If you ask Bill Belichick, the Lions' offense is unstoppable. If you ask Jared Goff, "no, not at all."
In a conversation this week between Belichick and Goff on the Let's Go! podcast, the six-time Super Bowl-winning coach said that "it’s impossible, I think, for a defense to really stop your offense." The Lions lead the NFL with 33.4 points per game, 43 per game over the last four.
"There are too many weapons, the offensive line is too good, blitzing’s not the answer, not blitzing’s not the answer," Belichick said. "Playing you guys, to me it would just be, hang on and try to create as many long drives and as many long situations as possible, but that’s hard because you have so many explosive players and you do such a good job distributing the ball."
Goff said Tuesday on 97.1 The Ticket that "Bill was being nice and maybe pumping us up a little bit."
"I think what he was referring to was, it’s hard with the amount of weapons we have," said Goff. "There are some instances where (defenses) have to pick their poison on who they want to stop and they’re going to leave somebody else open, and we’ve known that to be the case the whole season now with just the multitude of guys we have available to throw it to, to run it with and obviously with the O-line and the way they’re playing, it makes it all go."
The Lions hung 52 points on the Titans last week, three shy of the franchise record, with offensive touchdowns from six different players: running backs David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs, tight ends Sam LaPorta and Brock Wright and wide receivers Amon-Ra St. Brown and Kalif Raymond.
"Obviously a nice compliment from him," Goff said of Belichick, "but by no means do we not have more stuff to work on."
In their conversation, Belichick noted that Goff has made significant strides in recent years in his accuracy and decision-making. Goff acknowledged the latter, explaining that he's learned to take what the defense is giving him rather than forcing a throw to his first look on a particular play.
When "the play that we talked about all week where we’re gonna hit the post versus quarters" isn't open, "OK, check it down, we’re gonna get another opportunity at that," said Goff. "That’s what I’ve gown and matured in. Don’t just throw it because you think it’s gonna be there and it’s kinda open but not really, it doesn’t look great. Get on to the next play, live to see another down."