Lions’ Goff heading home riding a high
Levi’s Stadium has been big part of NFL journey
It was supposed to be a glorious homecoming for Jared Goff.
In 2016, five months after the Rams made the Marin County native and former University of California star theNo. 1 pick in the NFL draft, Goff was on the field at Levi’s Stadiumfor the season opener against the San Francisco 49ers.
Goff did not play. He was noteven in uniform.
A player the Rams proclaimed as their franchise quarterback was inactive, coach Jeff Fisher saying the previous week that Goff was “notready.”
So with family, friends and a “Monday Night Football” audience looking on, Goff watched journeyman Case Keenum struggle in a 28-0 defeat. And those close to Goff observed how he navigated the beginning of his NFL career.
“It was a tough start there,” Mazi Moayed, Goff’s coach at MarinCatholic High, said this past week in a phone interview. “But he’s handled things gracefully, and I think he’sdone a great job of that his wholecareer.”
On Sunday, Goff returns to Levi’s Stadium riding a wave of momentum. A player who led the Rams to a Super Bowl and then was discarded two years later has been at the forefront of the Detroit Lions’ drive to the NFC championshipgame.
A victory against the topseeded 49ers would send the Lions to the Super Bowl for thefirst time.
Goff had a 3-6 record against the 49ers when he played for the Rams. He is 2-2 atLevi’s Stadium.
“Igrew up a Niner fan and I was able to get all those ‘playing in front of the Bay Area team’ done when I had my time with the Rams,” Goff told reportersin Detroit this week.
“So, yeah, it’ll be fun to be able to play a big game there, but I’ve played there quite a fewtimes.”
TheBay Area is where Goff firstdemonstrated a knack for helping revive moribund programs.
After losing only a few games in high school, Goff experienced a 1-11 season as a freshmanstarter at Cal. By his junior season, the Golden Bears qualified for a bowl game and he became the No. 1 pickin the draft.
As a Rams rookie, Goff was 0-7 as a starter for a team that finished 4-12. The Rams hired coachSean McVay in 2017 and Goff thrived for two seasons, earning Pro Bowl nods in 2017 and2018.
But in January 2021, shortly after a divisionalrounddefeat by the Green Bay Packers, the Rams jettisoned Goff to Detroit, sending the quarterback, two first-round draft picks and a thirdrounder Matthew Stafford.
Stafford promptly led the Rams to a Super Bowl title. The Lions, under first-year coach Dan Campbell, finished 3-13.
But Goff helped the Lions improve to 9-8 in 2022. This season Goff passed for 30 touchdowns with 12 interceptions as the Lions finished 12-5 andwon the NFC North.
Two weeks ago at frenzied Ford Field, fans booed Stafford and chanted “Jar-ed Goff” as the Lions beat the Rams, 24-23, for their first playoff win since 1991. Last week, Goff led the Lions to a 31-23 victory against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before another ecstatic Ford Fieldcrowd.
Campbell praised Goff for his ability to remain calm in pressure-packedmoments.
“It’s just the way he’s made,” Campbell says, adding, “He does do a great job with it, and he does stay calm, he does stay cool, and he knows even if it feels a little shaky, a little rocky, it’ll smoothout.”
Goff also has benefited from the creativity of offensive coordinator Ben Johnson,who Goff said has allowed himinput in the offense.
“Whether he takes it or he doesn’t, he allows me to say it and uses some of it,” Goff said. “It’s fun for me, it really is. It allows me to really be a part of theplan.”
Kyle Shanahan, in his seventh season as coach of the 49ers, told Bay Area reporters that Goff has “shown some of the stuff” he demonstrated when he played for the Rams, especially his first two seasonsunder McVay.
“When they give him a good scheme, when he’s got good people around him, Jared’s going to always find the spot,” Shanahan said. “He’s as accurate as any quarterback I’ve seen. ... If you sit and make things easy for him, hewill gash you.
In January 2019, Goff passed for 297 yards and a touchdown with an interception in a 26-23 overtime victory over the New Orleans Saints that sent the Rams to Super Bowl LIII, where they lost to the New England Patriots.
“It’s helpful playing in playoffs and winning playoff games and then being able to draw on those experiences,” Goff said. “Certainly, road playoff games I think are extremely hard to win and I’ve beenfortunate to have success inthem in the past.”
In the Lions’ two playoff victories, Goff outdueled Stafford and Buccaneers quarterbackBaker Mayfield. All were No.1 picks in the draft.
Brock Purdy, the 49ers’ second-year quarterback, was the last player chosen in the 2022draft.
This season Purdy passed for 31 touchdowns with 11 interceptions. He was voted to the Pro Bowl and is a finalist for the Most Valuable Player award.
Last weekend, he passed for252 yards and a touchdown and directed a game-winning drivein the fourth quarter of a 24-21 divisional-round victory overthe Packers.
Moayed is looking forward to this matchup. He is confident Goff will rise to the occasion, as he did two weeks ago againstthe Rams.
“That game against the Rams served him better than anything that could have possibly happened,” Moayed said. “I think it helped him with the Tampa Bay game, and I think that will help him thisgame.
“Because right now, you don’t have all that other emotional drama — you just have football.”