They didn't have a run game for most of the day. Their defense rarely had an answer for the pass. And what is Jared Goff without a run game and an elite defense? Jared Goff is 2-0. For the second straight week, the bridge quarterback in Detroit brought the Lions from one side of history to the other.
Goff and the Lions are one win away from the Super Bowl. Just a couple years ago, one win was all they wanted. They finally got it late in the 2021 season, and how fitting that it came on a walk-off touchdown pass from Goff to Amon-Ra St. Brown. How prophetic. Goff and the Sun God have taken this offense into a different stratosphere, and this team to a different station in the NFL.
It wasn't always sunny Sunday against the Bucs, whose defense was as stout as advertised. The air inside Ford Field was crackling with confidence at the kick, clouded with concern by the half. As anxiety spread through the crowd and a 17-17 game bled into the fourth quarter, Goff exuded cool. His heart ticks quietly no matter the moment. The Lions kept thumping up front.
"I think everybody’s confidence in each other gives us that low heart rate," said Josh Reynolds. "As the pressure builds, we stay calm."
It was Reynolds who scored the first touchdown of the game, on a perfectly-spun post throw by Goff. They've got a knack for finding each other. Reynolds signed here when things were ugly to reunite with the quarterback who can make an offense look pretty. Goff isn't perfect, and he'll never be anything more than a pocket passer, but that hasn't stopped him from picking teams apart.
Including the playoffs, Goff has played 40 games for the Lions starting with that first win over the Vikings in 2021. He has a passer rating of 99.7 over that stretch. He's thrown 50 more touchdowns than picks. After making two Pro Bowls and helping the Rams reach the Super Bowl over four seasons in LA, he has re-asserted himself in Detroit as one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. He might not be long on eye-popping talent, but that would also be selling his arm short.
"He’s been playing lights-out all year," said St. Brown. "He’s been here before, he’s been in the playoffs, he’s gone to the Super Bowl. He knows what it looks like, so I don’t think any moment is ever too big for him."
Whenever tension took hold of the fans Sunday, they chanted Goff's name. It was a call to be answered and a request for an encore, like if they yelled loud enough, their quarterback would show them the way. It was a profession of faith. He led the Lions straight through their past against Matthew Stafford and the Rams last week, their first playoff victory in 32 years. The fans were here to follow him again, Ja-red Goff!
Dan Campbell kept believing "the dam will burst." The Lions just had to keep cracking the Bucs' defense, one throw at a time. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Goff whipped a pass out to Jahmyr Gibbs for a first down. On the second play, he slung one over the middle to Reynolds for another. On the fourth, Jahmyr Gibbs raced 31 yards for a touchdown and a lead the Lions wouldn't relinquish. There was the run game, set up by the pass. Usually it's the other way around.
On Detroit's next drive, Goff took charge of the game. He kicked things off with a short pass to Sam LaPorta, another to David Montgomery, and then a shot down the sideline to Jameson Williams. After a sack forced the Lions into a third and 15, Goff zipped one to St. Brown to keep the drive alive. Then he went back to Gibbs, then back to LaPorta, and eventually back to St. Brown for a touchdown on a fluttery corner route, a high-speed offensive carrousel that left the Bucs dizzy.
"Goff, fourth quarter, he really showed up there and made some big throws," said Campbell. "And we knew we needed to throw the ball to move it today. It was like swinging a sledgehammer against a steel door, just over and over and over. We knew we needed to loosen them up before we started to run it, and we did that.”
For decades, the Lions banged their heads against the wall searching for a quarterback to lead them out of the dark. This is the light. Goff is the guy. When he played well in the second half of 2021, critics told him to do it for a full season. When he responded by raising the bar higher in 2022, they told him to clear it again. When he leapt over it this season, they told him to elevate his game in the playoffs.
Playoff Jared Goff is 52 of 70 for 564 yards, three touchdowns, zero picks and a passer rating of 111.85.
"I don’t know if he’s elevated," said St. Brown.
Point taken: Goff was already on this level. But he continues to elevate his teammates, which is exactly what franchise quarterbacks are supposed to do. It's not just Reynolds. St. Brown has turned into a superstar catching passes from Goff. LaPorta has rewritten the rookie record books. Goff's feel for his receivers allows their talents to flourish. And he has grown in his ability to read and react to defenses at the line of scrimmage. It served him well Sunday against the blitzing Buccaneers.
"We’re glad he’s our quarterback," said St. Brown. "When you have a guy like that who can take care of the football, throw accurate passes and lead and command an offense, you have a good shot at winning a lot of games."
Goff has now won 14 of them this season, a franchise record. He's won 23 of them since last season, bested only by Jalen Hurts, Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen. Hurts signed a deal last spring that pays him $51 million per year. Goff is about to be in the same neighborhood, and belongs there. He has earned the extension coming his way. So long as the Lions keep insulating him with an elite offensive line, Goff will keep winning them games.
The NFL's top three scoring defenses remain in the playoffs, along with the 23rd-ranked defense, which allowed its season average on Sunday of 23 points. The Lions did get some stops when their offense was stuck, and they bookended the day with a pair of game-changing picks of Baker Mayfield. But Goff is the only quarterback still standing who can't lean on the other side of the ball. Detroit leans on him.
The 49ers await, in San Francisco. The critics will tell Goff to go win in a hostile environment, against a top-tier defense. And Goff just might.
"I don’t want to say this arrogantly, but we expected to win the first game, we expected to win this game and now we get to go to a game we expected to be in against a really good team at their place and we’re going to come into it expecting to win," said Goff.
If the critics aren't careful, Playoff Jared Goff and the Lions might just go win the whole thing.
"This ain’t new to him," Reynolds said. "So they can go ahead and keep doubting him. He’s just gonna go ahead and keep proving people wrong."