Jared Goff is California to his core, but it hasn't taken him long to get a feel for Detroit. A feel for Lions fans, in particular. He came downtown twice this week for dinner with his girlfriend and was struck by how the city, literally, revolves around its teams.
"I didn’t know much about Detroit until recently," Goff said Friday during his introductory press conference. "Being down there and seeing the stadiums all in the same block, it is a sports town. And being able to play in a sports town is special. I know football is king here and I plan to make it a winner."
It won't be easy, as anyone from around here could tell him. Matthew Stafford planned to make the Lions a winner and wound up in Los Angeles 12 years later with a losing record. Goff arrives in Detroit under similar circumstances as his predecessor, with the Lions rebuilding and the fans searching for a franchise player to believe in.
"What I feel every day being here so far is how badly this city wants and needs their football team to win," said Goff, born and bred in California, from peewees to the pros. "I’m now the quarterback here and I’m excited to provide that."
Winning has been the theme of Goff's career, through personal highs and lows. He won a Bowl Game at Cal two years after the team went 1-11. He took the Rams to the Super Bowl two years after the team went 4-12. A two-year turnaround feels like the best-case scenario for the Lions on the heels of three straight last place finishes.
Just don't tell that to Goff.
"I don’t see it as a rebuild at all, to be honest. I know you guys are going to throw that word around, but I don’t see it as that at all. It takes the right pieces to win, but it can happen in one offseason," he said. "I know it won’t happen overnight or in a week or in a month, but it can happen very quickly. It takes the right people, and they’re doing it the right way."
Goff has two main sources of motivation following the trade that sent him from the Rams to the Lions. One, to prove the Rams were wrong for giving up on him just two years after signing him to a $134 million deal.
"Absolutely, it builds that chip on your shoulder a little bit. I won’t lie about that," Goff said. "There is that little extra motivation that you feel. Again I am so thankful for all my time there, but yeah, you do feel that, a little bit of like, OK, let’s see what we can do now."
And two, to prove the Lions were right for believing in him, to prove he can change the fortunes of a forever-flailing franchise, to prove he can win in a place where losing is the norm.
"Motivation," he said. "I believe it. It’s really the opportunity. To be in a place that has wanted that for so long and hasn’t been able to get over the top for a variety of reasons, I plan to put us over the top. My job as the quarterback of this team is to get to the playoffs, win multiple playoff games and win a championship."
Sounds so simple. The simple truth is the Lions need more talent to start talking about the playoffs, much less a championship. Their defense is a mess until it proves otherwise. On the other side of the ball, they've got a strong offensive line, two potential stars at running back and tight end, and not a whole lot else.
To that, Goff might say this: What about me?
"The pieces are there, and I think I’m a big part of that," said Goff. "It’s all there. There’s still a lot of hard work to be done and that’s the challenge that I think is the most exciting, to put in that work and come out the other side as a winner on a team that hasn’t done it in the past."
Goff hasn't been here for long. The trade only became official this week. But he's been here long enough to sense the hunger of a starved fanbase, a hunger, he says, that matches his own.
"I’ve got some toughness to me, some grit and perseverance. Some of that stuff this city is made of," he said. "I'm still leaning, but what I've heard so far, a lot of people in this city work blue-collar jobs. They go to work Monday through Friday and Sunday is their day to watch the Lions play -- and I plan to make that a good day for them."