DETROIT — Some 10 months after the city of Detroit rallied around Jared Goff, during a Lions’ playoff run for the ages, you can still hear the chants.
At his place of work — Ford Field. At Red Wings, Pistons and Tigers games. Even in enemy territory on Sundays, if you listen closely, and if the Lions are winning, you can make out the chants.
JA-RED GOFF. JA-RED GOFF. JA-RED GOFF.
The admiration this fanbase has for its quarterback is evident. And, to be clear, Goff has earned the love. He’s quarterbacked this franchise to successes unseen in a generation, operating one of the league’s best offenses to perfection. And if Goff and these Detroit Lions stay on their current trajectory, Lions fans might be chanting something else before it’s all said and done.
M-V-P.
“He’s playing at a high level,” Dan Campbell said earlier this week. “He’s a damn good quarterback. He’s competitive, he’s tough and he’s very accurate. When it’s crunch time, the guy just — his heart rate just levels out. He doesn’t get frazzled and he makes big-time plays for us. I’m glad he’s with us. I’m glad he’s ours.”
If the thought of Goff being in the MVP race sounds odd to you, ask yourself why that is, then why not Goff? He is the quarterback of one of the best teams in the league — essentially a prerequisite to win the award these days — and helms one of its most potent offenses. His statistics suggest a quarterback playing at the top of his game while helping a Super Bowl contender win its games. He’s been on an absolute heater of late. Last month, he set an NFL record for most pass attempts without an incompletion — going a perfect 18-of-18 in a win over the Seattle Seahawks.
He followed that up going 18-of-25 for 315 yards and three touchdowns in a 47-9 win over the Dallas Cowboys. Against the Vikings, Goff completed 22-of-25 attempts for 280 yards, two touchdowns and an interception, and with it, became the fourth quarterback in NFL history to produce a passer rating of 140.0 or higher in three straight games. He joined Tom Brady as the only two players in NFL history to have a completion percentage of 72.0 percent, throw two touchdowns and post a passer rating of 110.0 in four-straight games in a single season. In a four-game span, Goff is the only player in history to complete 80 percent of his passes and post a passer rating of 140.0 or more.
For the season, Goff has thrown for 1,610 yards, 10 touchdowns and four interceptions, with a passer rating of 111.5. He’s been one of the league’s best and most efficient quarterbacks this season while leading a 5-1 Lions team. Here’s where Goff ranks among QBs this season:
- 1st in yards per attempt (9.25)
- 2nd in passer rating (111.5)
- 2nd in completion percentage (73.6)
- 2nd in passing yards per game (268.3)
- 3rd in first down percentage (41.4)
- 4th in yards per completion (12.6)
- 4th in EPA/DB (0.22)
And yet, some might scoff at Goff’s place in the conversation. His success is typically tied to the presence of those around him, and his flaws have a tendency to be discussed more than his strengths. It’s worth diving into as we try to contextualize the quarterback Goff is today.
One of the narratives that’s followed Goff for much of his career says if you pressure him, he gets rattled and crumbles. It began in LA with the Rams and has since followed him to Detroit. But how accurate is that narrative in 2024? The numbers suggest Goff has performed well above average when pressured and blitzed.
This season, Goff owns the NFL’s fifth-highest EPA per dropback when pressured, per TruMedia. He also owns the fifth-highest passer rating (95.4) when pressured. Against the blitz, Goff’s EPA per dropback of 0.63 is the second-best in the NFL. His best work this season — and perhaps of his career — might’ve come against the Minnesota Vikings this past Sunday.
Per Next Gen Stats, Goff was pressured on a season-high 51.7 percent of his dropbacks vs. the Vikings. Knowing the narrative out there, on the road game against a 5-0 team, this wouldn’t bode well for a past version of Goff. However, Goff finished 10-of-11 for 164 yards and two touchdowns on those dropbacks. He’s averaging a league-best 11.6 yards per attempt under pressure this season. Per PFF, Goff finished 15-of-16 for 165 yards and a touchdown when blitzed vs. Minnesota. He’s passing the eye test, too.
The version we’re seeing from Goff these days is a more mature, fully realized quarterback, in an offense he helped craft. He’s surrounded by the league’s best offensive line, keeping him upright more often than not. He’s got an array of talented pass-catchers to throw to in Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams, Sam LaPorta, Tim Patrick, Jahmyr Gibbs and others. This offense incorporates a high play-action rate (36 percent with Goff at QB, second-highest in the NFL, per TruMedia), which is one of Goff’s strengths. His pre- and post-snap reads have grown tremendously since his days as a Ram, with the Lions putting more on his plate during games and in the days leading up to them. And this season, his command of it all has reached a level we haven’t seen.
“He’s been locked in,” St. Brown said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen him play, statistically, this well, in the past three or four games. Shoot, I’m happy I’m a part of it, catching his balls. …I’m excited being part of, you could say, history. He’s playing at a super high level and I’m sure he’s gonna continue it moving forward.”
The other narrative perhaps preventing some from viewing Goff as an MVP candidate is the coordinator he plays for. In L.A., Goff’s success was tied to head coach Sean McVay. In Detroit, it’s often attributed to Ben Johnson — one of the best offensive minds in the NFL.
What the Lions have in Johnson is rare in the NFL. These days, offensive coordinators enter the revolving door of a team facility and exit just as quickly. The successful ones become head coaches. The unsuccessful have to look for new jobs. There aren’t many operating in the space Johnson does — coveted, yet content.
He consistently puts his players in positions, providing them with answers to the test, so to speak. And while the Lions have aced many this season, it’s the studying behind the scenes between Johnson and Goff that leads to that success on game day. The collaboration process never stops. It’s as strong as you’ll find in the NFL.
Goff and Johnson have worked together for parts of four seasons now. Following the 2021 season, these two went to work crafting an offense that would blend their backgrounds together. With each passing year, they’ve been able to build upon those early installs and add more wrinkles, layers and trick plays to the operation. Watching other Lions quarterbacks try to operate this offense in training camp, you get a sense of its complexities and how important timing and rhythm are in making it work. They now have meaningful continuity in ways you don’t often see from a QB and coordinator. It’s why the offense ranks second in yards per game (411.8), second in offensive success rate (47.8 percent) and third in points per game (30.3) through seven weeks.
That Goff operates it at such a high level should not be a detriment. His success is Johnson’s success, and vice versa.
“We’ve been together now, this is our third year, and so there’s a lot of stuff that we’re already on the same page on,” Goff said Wednesday. “…We’re continually just communicating, just staying on the same page. I ask him a ton of questions, I ask him what may seem (like) dumb questions, but he never takes them as that. He answers them well and I try to just make sure that I know the intent of every play and make sure that we’re all on the same page.”
“It’s our offense,“ Johnson emphasized Thursday, when asked about Goff’s fit in the system. “…From Day 1 it’s been — he has been involved with this, it’s been a collaborative effort with him and the rest of the coaching staff and I think he’s taken a lot of ownership. We make a big deal each and every week, why each play is in, what the premier look is, if we don’t get that look what we need to do with the football, and then I think the weapons around us right now are really just — they’re opening up the entire field.
“We’ve hit some big plays over the top and guys have backed off, and so Jared’s been very good at staying consistent to, if they get depth, let’s check it down, and then the guys underneath are explosive runners after the catch. …So, he has just stayed true to what the play calls for and we’ve been able to find open receivers and it’s been a good thing so far. None of us are surprised. …This is really what we expected going into the year.”
It might not seem like it, but in Detroit, Goff has everything he needs to remain in the MVP discussion throughout the season. We have years of data suggesting Goff is going to put up numbers in this offense. He’s playing some of the best football of his life right now, dialed in on every level. He’s got continuity on his coaching staff. He’s going on Years 2, 3 and 4 with many of the weapons at his disposal. And the Lions don’t look like they’re going anywhere.
This isn’t to say Goff is or should be the MVP frontrunner. He’ll face stiff competition from the usual suspects — Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, etc. — and needs to maintain his level of play throughout the season.
But what we’re seeing from him now? It’s enough to get you in the door.
Just don’t expect Goff to care either way.
“Typically, the guys on the best teams in the League, that happens to,” Goff said of being placed in the MVP conversation, “And a whole lot of guys on this team could be in the talk. We’re just going to try to keep winning games.”
(Top photo: Sam Hodde / Getty Images)
