Jared Goff’s time with the Detroit Lions began the same way that it ended with the Los Angeles Rams, disappointing. By Week 7 of his first season with the Lions, Dan Campbell looked at the media, took a deep breath, and criticized Goff during a postgame press conference. At that point in the season, the Lions were winless. Five games into the 2023 season and the Lions are 4-1 with the fourth-best Offensive DVOA in NFL. Also, Goff is Pro Football Focus’ highest-rated quarterback. That’s right, eat your heart out Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, and even Tua Tagovailoa, Goff is currently playing quarterback at arguably the highest level in the NFL. It’s feeling like 2018 for Goff in Detroit. The weather might be chillier in the Motor City this time of year than it is in Southern California, but he is playing almost as well for the Lions this season as he did for the Rams back then. Goff was an MVP candidate through five games of the 2018 season. He completed 72.3 percent of his passes for 1,727 yards and 12 touchdowns while averaging more than 10 yards per attempt, and had only thrown four interceptions. That was his second season in Sean McVay’s offense. That season ended with a Super Bowl appearance for the Rams, but Goff’s play declined in the playoffs. A decline that coincided with Todd Gurley’s injured knee. Gurley was the only player on the Rams’ offense who was playing even better than Goff. He played in 14 games and totaled better than 1,800 yards from scrimmage and scored 21 total touchdowns. Knee arthritis would limit Gurley in the playoffs and ended his NFL career two seasons later. Goff struggled in the playoffs and was ineffective against the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. In both 2019 and 2020, he resorted back to the interception-throwing ways of his Jeff Fisher-coached 2016 season. The Rams traded their 2016 No. 1 overall draft choice to the Lions in 2021 for Matthew Stafford and went on to win the Super Bowl. While the Lions only won three games in 2021, Goff began to grow after being called out by his coach. They lost an ugly game to the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 8 and tied the Pittsburgh Steelers the following week. Goff didn’t throw any interceptions in either game, but his play still left a lot to be desired. Against the Steelers, he threw for 114 yards with a 56 percent completion percentage and averaged less than five yards per attempt. Changes were made after the tie. Campbell took over play-calling duties and Goff found his game. He threw only two more interceptions the rest of the season, and would not go another week without a touchdown pass. From Weeks 5-9, Goff threw no touchdowns in four of five games, and four total interceptions. From Weeks 11-17, he threw for multiple touchdowns in four out of the five games he played during that stretch, and only two total interceptions. Last season, the Lions hired Ben Johnson as offensive coordinator. Goff returned to the Pro Bowl and threw for more than 4,000 yards for the first time since that 2018 year of glory with the Rams. The Lions finished the 2022 season with a record above .500 for the first time since 2017. Through five games this season, Goff sits atop the PFF quarterback rankings, largely because he is not turning the ball over. Through five games, per PFF’s turnover-worthy metric Goff only has three. He has the fourth-most passing touchdowns, the fourth-highest yards per attempt, and has the highest adjusted completion percentage in the league. Goff wasn’t able to string together three consecutive strong seasons in Los Angeles, but appears to be well on his way to two, and a half with the Lions. He is playing with poise and letting the ball rip in responsible ways. And this time around, Goff is making plays regardless of who is on the field. On Sunday the Lions were without top pass catcher Amon-Ra St. Brown. Goff still lit up the Carolina Panthers for three passing touchdowns, no interceptions, and completed better than 70 percent of his passes. He even scored a rushing touchdown for good measure. The Rams gave up on Goff after the 2018 season. Early on with the Lions, it appeared that they would need to go find a quarterback as well but Goff turned the oil tankard that was his quarterback play around. He is leading a Lions team that is playing some of the best football in franchise history. Goff may not be Mahomes or Allen, but he has left his Rams struggles, and that press conference criticism in his rearview mirror.
Related Posts
Diablo 4’s long-awaited revamp to loot, crafting and progression is finally available with Loot Reborn. The fourth “season” for the action RPG loot adds new mechanics like Tempering, Masterworking and much more. It also revamps the Codex of Power to make managing Aspects easier. Check out the latest trailer below for a quick summary of the changes.
Tempering allows players to add affixes to loot, ranging from damage-related bonuses to resource generation. There’s a limit toSports Betting how much an item can be Tempered, but you also have Masterworking, which boosts all of them. It also offers a chance to massively upgrade one affix every four tiers, and thanks to last month’s PT…
With Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake finally looking like it’s within touching distance, Square Enix is continuing the rollout of new details on the RPG to continuing generating excitement in the lead-up to its November launch. Alongside revealing new gameplay footage and details through previews, the company has also offered a look at the remaFree Bonus on Registrationke’s take on the protagonist.
Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake will, just as the original game did, allow you to play as one of two different variants of the protagonist, Erdrick. Though the original tied them to choosing your gender, the remake will not, instead simply calling the two options Type A and Type B. Square Enix ha…
Back when Microsoft Flight Simulator launched for PC in 2020, it was, without question, one of the most demanding and graphically intensive games available on the platform. It’s no surprise, then, that its upcoming successor once again has incredibly demanding system requirements on PC.
Microsoft has revealed the specs for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 in a recently published official FAQ, and they get increasingly bonkers as you go up the specs, to an almost ridiculous degree. On minimum settings, the requirements are relatively reasonable, with players needing either a Ryzen 2600X or an i7-6800K, along with either a Radeon RX 5700 or a GeForce GTX 970 (with 4 GB of VRAM), and a 16 GB RAM.
On recommended settings, meanwhile, y…
According to a recent report from Bild, Fortuna Dusseldorf have held a meeting with Watford in order to try and secure a permanent deal for Dodi Lukebakio. The 21 year old has been on loan with the German club since last year, and has enjoyed a successful spell thus far. As a result Dusseldorf are very interested in trying to make the deal permanent, although they aren’t the only club that are interested.
Borussia Dortmund and Borussia Monchengladbach have also made it known that they want to take the winger off the hands of Dusseldorf, which could lead to something of a bidding war.
Watford are currently riding high in the Premier League, but it’ll be interesting to see whether or not they try and keep hold of him in the wake of all this interest.
Lukebakio…
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 and 2 Remastered is set to bring Crystal Dynamics’ acclaimed action-adventure series back from the dead imminently, and though it will obviously deliver visually enhanced versions of the original classics, it’s also set to bring additional content that fans of the originals in particular will likely want to check out, for which the remaster’s developer Aspyr has revealed new details on the PlayStation Blog.
Specifically, Soul Reaver 1 and 2 Remastered will include four Lost Levels, which are areas that didn’t make it into thesports betting original game, but have been restored through the joint efforts of Crystal Dynamics, Aspy…
Free-scoring Manchester City added to Crystal Palace s mounting misery with a 5-0 win at the Etihad Stadium, a result that sent Pep Guardiola s men top of the Premier League.
Palace are the only team without a goal in Europe s five major divisions this season after a sixth straight top-flight defeat, and the scale of the task facing the recently appointed Roy Hodgson is thrown into a stark light by a fixture list that places Manchester United and Chelsea next on their agenda.
Contrary to the final scoreline, Hodgson s men acquitted themselves well in the first half and should have led through Ruben Loftus-Cheek before a splendid opener from Leroy Sane arrived a minute before half-time.
Raheem Sterling s quickfire second-half brace put the result beyond any sembla…
Erling Haaland has suggested the €175million fee it might take to prise him away from Borussia Dortmund would be too much to spend on one player.
That figure has been floated as a potential benchmark in Chelsea s bid to sign the Dortmund sensation.
Haaland has previously been linked with several of Europe s top clubs, but finances are tight at Barcelona and Real Madrid while Manchester United and Manchester City seemingly have their eyes set on alternative targets.
It leaves European champions Chelsea as the striker s most likely destination if he leaves Dortmund, yet Haaland s comments on Tuesday did not indicate an imminent move.
Before yesterday I hadn t talked to my agent in a month – you have to tell me [about the reports], he told the media.
Best odds: 8/5
Bookmaker:
The 2020/21 campaign in the UEFA Nations League is set to begin on Thursday evening, and one of the opening matches on the menu is the one Russia will be playing against Serbia at the Central Dynamo Stadium in Moscow in League B Group 3. The other match of the group will be played between Turkey and Hungary in Sivas, Turkey, at the same time, and whoever finishes top of the table will secure promotion to League A.
Russia
In 2018/19, Russia competed in the Nations League Group B2 against Sweden and Turkey, and lost out on the top spot and consequent League A promotion on mere goal-difference. They beat Turkey away by 1-2, then drew 0-0 at home against Sweden, beat Turkey at home by 2-0 and lost away to Sweden by the same scoreline. They…
Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard concedes that the departure of striker Didier Drogba will leave a massive hole in the Blues team.
The Ivorian forward announced on Tuesday that he had decided not to extend his contract beyond the current season and would seek a new club.
Drogba capped off his eight-year spell in west London by scoring the equalising goal and winning penalty in the Champions League final on Saturday, and Lampard hailed his former team-mate as one of the best the Premier League has ever seen.
I didn t see Didier get too many mentions when they were voting for the Premier League team of the past 20 years, Lampard told The Sun.
Maybe that s because people like to make a fuss about the other side of his game. But having played with him for …
Napoli have secured the services of Piotr Zielinski from Udinese for a fee believed to be in the region of €15 million.
The 22-year-old underwent a medical on Thursday before signing a five-year deal.
The midfielder had previously been linked with Liverpool and seemed set to continue his career at Anfield, but the Premier League side refused to meet Udinese s valuation of the player and he has now moved to the Stadio San Paolo instead.
Zielinski joined Udinese from Zaglebie Lubin at the age of 17 and made his debut for the Stadio Friuli side in November 2012. He was unable to secure regular first-team football at Udinese, though, and spent the past two seasons on loan Empoli, where he did enough to earn himself a move to Napoli.
Ufficiale: Piotr Zielin…