The Detroit Lions are the best team in the NFL. They walked into a stormy Lambeau Field on Sunday and did what legitimate contenders do: handled their business against a talented yet inconsistent opponent, winning 24-14 on the road against the Packers.
There is plenty of credit to go around. Dan Campbell’s culture. The aggressive fourth-down calls. A pass rush that is still sizzling despite losing Aidan Hutchinson for the season. The team’s versatile secondary. The “Sonic and Knuckles” running back duo. Ben Johnson’s creative play-calling. The best offensive line in the NFL. But it’s time to recognize the person who makes it all tick: Jared Goff.
The 30-year-old may not be the best quarterback in the NFL, but he’s perfect for these Lions. And with each passing week this season, he continues to climb up the quarterback ladder. In two seasons, he’s gone from a quarterback that a team can win in spite of to the foundational piece for a franchise with Super Bowl expectations.
On Sunday, he completed 18 of 22 passes for 145 yards in gnarly conditions, throwing a crucial touchdown on fourth down to cap Detroit’s opening drive. It was vintage Goff, a quarterback in complete command of the offense, refusing to take negative plays and keeping the offense on schedule, offering a timely reminder that good quarterback play often resides in the absence of spectacle. He may not always produce fireworks, but in the parlance of shouty, TV talking heads: Goff plays winning football.
When asked recently about what the team saw in Goff when they traded for the quarterback in 2021, Campbell pointed to his head and then chest. “That’s what makes him a dangerous player,” Campbell said. “It’s what makes him one of these guys you can build around because he’s a winner, man. He will find a way to win.”
It’s easy to say Goff is merely a product of the Lions’ healthy ecosystem. But this season he has elevated his play to a different level. Since week three, he’s been nearly perfect, completing 106 of his last 128 pass attempts for an eye-popping 82.8% completion percentage. In their last six games, the Lions have scored more touchdowns than Goff has had incompletions.
Having a talented group of skill players and a bruising offensive line helps, but it’s the quarterback who knits it all together. The old doubts about his game – that he’s too conservative, crumbles under pressure or can’t break down complex defenses – have evaporated as the Lions offense has scorched all before it. Two weeks ago, it was dicing up Brian Flores’ blitz-heavy defense. This week, it was picking on a depleted Packers secondary, getting rid of the ball before the pass-rushing hounds could get close to the backfield.
While other quarterbacks can freelance with their legs, relying on their physical gifts to extend plays or launch throws downfield, Goff prides himself on unceasing efficiency. Even as the position evolves, with every team chasing a dynamic playmaker who can create on his own, Goff continues to show that rhythm and accuracy are the bedrocks of quarterbacking – and can render some of the world’s greatest athletes utterly helpless.
If you’re looking for signs of maturity, it comes against pressure. Early in his career, Goff would fold when things got messy. He would either toss up panicked throws or hold on to the ball too long, taking drive-ending sacks. But this season Goff has been the best quarterback in the league under pressure, completing 67% of his passes when harried. No other quarterback in the league has cracked the 62% mark. And it’s not as if Goff is relying on cheap, easy throws underneath; he sits second in the league in yards per attempt when pressured, behind only Joe Burrow.
Sunday was not Goff’s best game this season. In many ways, it was a quintessential Goff performance, relying on his run game to do the heavy lifting and then getting the ball out quickly to keep the offense chugging along. But playing in a downpour on the road, it was what was required to get the win.
The NFC North is a heavyweight brawl this year. But with the win on Sunday, the Lions have victories over the Packers and Vikings, putting them in prime position to take the division. Prepare yourself for the conversation: Jared Goff has cracked the league’s top tier.
MVP of the week
Lamar Jackson, quarterback, Baltimore Ravens. Jackson continues to tear the league apart. This season’s MVP frontrunner torched the Broncos defense on Sunday, completing 16 of his 19 passes for 280 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. It was the fourth time in Jackson’s career that he’s posted a perfect passer rating. That’s even more impressive when you consider Denver’s defense entered the week leading the NFL in all the dorkiest metrics.
With Derrick Henry in the backfield, Baltimore’s offense now has the answers to any test. Load up to try to slow Jackson and Henry on the ground, and there is room for the quarterback to let it fly through the air. Sag off to stem the passing attack, and the defense gifts free runways for Henry to drive downhill. And Jackson plays with such command that he can toggle to whatever method he desires depending on how the defense looks pre-snap. Even the league’s best defenses are struggling to find ways to clog the beautiful machine – against the Broncos it all felt … easy.
There are still lingering questions about the Ravens’ secondary and how well the team’s offensive line can hold up in pass protection. But after clubbing the Broncos 41-10, the 6-3 Ravens have that championship smell.
Stat of the week
Daniel Jones continues to defy the laws of quarterback play. After finally scoring a touchdown at home for the first time in 672 days, Jones offered us this doozy: He threw for more passing touchdowns (one) than yards (zero) in the first half against the Commanders, despite completing four of his six first-half passes.
The performance in the Giants’ 27-22 loss was not as bleak as the stat line suggests. The Giants’ plan was to shorten the game, running the ball to drain the clock and keep Washington’s go-go offense on the sideline. Jones struggled to get anything going in the passing game but raced to 50 yards on the ground. After falling into a 21-7 half-time hole, though, the Giants let Jones rip it. And the quarterback responded by completing 16 of his 20 passes for 174 yards and a touchdown in the second-half, tacking on a rushing touchdown after running over a Commanders linebacker.
Jones is not the future in New York. But he showed in the second-half on Sunday that he remains a more viable option for the Giants this season than backup Drew Lock.
Video of the week
And now for your weekly dose of Josh Allen Doing Bonkers Things:
If Jackson’s MVP case is built around his new sense of control, then Allen’s continues to be that he is the league’s most pre-eminent improv artist. How many other quarterbacks in the league can flip a touchdown throw in the redzone while having their leg yanked by one defender while another wraps an arm around his neck?
Other quarterbacks have natural playmaking instincts; Allen consistently straddles the line between chaos and genius. Even as he’s matured, there are still times when watching Allen feels like someone has let a labrador loose on the field.
It took a 61-yard field goal from Tyler Bass for the 7-2 Bills to eventually beat the Dolphins 30-27. But Bass was only within striking distance thanks to Allen’s knack for creating something out of nothing.
Elsewhere around the league
• It’s official: the Cowboys’ season is a disaster. The team’s 27-21 defeat to the Falcons had a little of everything: a pre-game mutiny from running back Ezekiel Elliott, coach Mike McCarthy smashing his tablet on the sideline and quarterback Dak Prescott leaving the game with a hamstring injury and a swollen throwing hand. Sometimes, you can spot, in real time, the moment a team’s season goes off the rails. For the Cowboys, that came early in the third quarter, when the team attempted a fake punt with punter Bryan Anger dropping back to pass. The Cowboys are paying Prescott $86m this season to throw the football, and on a crucial fourth down they turned to their punter to move the chains – it was the Cowboys’ deepest pass attempt in the first three quarters. Not content with that, McCarthy went for it on fourth down again later in the game, but the Cowboys were flagged for having 12 men on the field. The offseason cannot come quickly enough for Dallas, who have slumped to 3-5.
• After a pedestrian start to the season, Justin Herbert has found his groove. The Chargers pummeled the Browns 27-10, with Herbert carving up a rickety Cleveland secondary. Tellingly, Herbert completed seven of his 12 passing attempts over 10 air yards, throwing for 196 yards and two touchdowns on downfield targets. Jim Harbaugh may be a quarterback guru, but early in his partnership with Herbert, the coach had effectively neutered a key part of the quarterback’s game: throwing down the field. In the first five weeks of the season, Herbert had the lowest average depth of target of any starting quarterback in the league. But since the team’s bye, Herbert has thrown for 100 yards or more on downfield attempts in three straight games. Take note: the old, swashbuckling, big play-hunting Herbert is back. Thanks, Jim!
• Saquon Barkley is playing a different sport to everybody else in the league. Early in the second quarter against the Jaguars, Barkley caught a swing pass from Jalen Hurts near the sideline, made one defender miss, spun past a second would-be tackler and then jumped backward over a third defender. Yes, that is a real sentence. Barkley finished with 199 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns in a 28-23 win. If not for Derrick Henry’s historic production this season, Barkley would be the running away with the Offensive Player of the Year.
• Credit to the Bears; they continue to find creative ways to blow end-of-half situations. Last week it was the Fail Mary. This week, they conceded a 53-yard rushing touchdown with 12 seconds to go in the first half. With Arizona looking to run out the clock, Arizona’s Emari Demercado scampered through the line of scrimmage and exploded into daylight, burning past Chicago’s secondary for the score. According to Elias Stats Bureau, it is the longest rushing touchdown in the last 20 seconds of a first half since the 1970 merger. The Cardinals wound up boat-racing the Bears 29-9 to move to 5-4.
• The Rams eked out a 26-20 win over the Seahawks in overtime. The game featured the longest play of the season, a 103-yard interception return for a touchdown from rookie safety Kam Kinchens in the fourth quarter. Kinchens traveled 128 yards on the play from snap to score, the longest distance of any ball-carrier this season. But it was over to Matthew Stafford and Demarcus Robinson to close the deal in overtime, with the receiver snagging a one-handed, 39-yard walk-off touchdown pass to move the Rams to 4-4.
