By the end of the Lions' season-opening loss to the 49ers, Jared Goff had compiled some big passing numbers. That will happen when you pass 57 times. Goff spent most of the day throwing in the flat, without ever really stretching the field. His two running backs got more targets than his top four wide receivers.
This came as no surprise to anyone watching in training camp. Even against a Lions defense with soft spots galore in the secondary, Goff spent most practices dinking and dunking underneath. In his own words, and those of Anthony Lynn, taking what the defense was giving him.
And so it went in his Lions debut. Among the NFL's Week 1 starting quarterbacks, Goff finished fifth in yards (338) -- which would have been worth celebrating if he hadn't finished 27th in yards per attempt (5.9). Only Dak Prescott threw more passes than Goff, and Prescott made his count.
Prior to the Lions' final three drives when they were trying to erase a 24-point deficit, Goff attempted three deep throws. He missed on all three, and the first should have been a touchdown to Amon-Ra St. Brown. Asked Tuesday how he would grade his downfield decision-making, Goff told the Karsch & Anderson Show, "I thought there were a lot of times where the decisions were right and a lot of times where you go back and look at it and say, 'Man, maybe I could have thrown it there or thrown it there.'"
"But ultimately, it’s just winning the game," Goff went on. "I’m not going to throw it 40 yards down the field just to throw it 40 yards down the field to get oohs and aahs from the crowd. We’re going to try and win the game every time and I’m going to try and make the best decision I can make every single play, whether that is throwing it down the field or taking the check-down and throwing it to the open guy. That’s my job to do every play."
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To be clear, Goff and OC Anthony Lynn want to take shots, preferably off play-action. But receivers have to get open and defenses have to allow it. Tyrell Williams, who left in the third quarter Sunday with a head injury, and Kalif Raymond aren't exactly Kenny Golladay and Marvin Jones. And when the Lions fell behind by multiple scores in the second quarter, San Francisco took away the deep ball.
"When you get into that type of game they’re not going to let you just throw the ball over their head when you’re down 41-17," Dan Campbell said Tuesday. "So it’s gotta come earlier in the game. You’d like to have things built off the run game where you’re able to capitalize on your shots down there, which honestly we never really got to. And when we wanted to get to them, it just got to the point of the game where you were kind of out of that, if you will.
"But yeah, certainly we want to take more advantage of what happens early in the game."
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We'll see what the Lions come up with next Monday against the Packers. Saints QB Jamies Winston threw five touchdowns on just 20 passes against Green Bay in Week 1. He also averaged 12.4 air yards per attempt -- exactly double Goff's average against San Fran.
Other highlights from Goff's interview on 97.1 The Ticket:
On the Lions' fourth quarter comeback: "I don’t know if I’d call it a comeback. We didn’t win. But it was fun to lay it all out there and make that push … Just getting the chance to see what our guys are made of I think was awesome. Not that that’s any sort of moral victory, but it was good to find out who we were."
On Penei Sewell's performance at left tackle: "I thought Penei did a great job, man. He’s done this since the spring, though. I don’t think it was a surprise to any of us, his ability to play at that level. Obviously he’s been practicing at right tackle, but for him to step in at left tackle and do the things he did is super impressive. It seems like we can kind of put him all over the field. I will say, I think he is one that you guys can get excited about and be pretty confident about that."
On Sewell playing just as well if/when he returns to right tackle: "Sure, I don’t see why not. Like I said, he’s been doing this in practice and in preseason games and it just so happened he was doing it against Nick Bosa and gained a lot of credit for that. But this isn’t a surprise to us. He’s been playing really well on both sides. Excited to see him grow whether it’s at left these next few weeks until Taylor gets back, and then if he goes back to right, whatever that may be."