Here's how Jared Goff can 'shut a lot of people up'

They've called him a Ben Johnson merchant. An offensive line merchant. A running game merchant. The critics have said he's only as good as his surroundings, a system quarterback who needs a perfect environment to thrive. Did they miss last season?

Jared Goff had an offensive coordinator who was stripped of play-calling duties after eight games and fired at the end of the year. He had an offensive line that went from the strength of the team to a weakness. He had an erratic rushing attack that collapsed down the stretch. A system quarterback would have been exposed.

Instead, Goff finished second in the NFL in passing yards and touchdowns, bested only by MVP Matthew Stafford, and third in passer rating. He leads the NFL over the last three seasons in the former two categories and ranks second, to Lamar Jackson, in the latter.

And almost everywhere you look entering this season, Goff is ranked outside the top 10 quarterbacks in the game. Pro Football Focus has him No. 16. The Ringer has him No. 12, behind Jordan Love and Trevor Lawrence. NFL.com has him No. 11, behind Sam Darnold and Caleb Williams.

"Man, I feel like Jared’s the type of quarterback where they’re always going to have something to nitpick on him," Amon-Ra St. Brown said Thursday. "Unless he has a perfect passer rating, there’s something that he didn’t do right, or he should’ve done this.

"I think for me and him, we just gotta win the Super Bowl. If Jared wins the Super Bowl, I think it’ll shut a lot of people up, and I can’t wait. I want that for him so bad, because I know how good he is, what he means to this team. Yeah, I feel for Jared. I feel like he’s one of the best in this league and people don’t really give him that respect. I want him to go do the thing for us."

Know who didn't omit Goff from the top 10 at his position as he enters year 11? His peers, who slotted him No. 7 (and No. 33 overall) in their annual Top 100 Player Rank, and NFL execs, coaches and scouts, who slotted him No. 9 in their annual survey conducted by ESPN.

Those who know the game best seem to appreciate Goff the most. No one respects him more than Dan Campbell.

"Every year he does things faster, he gets much more proficient," Campbell said Wednesday on 97.1 The Ticket. "He gets faster yet he’s still on the money, man. I think that comes with his own maturity, his own growth, his own leadership. Just the more time on task, the more he’s seeing it in real-time games, his growth has been exponential."

Critics like to point out what Goff lacks: Lamar-like foot speed, Allen-like athleticism, Herbert-like arm strength. In doing so, they dismiss his assets, and how he makes up for his perceived flaws: brain speed, pocket presence, pinpoint accuracy. Goff can process the field and get through his progressions as quickly as arguably any quarterback in the NFL. He's getting better and better at manipulating defenders.

And he rarely makes bad decisions. He had one of the lowest interception rates in the league last season. No quarterback attempted more passes and threw fewer picks.

"I just think he’s got a really good grasp on what defenses are throwing at him," said Campbell. "He can make adjustments in real time. He doesn’t get bogged down. He’s playing at a high level and I feel like this camp he took it another step. I say it all the time and I’m gonna say it again: we're fortunate to have this quarterback, man. He is a special freaking dude, that can play the quarterback position at a high level. And our focus is on winning. You win, and everybody gets the credit that they’re due."

St. Brown admits that he's "kinda spoiled." He and Goff have developed such chemistry over their five seasons together that St. Brown has grown accustomed to "cutting out of my break and the ball’s right in front of my face. I’m not bending down to catch it, I’m not having to jump. It’s like, that’s what I’m used to."

"I would never want to take that for granted," he said, "because you never know what could happen in a game or a season or what might happen in three years. I’m just blessed to be with him on this team and that he’s my quarterback."

Goff, for the record, has no plans of going anywhere. He believes that he's "right in the middle" of his career. And given the way that he plays, relying more on touch and feel and a smooth, repeatable throwing motion than superhuman ability, he might be just entering his prime. His game should age gracefully, acuity over agility.

"You play long enough, you start seeing the same things over and over and you’re able to move through things a little bit quicker, you’re able to make your calls a little bit quicker pre-snap," Goff said Wednesday.

NFL regimes are typically defined by GM and head coach. In this case, it's GM-head coach-quarterback. Goff might resist that, never wanting to be bigger than the team, but he's as synonymous with this era of Lions football as Campbell. As responsible for their rise, perhaps, as Brad Holmes. Campbell, Holmes and Goff arrived at the same time, each believing in the other, and have built the Lions into an organization that views 9-8 as a failure.

Their fall last season was in spite of their quarterback. As normally reliable elements of the offense started to sputter, Goff kept humming. In Detroit's biggest games down the stretch -- the Packers on Thanksgiving, the Cowboys the following Thursday, the Rams on the road and the Steelers at home -- Goff threw nine touchdowns, zero picks and had a passer rating of 111.4. The Lions went 1-3 and crashed out of the playoff race.

"We do carry a little bit of a chip on our shoulder now, maybe bigger than the year prior," said Goff. "We missed the playoffs, we came in last place in the division, and we got some work to do."

That's his sole focus. He'll leave the judgements to everyone else. If the Lions are being slept on this season, "great," said Goff, "we’ll see how it all shakes out." And if Goff remains overlooked, well, there's only one way to wake everyone up.

"We want to win a championship and be the last team standing," he said.