After laying his eyes on a brand new banner in the rafters of Ford Field last Sunday, Jared Goff said Wednesday, "We want to continue it."
"Seeing that banner is exciting. It’s an NFC North banner, it's a division title, but we’ve got a lot more that we’re working for," he said. "And the Super Bowl is the ultimate goal. Winning a championship around here is something that hasn’t been done in a long time and we’ve got a great group who can do it. It happens one week at a time and we gotta go out and handle business this weekend.”
If they do, Goff will exact some revenge on the Rams and Sean McVay, the team and the coach who kicked him to the curb two years after he helped them reach the Super Bowl to acquire Matthew Stafford from the Lions. Not that Goff is thinking about it that way ahead of Sunday night. His focus is on delivering the second playoff win in franchise history to the Lions, and the first in more than 30 years.
"Obviously there’s a personal connection there (with the Rams) -- and not just for me, but for a lot of our players and some of theirs as well -- but, no, I so badly want to win a playoff game for this city that hasn’t had one in so long," said Goff. "We’ve got a home playoff game for the first time in so long and that’s so much more important than anything personally for me. I want to be a part of this win and do my job to the best of my ability.”
Asked about his relationship with McVay, who reiterated Wednesday that he regrets the way he handled the end of Goff's tenure with the Rams, Goff said, "Sean and I are good. Obviously we had our differences there at the end, but he’s a great coach. He’s done a lot of great things and he’s a guy that taught me a lot."
A two-time Pro Bowler in LA, Goff has rediscovered himself in Detroit, with the support of Dan Campbell and offensive coordinator Ben Johnson. He said he's playing the best football of his career with the Lions, "having guys here believe in me and trust me and kind of let me do my thing, and growing as a person, as a player, as a leader." He's fifth in the NFL in passer rating (98.6) over the last two seasons, smack-dab between Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson, third in touchdowns and second in yards.
McVay said this week he's "really impressed" with the way Goff has taken his game to new heights. He said he's seen a lot of the Lions offense this season in scouting mutual opponents "and it’s been one of the best and he’s leading the way."
"I think he played a really high level in the four years here with us, but I think he, just like anybody, has just continued to mature. You can see he’s got great ownership of what they’re doing. He’s got a lot of responsibility at the line of scrimmage, getting in and out of different packages. You can see that Ben and Dan give him a lot of leeway in terms of some of the audibles, but just a quarterback playing with a lot of confidence, has a great rapport with his skilled players. ... All the things that you want to see from your quarterback and been really impressed," said McVay.
Goff did something in his third season in Detroit that Stafford failed to do in 12: win the NFC North. He can do something Sunday that only one Lions quarterback -- Erik Kramer -- has done in the Super Bowl era: win a playoff game. And then Goff would have a chance to go down in history as the Lions seek their first championship since 1957. To be here just two seasons after the team won three games in his first season in Detroit "feels good," said Goff. "It's exciting."
“It’s been a goal of mine since I got here, seeing the opportunity to be a part of something that's from the ground up," he said. "To be where we’re standing right now and have the chance to win the Super Bowl is pretty exciting. We’ve got a long way to go, and the Rams are the first team in our way."