ALLEN PARK — Jared Goff didn’t hesitate when he was asked if he’s enjoying life as he heads into his third season with the Detroit Lions.
“Yeah, it’s fun. It’s fun being here in the city with all this excitement and with that being said, it doesn’t mean anything if you don’t win and I think we all know that, I know that,’’ Goff said. “I’ve been on winning teams. I’ve been on losing teams. People will continue to be excited, if we continue to win. So, that’s kind of the fix to everything and winning fixes everything, as they say.’’
The fun starts on Thursday when the Lions play at the Kansas City Chiefs, the Super Bowl champs, at Arrowhead Stadium. It’s the only NFL stadium that Goff has not played in and he cannot wait.
Goff and the Lions finished last season winning 8 of their last 10 games.
The quarterback did not throw an interception in the last nine games. He’s thrown 324 passes without a pick. It’s an impressive and hefty number.
Eventually that streak will snap – maybe against the Chiefs — maybe later. And coach Dan Campbell understands that.
“He’s very much a piece of the puzzle here. He’s not – it’s not the end-all be-all. ‘We don’t need you to be a Hall of Fame quarterback out there. We just need you to run the offense, be efficient, make the throws that are there, be accurate when you pass,’ – because that’s what he does well. Get us into the right play, that’s all you’ve got to do,” Campbell said.
“And so with that, ‘Hey, cut it loose.’ We don’t really talk in terms of, ‘Be smart, be smart,’ because I think you do – man, you can create a little fear if you’re not careful. So, for us, it’s, ‘Hey, the play’s there, you know what to do, we’ve repped it out here, now cut it loose. Play football,’’’ the coach added.
It will be Goff’s second straight season running coordinator Ben Johnson’s offense which finished fifth in the NFL overall in 2022.
The framework is set but the offensive continuously evolves.
“Ben’s always got ideas. Some of them he pulls from his time in Miami, some of them he gets from other coaches, some of them it’s from Dan (Campbell) and his time in New Orleans,’’ Goff said. “It all kind of comes from various different places, as well as I don’t think we’re above stealing from other teams, so it’s kind of how this League goes and I think he’s one of the most creative guys in the League.’’
Plus they have new key pieces in running backs David Montgomery (a veteran) and rookie Jahmyr Gibbs, plus rookie tight end Sam LaPorta and veteran wide receiver Marvin Jones Jr., who is making his return to Detroit.
“So just making sure I’ve gotten enough work with them, as we have through training camp and feeling good with them and Dan’s done a good job putting us in practice situations that simulate game-speed and game-atmosphere and coming to the sidelines, sitting down, coming back on, so we’ve done a lot of that. So, we feel great. Yeah, we feel comfortable,’’ Goff said.
The offense does bring back key components in wide receivers Amon-Ra St. Brown, Kalif Raymond and Josh Reynolds along with tight end Brock Wright and the front five.
The talent is there, no question. Ben Johnson has continued to grow as a coordinator too. No wonder Goff wears a big smile on his face.
“Excited to get back and hopefully continue what we were doing. It doesn’t happen – there isn’t some magic pill where we can take it and then we just keep rolling on the same hot streak we were on there at the end of the year,’’ Goff said. “So, it’s going to take a lot of work and getting on the same page through this week … I think it’s a League of runs. You get on winning streaks. You get on losing streaks and finding your way on a winning streak is the hard part and that’s something that we’re up for the challenge for.”
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