Good thing too! Stafford hasn’t sniffed a playoff win… Goff has a few under his belt, including a SB appearance. That’s what Stafford dreams of… and what Goff has nightmares about.
So let me try and get this straight, Goff is as good as Grossman, but not as good as Dilfer?
Stafford = Archie Manning, got it
I don’t think that’s what he’s saying at all. I’ll gladly answer if he has more questions. Im not a professional talent evaluator, I’m just looking at how these dudes show up as men. How did Brady show up as an alpha when he threw all the picks against the Packers?
With exception of the offense that had Titus, Best and the boys on it, matt always played in ultra-conservative offenses. It’s not going to look as attacking. I completely disagree with you, and that is perfectly fine. Looking at how 9 showed up in pregame, talking to the guys before games (especially late in his career, because he got much better at it). IMO, the only way he could have had more killer instinct early is to defy the OC/HC. Gotta do what’s asked of you strategically and philosophically.
I am not sure if I’m answering your question or not, man? Just my opinion.
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Crushing it, Holmes!
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Yeah totally answered the question! It was a weird somewhat vague question to begin with but I get what you’re saying.
It’s too bad we didn’t have a coach like MCDC 4-5 years ago when Stafford was in his prime. Almost like all the coaches Stafford had were always trying to reel him in, yet knew if they needed him to unleash he could. But that seemed to seldom lead to ideal situations if they would’ve just let him cut loose all game every game.
I appreciate both the cerebral and muscular approaches, the “let’s outsmart them and win in the end” as well as the “now we put a foot up their ass” approach. I see how Stafford definitely showed more of that in his time with us, for better and for worse.
Goff I think is still young enough to not have truly developed an identity yet, and he’s only had one HC, as opposed to Stafford having 3 or 4. I like the potential and I think he’s walking into as an ideal situation as he could ask for after being traded. I mean, what other HC in the league would you want to play for before MCDC??? That dude is just… I dunno, another level of coach I’ve never seen, at least from how he speaks.
Time will tell but really appreciate the reply and even bringing that personality nuance up. It will be interesting to see how things develop down the line.
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Have to go to the old refrain: At the end of the day, Stafford just didn’t perform (in terms of productive results). Goff did.
Hope Stafford is used to not having an excuse (inept D, etc. conservative offenses). He won’t have that out in LA
Maybe to turn the question around a bit, what if Goff was 33 and Stafford 26, and the lions were trading for Stafford? Stafford and his somewhat more kick ass mentality would be quite an ideal fit with the new coaches.
Then again, I have no doubt Goff wants to kick ass. He just might approach in a different way, but, your ass will be kicked!
And I agree, Lions>any player, so I hope a lot of teams have an imprint of 16s cleats on their gluteals!
You bet, brother. I’m sure hoping Goff works out. If he does, look at all the draft capital we have to go get the DT that ruins the rest of Rodgers’s career. HA!
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You crack me up, brother. Never gonna agree with that take, but we will be on the same page in rooting for Goff next season.
Now wouldn’t that be ideal? Goff works out, takes a team friendly contract, and all those extra picks go toward building an amazing team around him, a la Brady and the pats/Bucs.
Goff got paid already, if he truly just wants to win, he’ll accept a few less million so he has a few more million to throw to
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What MCDC says they told Jared: “All you have to do is play quarterback. You don’t have to be a savior here.”
For sure the Lions know his strengths and weaknesses. They want to take advantage of his strengths and find ways to compensate for his weaknesses.
They see him as mentally tough (grit) and a winner. And he’s articulate.
I’ll take a leap and give my opinion: He doesn’t have the fire that will inspire a professional football team–at least in the short term.
But if he does the technical part of quarterbacking well and doesn’t try to do what he can’t do, or be who he isn’t, the team can still do well. The inspirational part will come from others–MCDC, the coaches, and the more charismatic players. The Lions seem to want him to be a cog in a machine, play technically well and don’t try to be Matthew Stafford.
Almost since he was drafted, the person in the organization who was the strongest, politically, was Matthew Stafford. The new leadership of the Lions may just be glad that he is gone so that they don’t have to deal with that as they build their team. And I believe that, at least for now, Jared Goff is exactly who they want.
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I know, right? Let’s hire a venture capitalist team to help them all invest, so they don’t need football money. 
Wealthiest, lowest paid NFL team.
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The difference between Goff’s fourth quarters and Stafford’s is that the Rams were normally leading and the Lions were trailing. McVay and the Rams were hyper-conservative with the lead and there would be fourth quarters that the Rams would not pass. There is a lot of talk of Stafford’s comebacks, but McVay and Goff did not lose a game when they were leading at the half.
Really smart take. I completely agree with most of it. Last paragraph is debatable, but a smart take that could also be true.
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Truth to this too. Our coaches went run, run pass, when leading. Most ridiculous and predictable offense I’ve ever seen. impossible to win. Coaching more than any player.
In short - Matthew believes he can win with his arm. Goff with a full-concept approach. There’s a different awareness there.
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Having watched Goff for 7 years, he LOVES a shootout and is on record saying so. It’s his favorite kind of game and he doesn’t lose them. In 2018 they had some of the greatest ever in the modern era in that Mahomes Monday night Shootout and Cousins Thursday night.
In 2019 the Offensive line suffered major injuries to 8 players and they had no healthy running backs. Goff had to become a quick hitting short game passer and get the ball out in 2.4 seconds every snap (closer to Saints style).
In 2020 McVay saw he had a top defense and could win by stringing long drives together and eat the clock so they did. Goff did what was asked of him and dinked and dunked down the field to the detriment of his stats other than completion percentage. The offense rarely looked in rhythm always going sideways instead of down the field (part of that was no deep WRs). McVay and Goff have an INCREDIBLE record of being something like 37 - 0 when leading at half-time. Even though McVay does a ton of run - run - pass in the 4th quarter, It worked because either Goff got key 3rd and long or the defense came up with the crucial stop.
So who will Goff be with the Lions? What do they want to run? I’m dying to see :-).
Frankly I think one of Goff’s hidden strengths is that he can run pretty much whatever offense is needed to win. He can win handing it off or throwing 40 times. He can win deep or with a dink and dunk. If Lynn is a good OC and can recognize what is needed to keep a defense on it’s heels, Goff will do his part. I expect they will want to establish the run first but if it’s not working, Goff can carry the load until the defense softens up.
Goff doesn’t always look atheistically pretty throwing the ball like Stafford/Mahomes/Rodgers. He is somewhat inelegant in how he moves. That said his passes are nearly always pin point accurate. He makes all the throws consistently, and under pressure, but not off base.
McVay today called Goff one of the better QBs in the league when there are only 32 out there that can play at this level. Stafford is someone he believes he can do more with. Can’t wait to see that either.
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If you are going to use hyperbole to make a point - yes. There’s more gray area, as Matt is very cerebral, and Goff isn’t exactly a sissy either. This conversation includes these components as well as different strengths of different energies. Feels like you’re trying to sew it up into your boxes, which is fine.
Thanks for the input, man. You know WAY more about Goff than I will for some time. I was hoping you’d show up in this conversation.
You guys are gonna love Matt, if he can be healthy over there. Hopefully we say the same of Goff. Your posts have been very encouraging for me. I think so many talk about the dude like he’s a hunk of bologna. Dude has played in the SB. I would be surprised if he wasn’t at least a top 15, hoping for more like top 8/9. I think we finally have front offices to build a team in an intelligent manner. Stafford has always had handcuffs on, and has always had to play, while running for his life. Hope you guys can keep him clean and unleash him/let him play.
I really don’t know what went wrong this season because while Goff was not his best, he wasn’t bad. Take away two BAD turnover filled games against Miami and SF and his stats go way up to his historical levels. It’s because of those games he is called a turnover machine.
Something broke the trust in that McVay felt Goff wasn’t seeing what he was. Maybe McVay was too prescriptive. Maybe the personnel wasn’t quite right.
A fresh start is exactly what Goff needs and I’m pretty sure what the Lions need as well (in coaching and players).
As to Stafford, so far it doesn’t look like the Rams are going to change much on the offensive line and at least 3 of 5 WRs and TEs are set. Good players who know what they are doing but have struggled mightily versus big/fast defenses. I worry that the Rams may not look much better in 2021, especially with some expected decline in their defense.
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