Jared Goff knew he was injured when he loaded up for a deep ball to Kalif Raymond in the first quarter of the Lions' tie to the Steelers and left it short.
"That was where it happened," Goff said Tuesday on the Karsch & Anderson Show. "I gave that everything I had and it only went 45 yards. That’s kind of when I realized there may have been an issue."
Goff spent the rest of the game playing through a sprained oblique and rainy, windy conditions that further dampened Detroit's bleak passing attack. He totaled 54 yards on 20 passes through four quarters -- 2.7 yards per attempt -- before adding 60 more yards in overtime. He said "it was hard" going back and watching the film.
"I don’t know if I realized in real time how affected I was out there by the oblique, but there’s no excuse," said Goff. "I was on the field and have to make plays. Just wasn’t as good as we need to be."
Dan Campbell stuck with Goff after talking it over with his quarterback, fellow coaches and team trainers on the sideline. He decided his compromised starter 'gave us the best chance' to win. That says a lot about third-string QB David Blough, who's serving as Goff's backup in place of the injured Tim Boyle.
Asked if he would have been better off playing Blough over a less-than-100-percent Goff, Campbell told the Stoney & Jansen Show Tuesday, "I don’t know, I thought about it. All I can do is go with the people around me and listen to the experts as it pertains to the injury and how he feels, what he can do. Look, I hung with him. It was the decision I made."
And Goff was never going to leave the game on his own.
"I’ve always been under the impression that unless I can’t physically perform my job, I’m going to be on the field. And in real time I felt good enough to go and wanted to, and really did on the sidelines, felt fine. Again, there’s no excuses. I was out there on the field and throws to be made that weren’t made."
Campbell confirmed that Blough is QB-3 on the depth chart when Boyle is available, which could be soon. The former Packer, who signed a $2.5 million deal with the Lions in the spring, returned to practice last week after missing the first two months of the season with a broken thumb. Campbell said Boyle "did a good job for us and he's looking pretty good."
The Lions have until Week 12 to either add Boyle to the active roster or shut him down for the year. If he makes his way back and Goff is still injured, inept or both, Detroit might have to seriously consider a QB change. But as long as the discussion is Goff vs. Blough, the decision for Campbell feels pretty easy.