Motown Bombers

How lucky is Goff to end up with the only two people in the NFL that can make him a successful QB?

Jared Goff is only successful because of McVay, wait no, Jared Goff is only successful because of Ben Johnson.

Those are the 2021 15+ air yard stats. Not at all what he asked for.

Matt Ryan attempted fewer deep passes than anyone on that chart but in his prime he was a good deep passer. Sam Darnold has a good arm. There's a reason he was a top draft pick but yeah they were one of the best deep passer in the league last year. Are you saying the numbers are wrong?

Yeah Tua was one of the best deep throwers in the league. It's weird how when you give a QB a deep threat like Tyreek Hill he can suddenly become a good deep passer. Not sure how Goff struggled deep when his deep threats were Khaderel Hodge or Tom Kennedy or Kalif Raymond.

This brings up another of my favorite narratives. Goff is only successful when he has a good supporting cast so the Lions should look to draft Anthony Richardson. Well, Richardson has an abysmal completion percentage. Well that's because he doesn't have a good supporting cast.

The Lions desperately need a backup QB. Someone has to replace the 5 snaps and 0 pass attempts that Sudfeld had. I'm also going to kill all the Goff narratives that are sure to come. Goff is really good against the blitz. In 2021 his completion % was 4th best in the league against the blitz and his passer rating was 10th best against the blitz. In 2022 he was even better: "In 2022, Goff was blitzed at the fifth-highest rate in the NFL, 33.5 percent. That’s way up from last year’s 22.4 percent. How did he fare? Turns out, pretty well. Only three quarterbacks — Mahomes, Tua Tagovailoa and Jimmy Garoppolo — were more efficient than Goff against the blitz in 2022. He ranked fourth in EPA per dropback when facing five or more rushers." https://theathletic.com/4173548/2023/02/13/detroit-lions-jared-goff-improvement/?access_token=11710428&redirected=1 Goff can't throw it deep but he was one of the better QBs in completion percentage on passes of 15 air yards or more, even better than Mahomes and he only attempted 3 fewer than Mahomes. Goff can't be successful without an elite running game. The Lions running game was good, but when Swift was injured and they relied more on the passing game he got better. The Lions ranked 11th in rushing yards and 8th in passing yards. They ranked 8th in passing TDs but 3rd in rushing TDs. Goff could easily have had more TDs if they didn't hand it off to Williams at the goal line as much as they did. Goff can't be successful without McVay. Goff was a deserving Pro Bowler without McVay and had the 2nd highest QBR of his career, 2nd most TD passes, and 3rd highest passer rating of his career. Goff can't play well in the cold. The Lions went into Green Bay in January in a playoff game and won. A place they were 3-27 at the past 30 years. Goff out played Aaron Rodgers in the 4th quarter and made the throws he needed to win. He even one of the best deep passes of any Lions QB I have seen. Bottom line, it's OK to admit Goff is a good QB. The Lions don't need a QB. I'll also add a bonus take. One of the other narratives on Goff in LA was that he turned the ball over too much. Since coming to Detroit, his INT rate dropped from 2.3% to 1.4%. It wasn't just 2022 where he was good at protecting the ball. His INT rate was 1.6% in 2021. Along with his 1.2% INT rate in 2022, those were the two lowest of his career. Stafford, meanwhile, has a 2.8% INT rate with the Rams vs his 2.3% INT rate with the Lions. His 2.8% INT rate with the Rams in 2021 was the 3rd worst in his career only being best by his rookie season and his 2013 season. His INT rate in 2020 in Detroit was 1.9% and jumped to 2.8% his first year in Los Angeles. Considering Goff's INT rate declined significantly upon leaving the Rams and Stafford's increased significantly upon joining the Rams, maybe it's McVay's offense that leads to turnovers.

If they draft him to replace Jamaal Williams I could see the reasoning.

So I was kind of interested in he backstory on that one. Turns out the shooter is a retired Navy vet. I've read some say he was gay and it sounded like they called him queer in the video. They say these people constantly harassed him for being gay.

I think it's obvious there was a history. I wonder if he waved a gun around before? They really egged him on.

I trust Holmes to not do something ridiculous like draft Richardson.

I'm confused how Zach Wilson made it at BYU since he has a thing for the cougars and I don't mean the BYU mascot.

Richardson has a higher ceiling than Goff but Goff has a higher floor. The floor for Richardson is the cliff that Thelma and Louise drove off of but instead it will be Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell in the car.

In 2018, the Rams ran 11 personnel 80% of the time. Cooks and Woods had over 1,200 yards a piece. Kupp had 5060 yards in 8 games. They had three receivers on 1,000 yard paces. There was enough ball to go around and Goff exceled.

When Goff had a similar compliment of receivers he went to the Super Bowl. The Rams added Cooks to an already good receiving core and they went to the Super Bowl. They signed him to a big extension and then traded him after two seasons. If the Lions don't go crazy on a Higgins extension, they could still trade him if they are worried they couldn't sign St Brown or Williams or Sewell or whoever. As you mentioned before, he's an asset in the red zone. As the field constricts when you get into the red zone, Williams speed isn't as big of a weapon. That's where you need a big receiver who can go up and get it.

His skillset fits so perfect with the way this Lions roster is constructed. I'm not advocating the Lions need to spend a high draft pick or spend money on a receiver but I'm saying they should do it for this receiver. The fit is perfect and makes the Lions a matchup nightmare and they still have a lot of resources left to address defense.

Chark will cost more next year than Higgins. I don't see Williams as a high volume receiver. I think he tops out at 60-65 catches. He's a field stretcher and can make plays but they lack the physical receiver who can make contested catches. In today's NFL, I don't think it's a bad thing to have 3 good receivers. The Lions will have an elite unit and be a nightmare matchup. Their defense would just need to be good enough. When Goff went to the Super Bowl with the Rams, they had Cooks, Woods, and Kupp. They even traded a 1st round pick for Cooks. Give Goff those same weapons again.

To be fair, you would also have to subtract Chark's 3 TDs from the Lions point total since you are replacing Chark with Higgins. The Lions would be a matchup nightmare. I would say guys like Reynolds and Raymond would get their receptions cut but I don't see a team that could stop all three. They want to play deep to take away Williams than go underneath to St Brown. They want to stop the underneath just go over the top to Williams. Where I like Higgins is on say a 4th and 10 and you need a 1st down to stay alive you can throw it up for grabs to Higgins and he has a good chance of making that play. I don't think the Lions other receivers can do that. St Brown is very good at getting separation, but on a do or die play if he doesn't get separation he probably isn't making the catch.

Funny you mention that because I was thinking how Hutchinson reminds me of Verlander. The talent that should have been the #1 pick comes to Detroit and just has that look and feel of the leader of the team for the next decade.

To be honest I would rather sign Edmunds than Wagner but would not be disappointed with Wagner. Then again, Edmunds has only had one good year so I'm not sure I break the bank either.

A lot but I would still do it. Lets not forget Tremaine Edmunds is a free agent unless Buffalo re-signs him or franchises him. As good as Wagner is, I think I may spend the cash on Edmunds who is quite a bit younger.

I think as Holmes gets more drafts under his belt, those late rounders he drafts will be good depth players and they will have to use less cap on roster filler. No more signing players like Nick Williams to a 2 year $10 million deal or Christian Jones to 2 years $6 million. Holmes can draft better players than that in the 5-7 rounds and just keep churning them over. Malcolm Rodriguez is better than those two already.