Jared Goff defends Dan Campbell: "It's exposing of people who think it’s not the right decision"

Jared Goff has defended Dan Campbell before, and will do it again. In fact, Goff remembers Campbell taking flak two years ago from the likes of Tedy Bruschi and the increasingly, uhm, opinionated Emmanuel Acho for a fourth down decision that worked in a win over the Packers. Acho went so far as to call Campbell "asinine" for converting a fourth down that led directly to a game-winning field goal as time expired in a crucial division clash. The nerve!

"It's funny to hear all the criticism after it works," Goff said back then. "You can only imagine how bad it would have been if it didn't work. It's bizarre. It was weird to hear them talking about it and how critical they were of Dan on a decision that was correct in hindsight. It's funny, everybody's got an opinion. For us it works, and I'm sure we'll keep doing it."

There they were again last Sunday, same field, same opponent, same down and distance, almost the same scenario: 4th and 1 in a tie game late in the fourth quarter against the Packers. The key difference, of course, being the field position. Instead of the plus 21-yard line, the Lions were on their own 24.

Campbell went for it all the same, on the grounds that with just under five minutes to play and all three timeouts, the Lions would get the last possession either way. Acho called this decision "coaching malpractice."

The calculation, more or less, boiled down to this: Do we have a better chance of gaining one yard or stopping Jordan Love and the Packers from executing a four-minute, game-winning touchdown drive and preventing us from seeing the ball again? Campbell decided on the former. He went with the strength of his team.

And even if the Lions hadn't run the ball as consistently as they'd like, their offense on Sunday churned out 6.3 yards per play, which was actually above their already strong average through the first five games. A couple turnovers limited the points on the scoreboard, but they had moved the ball well. But we digress.

The decision both backfired when the Packers stuffed Jahmyr Gibbs on a slow-developing run play -- aim your criticism there -- and worked out exactly as planned when Goff and the Lions wound up with the last word in the game. Campbell was no doubt spared by a drop in the end zone by Josh Jacobs on third down and a missed field goal aided by D.J. Wonnum, but the strategy did yield the intended result: the Lions got to decide the game on their own terms.

When Campbell's decision to go for it came into Goff's helmet, "I don't even think twice," Goff said Tuesday on 97.1 The Ticket.

"I think it’s so -- I don't know the right word — exposing of people who think it’s not the right decision just because it’s in our territory. It’s guaranteeing us a chance to win the game no matter what, whereas if we punt it, they can do exactly what we did to them on the final drive. And I’m sure they wish they had another chance to touch the ball," said Goff. "So it’s funny. I think back to a few years ago where we went for that fourth down against Green Bay in a similar situation, 4th and 1, and we got it with David Montgomery. There was backlash on that, and we converted. I guess no matter what, there will be backlash, so who really cares at this point, right?"

But Goff has another point to make: "I think when we’re in those situations, we’re so much more comfortable in them than the other teams because we do them more often. And it is an advantage for us. It’s something that we practice and something that we spend a lot of time on, and we feel very comfortable in those situations."

Over the last five seasons, the Lions lead the NFL in fourth down conversions (89) and rank second in attempts (154). Their conversion rate (57.8%) over that stretch ranks seventh. They're fifth this year in attempts (13) and 13th in conversion rate (61.5%)

"Again, unfortunately we didn’t convert this one," said Goff. "We want to get the first down and keep the game moving and finish the game on that drive, but Dan knew that if we were not to get it, OK, they’ll either kick a field goal or they’ll score a touchdown and then we’ll get the ball back. Now, thankfully they missed the field goal and everything was great, but by every measure of everything, it’s the right decision."

Campbell walked through his decision again on Tuesday, explaining: "I know where we’re at on the field, I understand that, but I also know where we’re at in that game and I know the time that is left." He loved the play-call (again, that warrants scrutiny) and firmly believed the Lions were going to pick up the yard they needed.

"However, if we don’t, we are guaranteed to get the ball one more time offensively, and Jared Goff is going to get that ball one more time. I know that without any doubt because there’s not enough time, no matter what happens here, for them to drain the clock," Campbell said. "We will have plenty of time to rebuttal. We will get the last possession. So it’s that two-fold decision.

"And a lot of it has to do with what’s over there, man. Who’s that quarterback, what have I been looking at all week in the last six opponents they’ve gone against, and what does it look like? It’s not always going to be that way, and there’s a lot of situations that go into that. Every opponent, every week, every game is different, and there is a feel to it."

Campbell's more questionable fourth-down decision against Green Bay came late in the third quarter when he went for it on 4th and 5 from the Packers' six-yard line instead of kicking a chip shot field goal for a six-point lead. The Lions had already stopped the Packers in an almost identical situation in the second quarter, but they gave the points back when Goff couldn't quite connect in the back of the end zone with Jameson Williams.

Campbell acknowledged on Tuesday that, "yeah, there's an argument there" to just take the points.

"I just felt good about what we had in the red zone," he said. "It wasn’t as much of a stretch as it may appear. I felt like we could get (to the end zone) or get close enough to get the first. And you could layer the (passing concepts), the front line, the back line. It was a good throw, a good catch by Jamo, (the defender) just made a hell of a play there in the back of the end zone (pushing Williams out of bounds).

"And I told the team, I wanted to be aggressive. We have our opportunities to shoot our shot, we’re going to do that. And I liked the thought of, if it doesn’t work out, if they’re gonna thrown the ball (on the ensuing drive), Jordan Love's feet are going to be in the end zone when he has to throw and our defense has got them pinned and backed up. I just liked that. We can play on the hunt there.

"And that's another one, it's not always going to be that way. I know five (yards) is a little bit longer, probably feel a little better at four, but I was good with that. And I told the team we would be aggressive."

Campbell went on to say that while every coach has different philosophies, "You gotta do what you believe in."

"And I tell my coaches all the time — we got some outstanding coaches on staff that are going to be head coaches one day — and I’m like, ‘Look, this is what I believe in, this is what I teach, this is what I’m thinking.’ But inevitably, just like with (Aaron Glenn), AG is different than me and you go watch him, it’s totally different. You’ve got your own flavor, your own beliefs and every game is different. But that’s just it, man. You gotta do what you believe in."