Dude hasn’t even finished the season and has 33 TDs, 7 INTs (third best TD to INT ratio), 3rd best passer rating in the league, on a middling team with a pathetic offensive line and an OC that failed before mid-season.
Now would be the time we should be chanting his name.
(Oh, and Jared, thanks in advance for the restructure)
He killed that narrative this season with how the oline played. But people with GDS (goff deranged syndrome) will cling to the gms where he played poorly due to absolutely atrocious oline play where they couldn’t block at all run or pass like minny and Philly.
With JG’s contract, we’re going to be hitting 20 years where QB isn’t the problem.
In that span, we’ve had, what, maybe 2 or 3 years where more than 60% of fans have realized that?
It’s pretty amazing how well the offense did given all the challenges this year
I wish this team could build a solid defense.
The reason people get down on Goff is because he isn’t mobile. They see guys like Mahomes, Allen, Caleb, Purdue, Jackson, etc, evade pressure and sling the ball downfield. He gets an automatic black mark because he can’t do that in some people’s eyes.
With that said, Goff is probably among the three most accurate passers in the league and a top 8 QB. Those guys are still very hard to find.
Goff should and Will remain the guy for Detroit.
There are going to be a lot of posts this offseason pointing to stats to be able to say “We’re good.” We aren’t. Look I am one that poo poos things like “garbage time stats” that we used to hear all the time about Stafford. Or the “we held the RB’s to 2 ypc, outside of those three 80 yard runs, so, like outside of a few plays our run defense was dominant…” The reason why is when we see another team rush for 200 yards, we don’t go oh… well it was mostly on three explosive plays… Well, that’s part of the game right.
BUT. My Lion eyes saw plenty of bad that was preventable. Balls thrown in the dirt to get that sweet 7 INT stat, but it was yet again another 3 and out. I see this often from JG even when the rush isn’t going to be there for another second or more. He just gives up way too soon, way too often. Next he’s supposedly this awesome processor. But what he processes is who is going to get the ball and he does that before the snap. THAT dude is going to get the ball way more often than not. But it ends up being all these 7 yard drag routes to St. Brown. Meanwhile Jamo has a 4 step lead on his man going deep with plenty of time to see him break open and make an on platform throw. But JG just will not wait for it, most of the time.
This is the big difference many of us knew we were going to get moving from the gambler, bombs away, go for the throat antics of Stafford (with the good and bad that comes from it) vs. the much more risk averse JG. Am I saying move on from him? No, I’m not. But THE stat is winning for a QB and JG needs a clean interior pocket more than other QB’s do. You don’t get that starting a rookie, a 2nd year guy who is basically in his rookie year as well due to injury and a guy who was declining and the worst vet olineman you have to start. To make this offense go, it must have a dominant oline. We didn’t have that and that was the end of us.
I feel like a Packers fan
To your point, the Lions thinking they could rely upon Graham Glasgow at C was a major miscalculation. In Denver, he was so bad at C, they released him in March of 2023. While Glasgow played pretty well in his first season back with the Lions at OG, he regressed last season and his PFF grades at C have been bottom of the barrel:
Overall 2025 Grade 57.4 34th/40 - Cs
Pass Block Grade '25 60.9 25th/40 - Cs
Run Block Grade '25 55.4 38th/40 - Cs
I know this is going to be difficult, but don’t hump the cows. No matter how hot they look.
Keep in mind Goff was 4th best on completion percentage and 4th best with on target throws
Your post makes it seem like he’s constantly turfing balls. Which by the data isn’t the case. I will agree that the Lions have had many more three and outs than they should have. But this is an indicator of getting behind the sticks more often due to a weak run game and lower YPC. this reflects what we can all see - a severe Oline regression
That eliminates effective under center play action and makes the offense far more one dimensional. The fact we still are a top offense in PPG is a miracle
We obviously are not good enough in many places and Goff, as the qb, I’m sure would admit he has to be better, as well. Everyone has to keep ascending.
What I don’t get is how some seem to want him to be more of take your chances gunslinger with the risk of more picks….dont get that.
We scored almost 30 points a game with the bad OLine and a running game that went south. It certainly wasn’t because the D was getting a bunch of turnovers….we scored almost 30 points, we should win especially when we’re NOT turning the ball over. I’m not sure how this is even debatable but I’m guessing somehow it will be
We still had the 3rd best scoring offense in the league though.
Goff and how well this offense performed is why I think the Lions can easily turn this around.
Make no mistake - Goff is near unstoppable if he has a clean pocket to step into and that alone make the Lions a contender. The easiest way to slow the Lions is by collapsing the pocket from the middle. That’s how you beat us.
Fix the IOL and this team will bounce back to contender status. It’s that simple.
With that said …. To win a superbowl the defense has to be better. We’re currently below average and that defense has to get up closer to top 10 before we will have a legitimate shot at winning a superbowl.
I feel this is a harder fix. Our secondary has to significantly improve.
The dominant Oline also pertains to our running game. If you look at when we had a truly dominant offense we had both DMont and Gibby running for 1000 (or close to it yards). We had no problem grinding out drives, killing clock, and picking up 4th and short by running. This year our OLine could not provide that kind of run game. That and for some reason both Dan and the OC went completely away from DMont.
sucks that BB is probably out for 2026 too. Kerby is a question mark. Arnold is proving to be an average and handsy starter. Rakestraw will probably tear a hammy in camp and never play a regular season snap
The secondary that was considered a strength in training camp is basically starting from zero
Now you tell me.
Two years too late.
No question. The OLine was the heart of this team and it needs to be the #1 focus in the offseason.
Graham was the worst guard in the NFL according to PFF the last two months of 2024.
In my opinion, relying on him to play center for an entire season was the single biggest reason this season played out the way it did
Hard to argue that fact.
