In 2020, Jared Goff regressed exponentially in just about every concept that made Sean McVay’s offense great… once upon a time. In 2018, the season in which the Rams went to Super Bowl LIII, Goff threw a league-high 16 touchdowns and just two interceptions with play-action. In 2020? Eight touchdowns and five interceptions. With pre-snap motion in 2018, Goff threw eight touchdowns to just one interception. In 2020? Eight touchdowns and eight interceptions. Word was, McVay was tired of having his advanced passing concepts run by a quarterback who kept hitting his head on his own ceiling, which precipitated the trade for Matthew Stafford, which cost McVay’s team two first-round picks, and landed Goff in Detroit.
Against the Bills on Friday night, Goff gave Lions fans their first taste of what they were going to get. At first, it looked a lot like the Goff we saw in 2020 — hesitant and error-prone. In Detroit’s first play of the preseason, Goff nearly threw an interception to Buffalo linebacker Tyler Matakevich…
…and on his next dropback, two plays later, he took a sack from rookie pass-rusher Gregory Rousseau, who beat converted left-to-right tackle Penei Sewell in a battle of first-round rookies.
Not a great beginning. On the Lions’ second drive, Goff looked a lot better, completing seven of nine passes for 18-play, 70-yard drive that took nearly 10 minutes and ended with a 28-yard field goal from Randy Bullock. On this drive, Goff took advantage of schemed-up comeback routes that gave him easy openings, and he did make a couple of nice, accurate sideline passes. This 20-yard pass to Tyrell Williams was the biggest play, as Williams sunk into Buffalo’s coverage, giving Goff an easy play. The Lions had second-and-15, so the Bills were going to drop.
Fourth-round rookie receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown did establish a nice connection with his new quarterback, which was encouraging.
Amon-Ra St. Brown running CRISP routesđź’¨
— PFF College (@PFF_College) August 13, 2021
“The preseason is totally different than regular season,” Goff said after the game. “I think in the preseason, we’re running our plays. No matter what they’re putting out there on defense, we’re running our plays, just trying throw completions, move the ball down the field and I thought we did a pretty good job of that on the second drive. I thought A-Lynn [offensive coordinator Anthony] Lynn was calling it pretty well there and we were able to move the ball down the field. But in games—in regular season games—there’s different plays and different calls, different looks you’re looking for to take those shots.”
It was about what you’d expect from Goff, really. Every quarterback is a system quarterback, but some need to be propped up by systems more than others, and we all know on which side of the equation Goff lives. And you will always see a combination of the mundane and the head-scratchingly bad, with the occasional impressive shot play thrown in just to keep things interesting.
“The outside expectation is low,” Goff recently told Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times. “That’s fine. We don’t pay attention to it. But the challenge that I have and we all have is to build this thing from the ground up.”
The outside expectation is low because Goff is a middle-tier quarterback in what looks to be a run-heavy offense, and in such offenses, all he really needs to do is to avoid mistakes. Given his near-pick and sack on two preseason drives, his ability to do that with his new team is inconclusive at best.
Or… maybe it’s all too conclusive, and the Lions are just waiting for the reality to sink in.