he’s getting us in the right play.’’
After four straight wins, his numbers have risen above the rest. He only has one game (win at Browns) where his completion percentage was less than 71 percent. He’s had a pair of games where he completed more than 82 percent of his passes – Sunday in win at Bengals and win at Bears in Week 2.
In the last four games he has a 73.6 percent completion rate (third in NFL), 240.5 passing yards per game with 11 touchdowns against just one interception.
He was playing without starting left tackle Taylor Decker in Cincinnati and got sacked four times but it did not seem to affect his game. At all.
Lions offensive coordinator John Morton worked with Goff in 2022 when he was the Lions senior offensive assistant. He said since then everything has changed.
“I mean the communication — RCE (recognize, communicate, execute) that we always talk about – he’s just been phenomenal. Game planning me and him, just talking, the accuracy that he’s had, handling checks at the line. All that, just everything, he’s just so much better at,’’Morton said. “And he’s played a while, so he’s comfortable in this offense and where we’re at. And that’s good for a quarterback because you want him to go out there and not think about a lot of stuff. But he’s got in some great checks and we’ve capitalized on it.’’
UP NEXT: Lions (4-1) at Kansas City Chiefs, 8:20 p.m. on Sunday.
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