There was a time when Detroit Lions fans weren’t sure if quarterback Jared Goff would help take the team to the next level. By “next level,” I don’t even really know what I’m saying, because the Lions have never really been at a level at all. But, it seems all that bad luck is turning around, as the team closed out its first winning season in years in 2022. Goff was a big part of that success, too.
Now, there are plenty of Jared Goff believers. Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell is one of them. In fact, Campbell says Jared Goff is playing better with the Lions than he ever did with the Los Angeles Rams, even though Goff led the Rams to the Super Bowl in 2018. So, what is the new Dan Campbell, Jared Goff opinion?
Dan Campbell, Jared Goff opinion:
Goff, 28, came to Detroit after being traded in January 2021. This past season, Goff took the Lions to their first winning season since 2017. The team ended the season 9-8. They actually won eight of their final 10 games.
“He hung in there, and I think what you’re seeing is a guy who just put his head down and worked on what he could, tried to improve on what he could, and now his confidence is really, it has grown, and along the way, he’s matured as a quarterback,” Campbell said during a press conference (via ESPN). “I mean, he’s a better quarterback than he was there, in my opinion, because he can do more things. He’s mentally on it.
“We’ve come light-years ahead of where he was two years ago,” Campbell added. “He’s got a real good grasp of what we’re doing, where the issues are, where the problems are. And that’s something that we really wanted him to get good at and he wanted to get good at, and he’s worked at it, and he’s improved.”
Campbell added that the Lions are relying on Goff more than the Rams ever did.
“We ask him to do a lot more in my opinion than what [the Rams] were actually doing out there,” Campbell said. “They had a lot of pretty good pieces out there as well, as we know. Damn good defense.”
Campbell continued, “All those things, but I just feel like, I know from speaking with him and watching him really over the last two years, I just feel like … we put a lot of things on him where I’m not so sure that was ultimately what they were doing.”
Read about Jared Goff’s possible new Detroit Lions contract here.