Lions QB Jared Goff on his respect for Baker Mayfield’s journey
Jared Goff compared Baker Mayfield’s journey through the NFL to his own, calling his Monday Night Football opponent a good friend.
- Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff leads the NFL in several key statistical categories against the blitz this season.
- Goff’s success is attributed to his diligent study habits, quick processing, and veteran experience in the offensive system.
- Teammates and coaches praise Goff’s ability to identify pressures and make decisive throws to counter aggressive defenses.
- The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Lions’ next opponent, have one of the highest blitz rates in the league.
In the wee hours of Friday morning, John Morton was still holed up inside the Detroit Lions’ headquarters. He was there obsessing about the pressure packages Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles may foist upon Morton’s offense this Monday night, when the Bucs visit Ford Field. Morton was uneasy thinking about Bowles’ aggressive tactics.
But his paranoia seemed unwarranted considering he already had the perfect antidote for Bowles’ poison: Jared Goff.
By almost every statistical measure, no NFL quarterback has performed better against the blitz this season than Goff. Against a pass rush that includes five or more players, he leads the league in efficiency rating (137.1), completion rate (77.1%) and EPA per dropback (+.58). In the process, he has continued to prove wrong a thinning herd of skeptics who once said Goff crumbles when he is under attack. That narrative, which trailed Goff from Los Angeles to Detroit, now looks foolish considering that, since the start of last year, he has regularly carved up defenses that dare to bring the heat.
“Jared does a great job of getting the ball out on time, knowing where his hot answers are,” receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown said.
Yeah, Morton added, “He can see everything. He’s a veteran guy. And he studies, man. This guy works his butt off. He’s like a coach, and it’s really cool when you’ve got a guy … like that.”
It should give Morton some peace of mind as he prepares to match wits with Bowles, his boss with the New York Jets once upon a time. Morton, after all, told reporters Friday, Oct. 17, that he expects a “blitz fest” on Monday.
The Buccaneers send extra rushers to chase down the quarterback on 32.6% of opposing dropbacks, the third-highest rate in the NFL. That shouldn’t faze Goff. In many ways, he has been conditioned to neutralize this hawkish style of defense because he faced a version of it every day in training camp this past summer. Just as predecessor Aaron Glenn did, coordinator Kelvin Sheppard routinely brought the house during those intense summer practices. Various combinations of linebackers, safeties and cornerbacks joined the Lions’ four-man front in pursuit of Goff. Sheppard marveled at Goff’s ability to consistently beat the rush with quick, decisive throws.
“He’s a guy that processes very fast in-play,” Sheppard said. “That’s something I’ve seen him gradually grow in doing. And that guy’s operating at a high level, the highest in the league in my opinion.”
As biased as it may be, it’s hard to argue with that assessment based on how Goff played last Sunday in a 30-17 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, when he threw a pair of touchdown passes, completed 79.3% of his 29 attempts and posted a gaudy 118.8 quarterback rating.
Right away, the Chiefs tried to besiege Goff. Drue Tranquill raced in from the second level on the third play from scrimmage. Fellow linebacker Nick Bolton, with Tranquill beside him, charged in two snaps later. A few ticks after that, cornerback Trent McDuffie tried to hunt down Goff as he surged upfield from an outside position.
But they each failed to reach Goff before he had thrown the ball to one of his teammates. Tight end Sam LaPorta caught the first pass to move the chains. Wideout Jameson Williams reeled in the other two, picking up a pair of first downs. Those three completions seemed to subdue the Chiefs. They blitzed only eight times the rest of the game and Goff continued to pick them apart when they did – connecting on six of eight attempts for 57 yards.
“It just goes to show how much work he puts in in terms of preparation throughout the week,” right tackle Penei Sewell told the Free Press. “He’s a very smart guy. That’s one of the many things that makes Jared Goff great.”
The comfort level with the Lions’ offense has also contributed to his success. This is his fourth year in the Lions’ system. He now knows what buttons to push and when to press them. As Morton said, he can nimbly execute a “blitz check” and find the right counterpunch that destroys a five- or six-man pressure. St. Brown, more often than not, helps him deliver that knockout blow. The All-Pro receiver has had a hand in 43.2% of the 495 passing yards Goff has accumulated against the blitz, serving as the ultimate safety valve for his quarterback.
Their symbiotic relationship has been forged over thousands upon thousands of snaps over the past five seasons.
“When you play a lot of ball and you rep it in practice so many times, there are so many looks that you know are coming,” St. Brown said.
The solutions, then, are easy to conjure.
“Understanding the offense and being fully in grasp with the quick answers and the hot answers and what pressures are issues and that whole thing” is invaluable, Goff said.
“I think just as you get older, get better, you learn more, you see more and start to get rid of the ball a little bit quicker, you start to process things a little bit faster,” he elaborated.
The results have been devastating against extra rushers.
It’s why a convincing case can be made that Bowles has more reason to fret than Morton during the leadup to Monday.
After all, Morton said, Goff is “not only good against the blitz.
“He’s good at everything.”
Contact Rainer Sabin at rsabin@freepress.com. Follow him @RainerSabin on X.
