Jared Goff knows he should drop it, but can't deny it: He takes issue with the Detroit media. To Goff, the local coverage of the Lions is overly negative, too slanted toward the team they've been instead of the team they're becoming.
"I probably need to drop it pretty soon here because I'm going to hopefully be in Detroit for a long time, but I have this thing with our local media where they almost relish in negativity at times," Goff said on the latest episode of the TRADING CARDS podcast released last week. "And maybe that's what gets clicks and that's what sells. But it's no longer what they need to live in.
"Like, hey guys, we have a good team, we've had success. We can be happy about that, we can celebrate that and not have to write about how we're constantly the underdog. Like, no, teams are going to be gunning for us now, we won the division and all that. And I'm probably overthinking it in my head just because it's the chip on my shoulder and the competitor in me."
Goff had been asked about his exchange in the week before the NFC title game last season with Wojo of 97.1 The Ticket (and the Detroit News), who had asked Goff if he felt the Lions had enough superstars to counter those on the 49ers. (As it turns out, they ultimately did not.) Goff responded by good-naturedly rattling off the All-Pros and Pro Bowlers on the Lions and said on the podcast, "In that moment, I was just giving that guy a hard time. I actually really like him."
"That moment went viral for whatever reason," he said. "I wasn't trying to be rude to the guy. I was just like, that's our own beat reporter that's been with us for three years. Like, you haven't been in San Francisco. You know what our team looks like. Why we gotta talk about how good their players are? Talk about how good our players are.
"That's how I felt. Are we, like, privileged to play this game because they have a bunch of good players? Is that what you're saying? So I was like, '(Amon-Ra) St. Brown was first-team All-Pro. Penei Sewell was first-team All-Pro. Frank Ragnow, Sam LaPorta, like, you want me to keep going?' I know they have a lot of really good players. So do we. I know they're really good. So are we."
Goff said his point was that "we're here to stay. This isn't some, like, fluke season where we just caught lightning in a bottle. It's like no, we've got good players on our team, we've got good coaches on our team."
The Lions ultimately lost to the 49ers 34-31, but are one of the early favorites to get back to the NFC title game -- and beyond -- next season.
