It was a night of firsts for Jared Goff, who caught a touchdown, set a passing record and was altogether perfect in the Lions' 42-29 win over the Seahawks on Monday Night Football. And somehow, Goff went home empty handed.
"I just gave the game ball to somebody else, so I feel awful right now," Dan Campbell said with a laugh. "I knew he played a heck of a game. I did not realize he was perfect. I did not know he was literally 18-for-18."
With his unblemished line, Goff set the NFL record for most passes in a game without an incompletion. He said it was the first time he's ever been perfect in the throwing column, at any level. He also went 11-for-11 in the first half in the Lions' win over the Cardinals last week, "so I was aware of it then and I was kind of aware of it today. Middle of the third quarter, I was like, I couldn’t think of (a miss)."
Goff did throw one pass to Sam LaPorta that hit the ground in the fourth quarter, but it was erased by an offensive pass interference penalty on Brock Wright. Two plays later, Goff hit Amon-Ra St. Brown for his second touchdown of the night thanks to a toe-tap catch that preserved Goff's perfection.
It was a reverse of their first connection in the end zone, when St. Brown hit Goff on a trick play called Alcatraz for the first touchdown catch of the quarterback's life: "I’m saying all the way back to seven years old," said Goff.
But Campbell gave the offensive game ball to Jameson Williams, who had a 70-yard touchdown in the third quarter and a "number of blocks that really caught our eye."
"That’s OK," said Goff, who's received a number of game balls from Campbell over the past three seasons. "We’ll see, maybe he’ll make it up, but that’s OK. I’m just happy we got the win.”
Despite his perfect night, Goff was also snubbed with an imperfect passer rating. He finished 2.5 points shy at 155.8, because he didn't meet one of the five requirements that stipulates at least 11.875 percent of the quarterback's passes are touchdowns. Goff was at 11.1 percent, and therefore would have had a perfect rating had he thrown and completed two fewer passes.
"That system is weird, but whatever," he said. "Maybe if we would have not taken the safety (on our last drive) and I hit the wide-open guy that I was unable to hit, maybe that would have done it. But, yeah, unfortunate.”
Goff already has a perfect passer rating game to his name, in 2018 with the Rams. He would have joined the likes of Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Lamar Jackson as quarterbacks with more than one. Instead, he'll settle for a new NFL record.
"18-for-18, that’s like Madden stats," Williams said. "I love that. We ran the ball well, he threw the ball well. That’s how you win football games."