No, Dan Campbell didn't know a touchdown was coming. In fact, Campbell thought he might have cost his team a touchdown.
When Campbell pumped his fist and stalked down the sideline after calling in the play before Jameson Williams' touchdown in the Lions' rout of the Commanders last Sunday -- a clip that went viral after the game -- he was actually frustrated with himself for not relaying the entire call to Jared Goff before the communication cut off in Goff's helmet as it does 15 seconds prior to each snap.
Amon-Ra St. Brown, who was standing next to Campbell on the sideline in the moment and watching the play clock, explained on his podcast this week that "Dan was like, 'F**k!' because he felt like this was a play that could score."
"This was exactly what we wanted, right personnel, everything," said St. Brown, "so Dan was upset because he felt like he didn't get the play off and Jared might not be able to finish the play call -- because Jared doesn't wear a wristband. He has everything in his head. He's great at spitting out plays."
Goff heard enough of the call to spit out the rest. He explained Wednesday that "there were a couple different shifts and motions in that play and I was like, 'Hey, just line up,' because I knew we were late in the huddle. I can’t remember if the whole thing came in or not, but I heard most of it and was able to get us out of the huddle and then lined up correctly."
The Lions got the snap off with one second remaining on the play clock, Goff hit Williams in stride on a slant over the middle and Williams front-flipped into the end zone five yards later to give Detroit a 32-10 lead in the third quarter.
"Sometimes, if I love the play so much, I’m like, 'Guys, line up, I don’t want them to call a timeout, let’s just get this thing snapped.' And I had a pretty good feeling about that," said Goff. "So I was like, screw the motions and the shifts, let’s just get lined up and snap it, and sure enough Jamo ran a great route and scored."
Campbell said after the Lions' win that Goff "bailed me out" of a few plays that he might have wanted back in his first game calling the offense in four years. He reiterated Wednesday that one of Goff's "superpowers" is his processing speed before the snap, his ability to grasp and communicate information in a matter of seconds.
This is by no mistake. Goff studies the play calls for each game throughout the week so that even if "I hear one word, I can kind of get the rest of it," he said, "because that’s how it is sometimes," especially on the road." As St. Brown said, "All you gotta do is sometimes tell him the first half of the play and he'll be able to finish it."
Goff said he appreciated the praise, "but I think it’s part of my job, really. I think it’s kind of the baseline of what I’m supposed to do, is retain it and be able to spit it out and then be able to do my best to coach it on the field and help these guys where I can. And yeah, I think walkthrough (during the week) is extremely important. I try to take it pretty serious and make sure everyone’s doing what they’re supposed to do.”
More often than not, Goff takes care of the rest.