With each connection, Tim Patrick and Jared Goff grow tighter. They've been teammates for less than two months, but Goff has taken a quick liking to the 6'5 receiver who looks tailor-made for the Lions' offense. Entering last week's game against the Cowboys, coordinator Ben Johnson told Patrick, "Hey, if we get a one-on-one with you, we’re going to throw it up and you need to come down and make a play."
Asked when he knew he had the trust of Goff to come through in a moment like that, Patrick smiled and said, "When he called it in the huddle and I was like, 'Oh sh*t.'"
On 3rd and 5 on the Lions' first drive of the game, Goff went deep down the right sideline to Patrick, who was getting mugged by cornerback Amani Oruwariye. ("It was definitely PI but hey, you gotta play through it," Patrick said.) Patrick fought off Oruwariye and indeed came down with the ball for a 42-yard gain. Two plays later the Lions were in the end zone, and the rout was on.
Patrick made two more catches on the next drive, including one that was originally ruled a touchdown when he powered through a tackle and reached his long arm over the goal line. He was ruled a yard short upon review, but it likely won't be long before Patrick finds the end zone with Detroit. He finished with three catches for 68 yards in Dallas on a day that everyone in the Lions' offense ate, and his plate is growing by the week.
"It’s just reps in practice," said Johnson. "Jared will come to me and be like, ‘Man, he’s a long target, so I feel like a lower range to miss on him.' And then we have one-on-ones almost every week and being able to see him compete against our DB's and create separation, come down with a football, he’s been a very consistent separator in that regard."
The only hole in Detroit's offense when the season began was rather glaring: a big-bodied receiver to replace Josh Reynolds. Patrick is starting to fill it. He has the size, the physicality and the selflessness the Lions were looking for. Goff said he knew they were going to import another receiver toward the end of camp "and I knew it was between him and a handful of other people."
"And in my own head," said Goff, "I was like, I want him."
Brad Holmes and the Lions delivered when they signed Patrick to a one-year, $1.125 million deal shortly after he'd been released by the Broncos. Goff went so far as to say this week that he was "pounding the table" for Patrick, though clarified he wasn't literally banging on Holmes' desk or even telling him what to do. Fact is, said Goff, "Brad made a great call with him."
"He has been a perfect fit. He's unselfish, he blocks, he cares, he's a great teammate, and then he's competitive, he's got great hands and he's trustworthy on his routes. As a quarterback, that's all you can ask for," said Goff. "He has been tremendous."
Patrick came to Detroit having missed basically two years of football. He was cut by a rebuilding team in Denver after two straight season-ending injuries, a torn ACL in 2022 and a torn Achilles in 2023. Before that, Patrick was building a strong NFL resume. He had 104 catches for 1,476 yards and 11 TD's as the Broncos' No. 2 receiver from 2020-21. Reynolds, over the last two seasons with the Lions, had 78 catches for 1,087 yards and eight TD's.
As he begins the next chapter of his career, Patrick said one of his main goals "is proving that you can come back better from (injuries) like that."
"During that time, I was getting ready to become the No. 1 and have my best season yet, and I got stand-stilled twice and kind of got forgotten in a way," he said. "But at the end of the day, everything happened for a reason, God makes no mistakes and landed me here in a place that I truly love around people that are all like me. It’s fun to go out there each game knowing that everybody’s a little bit psycho."
Patrick said he had seven or eight teams reach out to him when he became a free agent, "probably four or five that were actually real options." The No. 1 reason he chose the Lions? "Probably Goff." He wasn't really aware of what they needed on offense, only that they had a talented quarterback and a roster full of playmakers and he wanted to be a part of it.
"If I’m being honest, this was probably the spot that had the highest potential but right away it wasn’t the best. But I’m a grinder," said Patrick. "So I saw the potential that it had and that’s why I chose it. I wanted to earn everything, I didn’t want to get handed anything."
Patrick jibes with the Lions for several reasons. They were drawn to him in the first place, said Johnson, for his "professionalism." He was a highly popular player in Denver, much like Reynolds was in Detroit. He also has the smarts to thrive in a layered offense that leads the NFL in points per game. He's on his details. But most of all, Patrick plays with the same snarl as fellow receivers Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams and Kalif Raymond. As Johnson likes to say, "No block, no rock."
Blocking -- and enjoying it -- "is part of being psycho," Patrick said.
"It’s seeing if the guy across from you is ready to deal with that all game, see who’s going to break first mentally. It helps you, and it’s the way I attack the game," he said. "I want to be able to do everything so I don’t have to come off the field. And honestly, the Cowboys game was my worst blocking game so far, so I’m kinda pissed about that. Definitely gotta pick that up."
Asked who's the most psycho on Detroit's offense, Patrick said it's definitely the receivers (Penei Sewell and the offensive line might like a word about that) and narrowed it down to "Jamo or Saint." Toward the end of a long catch and run against the Cowboys with the Lions already leading by 28 in the third quarter, Williams could have stepped out of bounds and avoided contact with a hard-charging safety but instead hurled himself into Malik Hooker and "tried to kill him," Patrick said with a laugh.
"You have to play this game that way. It’s breaking the other team’s will. When they know that he could’ve just run out of bounds and he’s still trying to run you over, they’re either going to pick up their level of play or they’re going to fold. That’s the way we play football here, and I love it," Patrick said.
Over his four healthy seasons in Denver, Patrick never played on a winning team. Now he finds himself on a Super Bowl contender. With the public speaking so highly of the Lions, Patrick said he's "made the transition of staying off of social media" by deleting his Twitter and avoiding Instagram because "hearing good things can be a bad thing."
"I would rather hear somebody talking sh*t about me," he said with a grin.
Unfortunately in Allen Park, everyone's raving about him. As Patrick enters his fifth game with the Lions in Sunday's clash with the undefeated Vikings, "it's just the beginning," said Goff. "You think about a guy who hasn't really played real football for a couple years, to get him back feeling good and into rhythm, the sky's the limit for him and I. I can't wait to keep growing with him."
"I don't know what the limit is for us," said Patrick. "I just know I’m gonna keep working, he’s gonna keep working and we’re gonna keep getting better."
Patrick was standing in the hallway between the Lions' locker room and their indoor practice field, where he's been running extra routes with Goff every day. He has a high-pitched laugh like Williams, and the same love for football. During a get-to-know-you TV interview a few minutes prior, Patrick had been asked to name the person in his life he couldn't bear to disappoint. He took a few seconds to think about it.
"As of right now," he said, "it’s Dan Campbell."