Jared Goff is prepared to "answer the questions all week," and he's fine with it. He's one of the main characters in the biggest storyline of the first round of the NFL playoffs: Lions vs. Stafford, Rams vs. Goff. Sunday night in Detroit.
Goff would just rather keep the focus on the game itself, given everything at stake.
"It’s so much greater than anything about me and the Rams or Matthew, obviously, in Detroit," Goff said Tuesday on 97.1 The Ticket. "It’s such a bigger (game) between both teams, so it’s easy to ignore for me. I’ll answer the questions all week, I’ll deal with it, as I’m sure they will. But it’s about our team. We’ve come a long way and it’s our opportunity now to go make a real run."
No team, in fact, has come as far as the Lions have since Goff arrived in Detroit. Their nine-win improvement from 2021 to 2023 is by far the best in the NFL. And no team rose like the Rams when Stafford arrived in LA after 12 empty seasons with the Lions and immediately won the Super Bowl. Each quarterback has succeeded where the other failed, Goff in leading the Lions to the top of the NFC North, Stafford in leading the Rams to glory.
Their numbers since the trade are remarkably similar. Goff has 78 touchdowns to 27 picks and a passer rating of 96.5 with the Lions -- and 24 wins. Stafford has 75 touchdowns to 36 picks and a passer rating of 95.8 with the Rams -- and 24 wins. (Goff has played in seven more games.) And they've silenced some of their critics in the process, Goff by proving to be more than a bridge quarterback in Detroit whose best days were behind him, Stafford by showing once and for all that he could win big with the right team.
Where Sean McVay kicked Goff to the curb, Dan Campbell has embraced him in Detroit. It's one of the biggest reasons for his resurgence with the Lions. So is his own ability to block out the noise. Campbell knows that Goff will be laser-focused on Sunday's game, not distracted by the narratives bubbling beneath it.
"He’s a mature guy, he understands that’s three years removed," Campbell said Tuesday on 97.1 The Ticket. "He knows that’s going to be a storyline, as we all do, but it’s why he’s done as well as he’s done because he can just focus on the job at hand -- this is what’s right in front of me. He wants to win this game just like we all do, because we get to move on to the next round, and I think that’s the most important thing."
Goff said that "it’d be selfish of me to try to make it about anything else than that."
"It’s win or go home. It’s an opportunity for us that doesn’t come along all the time. And I think as I get older, you appreciate these opportunities much more as your career goes on," he said.
Goff reached the playoffs in his first full season as the Rams starter, then went all the way to the Super Bowl the next year. At that point, he probably figured postseason football was a given. But the Rams missed the playoffs the next season and Goff had been benched by McVay by the time they returned in 2020. He did wind up playing, and winning a game, in those playoffs when an injury to his replacement forced him into action, but "the atmosphere wasn’t like it will be now, with the COVID year," he said.
Sunday will mark Goff's first home playoff game in five years, and the first in 30 years for the Lions.
"My last time in a real playoff atmosphere was in 2018 in the Super Bowl and prior to that in New Orleans (in the NFC Championship Game), so this will be really fun. I’m excited for our fans, I’m excited for our city, them getting to experience a home playoff game, a lot of these people for the first time in their lives. And for me, it will be a lot of fun to be there and to lead us and hopefully come out with the W," said Goff.
In Goff's first season in Detroit, the Lions finished last in the North for the fourth straight year, the worst stretch in franchise history. They capped his third season by hanging their first division banner at Ford Field. While Goff is proud of how far they've come, he's focused on where they're trying to go.
"We went through some hard times there early on. We’re in the tournament now and we can go win a Super Bowl if we win these next four games," he said. "It’s a good place to be for us and a long way from where we started."
From three wins to 12, Goff and the Lions have overcome several obstacles in their path. Stafford and the Rams just happen to be next.
"They’re the one that’s in our way now," said Goff, "and we gotta go out and get a win."