As the Lions kneeled out a dominant win over the Packers last Sunday at Lambeau, Jared Goff and some of his offensive linemen were laughing in response to some chatter from Green Bay's defense. Apparently, the Packers kept jawing about seeing the Lions later this season in Detroit.
"They said that they’ll play us again later in the year and we said, 'Yeah, we know, we’re in the division, we play you guys twice a year every year,'" Goff said Tuesday on 97.1 The Ticket.
In the Packers' locker room a short while later, offensive lineman Elgton Jenkins declared, "The team that executed obviously won the game. But the better team didn't."
Goff chuckled when asked about it Tuesday and said, "Yeah, I heard it, that’s alright, he can say that. All good."
Goff played another near-perfect game in some of the most adverse conditions of his career, completing 18 of 22 passes through rain and wind while wearing gloves on both hands. He finished with only 145 yards, but he feathered a touchdown to Amon-Ra St. Brown on fourth down on the Lions' opening drive and didn't throw a pick. He's thrown 13 touchdowns to one interception over the Lions' six-game win streak.
"Probably the rainiest, wettest game I’ve played in, but I felt prepared, I did. I felt like we were really prepared," said Goff. "We had practiced all week with a wet ball and I felt good with the gloves, our receivers felt good with their gloves, and I think it showed up. They had a handful of drops, we didn’t. They had some guys slip, we didn’t. We were very prepared for the elements and I thought our coaching staff did a hell of a job getting us ready."
Green Bay's receivers committed five drops, many of them on third down. Jordan Love fumbled three snaps from Jenkins, who was playing at center in place of the injured Josh Myers, and pinned it on "the ball being wet, rainy." And Love made the game's critical mistake, an errant pass as he was falling to the ground that turned into a pick six by Kerby Joseph and a 17-3 halftime lead for the Lions. Detroit, meanwhile, played clean football in its first outdoor game of the season.
Dan Campbell said Tuesday on 97.1 The Ticket that the Lions "drenched the footballs" during practice last week in anticipation of the forecast in Green Bay. He even told Goff on Wednesday, "Our trainers are going to douse them with the Gatorade bottles before every snap."
"Every period we had a wet ball, for group, for individual, for all the team periods, that’s how we function. We didn’t wet the field, but we had the wind, which was great, especially Thursday, it was humming out there. So we really got the elements. We didn’t get the precipitation coming down, but we did have a wet ball and we did have the wind and we were outside, so it was awesome."
Goff was quick to point out on the field after the Lions' 24-14 win that "we're supposed to be the dome team, we're supposed to be the team that can't play outside and we come in here and win." He said Tuesday that he's "been hearing it my whole life now" that he's not a quarterback who's comfortable in harsh conditions, "so yeah, it gets me going, certainly, and I think our whole team."
"We were pretty mistake-free on offense and our defense did a good job getting after them. And I think the mistakes that showed up pivoted the game. We were able to take care of the ball, hold it tight, squeeze it tight, catch the ball when it came (the receivers') way, I was able to remain pretty accurate and our O-line protected pretty well. All those things come into play when you play in weather like that and I thought we handled it really well," said Goff.
Next time they play the Packers, the Lions will be back in the cozy confines of Ford Field, where Goff has 61 touchdowns to 15 picks and a passer rating of 105.0 as Detroit's quarterback.
It will be their second meeting of the season, for the 93rd year in a row.