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Jared Goff

Be wary of preseason happy talk

There's a story out that the Lions like what they're seeing from Jared Goff. New coach Dan Campbell saying nice things about Goff's command in the huddle and the pretty spiral he throws and whatnot. Might be enough to make you think Detroit is anticipating good things this season. It seems unlikely.

I look at the breadth of moves the Lions made this offseason and don't see a huge effort to be competitive. They replaced Kenny Golladay and Marvin Jones with Tyrell Williams and Breshad Perriman. They made no moves to upgrade a terrible defense beyond adding Michael Brockers, in what was a salary dump by the Rams. Similar to them trading away Goff, giving up multiple first-round picks to acquire Matthew Stafford, yes, but just as importantly to free themselves of the huge contract they gave Goff a couple of years ago.

Since signing that deal, and taking the Rams to a Super Bowl, Goff's play has slipped noticeably. It's particularly true in terms of taking care of the football. He's actually been bad in that area for three years running.

Over the past three seasons, Goff has thrown 41 interceptions and fumbled 29 times. Not all of those fumbles were lost, but regardless -- he's been a little loose with the football. Among all quarterbacks to start at least 20 games over the past three years, that's 6 more combined interceptions and fumbles than anyone else. That's probably why Sean McVay had had enough. Matthew Stafford, in a similar number of games, has about half as many interceptions and fumbles in that timeframe.

QUARTERBACK INTERCEPTIONS/FUMBLES, 2018-2020
PlayerGIntFumInt/Fum
Jared Goff47412970
Baker Mayfield46432164
Carson Wentz39293564
Jameis Winston31441963
Josh Allen44313162
Sam Darnold38392059
Derek Carr48273057
Matt Ryan47322557
Kirk Cousins47292857
Philip Rivers48431255
Deshaun Watson47282755
Daniel Jones27222951
Russell Wilson48252550
Lamar Jackson46183149
Ryan Fitzpatrick32331548
Mitchell Trubisky39301747
Dak Prescott37232144
Andy Dalton35331144
Tom Brady48311243
Patrick Mahomes45231740
Ben Roethlisberger33271340
Matthew Stafford40261339
Ryan Tannehill39221739
Kyler Murray32241438
Cam Newton31241438
Case Keenum28201737
Jimmy Garoppolo25211637
Josh Rosen20191130
Drew Brees38151126
Joe Flacco22141226
Eli Manning20161026
Teddy Bridgewater2914721

Goff at some point played well enough to earn that big contract, and he has had his team in the playoffs three times, including that Super Bowl run. That counts for something.

But it's awfully unlikely he'll play well enough in Detroit, given what's around him, that the Lions won't be cutting bait as soon as it's financially doable. This is a team assembled to lose games and have some nice draft picks in 2022. Goff is as likely to be a veteran backup a year or two from now as in the midst of a career revival.

--Andy Richardson

20 Reader Comments:

Ian Allan

Seattle, WA
2021-05-31T14:06:04Z
Previously I had Detroit as a lock to be the 2nd-worst team in the league (above only Houston). But they have some qualities that make me think they'll be better than that. Certainly the offensive line. Tackle and center are the most important positions on the offensive line, and they're good there. There aren't many teams that have a better pair of tackles than Decker-Sewell. And Ragnow is one of the best centers. They've got a top-10 tight end. They're trying to play without much of anything at wide receiver; no getting around that. I'm curious to see what that looks like. (That said, I skimmed over their schedule, and I don't see a lot of obvious wins jumping out; they've got two against the Bears and home games against the Bengals and Eagles).

Yaesha Newman

2021-05-31T14:42:35Z
Goff is probably an amazing QB at drills. I bet he throws a great ball a long way when he doesn’t have to make a decision or feel pressure. Probably dominant in hitting receivers in stride in drills too. Unfortunately, he will cement his legacy this season, this guy was carried by a coach, a defense and a RB and never did anything with an awesome team that should have won Super Bowls. One of scariest QBs I have ever seen.

Robert Polilli

New Port Richey, FL
2021-05-31T14:48:29Z
On a per game basis, looks like Jameis and Daniel Jones lead the way in turnovers per game. Then is it Carson Wentz and Ryan Fitzpatrick? Indy and Washington could be in for quite a ride!

Andy Richardson

Port Chester, NY
2021-05-31T15:32:41Z
Wentz’s numbers are heavily 2020 based. The Colts are banking on getting the pre-2020 version. Fitzpatrick, well, there’s a reason why he’s with his 9th team.

Ben Hogevoll

Siletz, OR
2021-05-31T15:54:17Z
No mention of the improved running game???With the improved offensive line,Swift should improve big time from last season.Williams is a huge improvement over Peterson and Johnson and explosive rookie Jefferson has a really good shot at making the roster.

Andy Richardson

Port Chester, NY
2021-05-31T16:55:30Z
The running game will be better (it couldn't possibly be worse). Goff had the 3rd and 10th-best running games in the league in two of the past three seasons with the Rams, so it's not like he's never had that going for him.

Paul Desimone

Hayward, CA
2021-05-31T21:32:01Z
I'm still having trouble figuring out the draw in this bizarre situation for Dan Campbell. He's never been as much as a coordinator at any level, and he takes on this Mission Impossible mission. Sure, a lot of us would like to play coach for a day, just to see how we'd fare. But we'd be so deep in over our heads, we'd know how it was going to turn out before the day even comes. Does Campbell envision himself acquitting himself so well that he stays on beyond year one? Does he think the showing will earn him a look elsewhere if he gets sent packing in January? Does he not care if his legacy is as the guy who presided over one of the worst teams in history? Is he just a guy like the rest of us wannabe coaches? I'm stumped.

Ben Hogevoll

Siletz, OR
2021-05-31T22:54:57Z
Comparing yourself to Dan Campell is like comparing Tim Tebow to Tom Brady..Coach Campell understands protection and blocking.As a TE for the Giants,he helped Kerry Collins throw for a franchise record 4,073 yards while helping Tiki Barber rush for 1,387 yards.He has played in 114 NFL games,11 years as a player and 10 years as a coach.He has 21 years experience in the NFL.How many years do you have?

Paul Desimone

Hayward, CA
2021-05-31T23:37:41Z
Ben, those presumptive contributions qualify Campbell to be a position coach. That's one rung up from "quality control assistant", and at least two rungs under head coach.
I know you're a trivia guy. See if you can find a historical precedent for a guy like this being hired as a first-time head coach (not counting the interim job with Miami) and being genuinely successful. And then take a look at those first-time HCs without coordinator's experience who failed miserably. That's all I'm pointing out here, and it affects the fantasy games we play.

Tom Deskovitz

South Lyon, MI
2021-06-01T01:04:39Z
Dan Campbell was about as good of an option as the Lions were going to be able to get. Nobody wants to coach in Detroit because it's a coaching graveyard. Everyone knows that no Lions coach has gone on to a head coaching position elsewhere, right? From Campbell's standpoint, he really has nothing to lose. Nobody expects him to win so if he does, he will move on to bigger and better things. And can we please stop with the "running game in Detroit will be improved this year" thing? No, it will not.

Paul Desimone

Hayward, CA
2021-06-01T01:55:16Z
Wow, Tom. I was already pretty sure Swift is no Barry. But I was hoping for maybe Billy Sims. Please don't say he's Jahvid Best (whose fault the concussions that took him away weren't).

Drew Paterson

Ferndale, WA
2021-06-01T01:59:30Z
Is what Tom claimed true? The Lions have been in Detroit for 80+ years. In that time, I have to believe one of their coaches ended up being promoted to a head coaching job?

Ian Allan

Seattle, WA
2021-06-01T03:15:31Z
Bill Belichick was a Detroit assistant in the '70s. He was with Lions when he came up with the idea of using an offense with two tight ends that surprised an opponent very effectively.

Ian Allan

Seattle, WA
2021-06-01T03:17:08Z
For Detroit head coaches, I don't see one who became a notable head coach elsewhere. I see some guys who were coordinators elsewhere after being head coaches -- Schwartz, Marinelli. Dick Jauron was a head coach for 5 games and then had a few years with the Bills.

Ben Hogevoll

Siletz, OR
2021-06-01T05:27:59Z
Wayne Fontes was 13 years as a assistant coach including Defensive Coordinator for TB.After he became the Lions head coach,he led them to the plaoffs 4 of 8 seasons,lead them to a NFC Championship game and was AP coach of the year 1991.

Tom Deskovitz

South Lyon, MI
2021-06-01T11:27:08Z
Sadly, little did Lions fans know at the time that Wayne Fontes would be as good as it gets for Detroit. Fontes actually has both the most wins and the most losses in team history, somewhere around .500. That about sums it up for my Lions. We are holding out hope that Jim Caldwell gets a head coaching gig somewhere, he would be the first former Lions coach to do so. He seems to be a name that pops up each hiring season.

Ben Hogevoll

Siletz, OR
2021-06-01T15:24:31Z
You could move to Oregon and become a bandwagon jumper like I am.We don't have a NFL team so it's wide open1Remember I said move to Oregon,NOT Portland.

Cliff Neville

Somerset, TX
2021-06-01T17:23:11Z
c'mon, portland not all THAT bad. pretty place, lotsa good people - much bad press lately - and many good things going on. may not be a fisherman's paradise and it may lack a Big Timber Club with the ensuing soundtrack, but it's still a nice place. definitely lacks that tiny-town charm, but as big cities go, not so bad.

Drew Paterson

Ferndale, WA
2021-06-01T18:46:35Z
Pretty good mix of Seahawks, 49'ers, and Broncos fans up here. Not like the East Coast where you can have multiple NFL Teams in your backyard.

Ben Hogevoll

Siletz, OR
2021-06-01T22:33:52Z
I guess Portland is good if you like shootings between gang members every night and tear gas is fun during the weekly riots.. also.The best thing about Portland is everything is free.Just walk through broken glass and help your self.Back to football,we will never see it here I don't think.Most fans are Seahawks.
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