QBs stand tall in clutch, deliver With Lions season on the line, Campbell put his trust in Goff
DETROIT – It didn’t click what he’d just done, not right away at least.
Jared Goff completed an 11-yard pass to Amon-Ra St. Brown to give the Detroit Lions a first down with 1:54 to play in Sunday’s wild-card game against the Los Angeles Rams.
The Rams used their final timeout to stop the clock, and as Goff was gearing up for the next play he noticed the personnel package the Lions sent on the field.
Craig Reynolds, Jason Cabinda, Jahmyr Gibbs, Sam LaPorta and Brock Wright.
Victory formation.
Goff broke the huddle and lined up under center Frank Ragnow. He took a snap, dropped to his right knee, then sprung to his feet, turned around and threw both arms in the air.
The man cast aside by the Rams after a playoff loss to the Green Bay Packers nearly three years ago Sunday had just led the Lions to their first postseason victory in 32 years, 24-23, against his old team at Ford Field.
“It was surreal,” Goff said. “It was something that you kind of imagine for so long. From the moment I got here, you imagine getting that playoff win and having this type of atmosphere in front of our home crowd and being able to sit on the ball like that and finish it out. And yeah, it kind of all hit me there, and to be honest with you, I didn’t know it was over once we got the first down until they sent in the personnel and then it kind of all hit me at once. But yeah, kind of had to subdue a lot of emotions this week and was able to kind of enjoy that moment.”
Goff suppressed his emotions about facing his old team, insisting Sunday was just like any other game even though it was anything but.
The No. 1 pick of the 2016 draft, Goff led the Rams to the Super Bowl in his third season but couldn’t engineer a touchdown drive in that game and soon after fell out of favor with Rams coach Sean McVay.
The Rams traded Goff to the Lions as part of a package for Matthew Stafford in January of 2021, and Goff watched from afar as Stafford led his old team to a Super Bowl win.
On Sunday, the two quarterbacks squared off in the stadium Stafford called home for 12 years with a spot in the second round of the NFC playoffs
on the line.
Stafford was brilliant, completing 25 of 36 passes for 367 yards with two touchdowns. He side-armed throws around incoming rushers, lasered balls into tight windows downfield and seemed unaffected by the boos that rained down from the sell-out crowd of 66,367 when he first took the field.
Goff was every bit as dazzling, and even more clutch.
He completed 10 straight passes to open the game. He led the Lions to touchdowns on their first three possessions. He finished 22 of 27 passing for 277 yards. And, after being serenaded with chants of “Jared Goff ” from an adoring home crowd throughout the game, he hummed one final throw into St. Brown’s hands to clinch the win.
“It was like every other rep we’ve had of that play 100 million times,” Goff said. “It was him one-on-one with the nickel and go win. And it was pitch and catch and that dude’s as good as it gets and I was able to put it on him. And again, I wish I kind of knew that that would’ve sealed the game and then I would’ve been able to really enjoy that moment, but was excited we got the first down, then I realized the game was over.”
The Lions went 75 yards in 10 plays for a touchdown on the game’s opening drive Sunday and never trailed.
They led 14-3 late in the first quarter after touchdown runs by David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs and could have put the ball in their running backs’ hands to ice the game.
Stafford, who led 38 game-winning drives and had 31 fourth-quarter comebacks during his time in Detroit, had a chance to add to that ledger Sunday when the Rams started their final possession at their own 8-yard line with 7:18 to play.
He drove the Rams across midfield to the Lions’ 34-yard line, but right tackle Rob Havenstein was called for a holding penalty on Aidan Hutchinson on thirdand-4. The Lions accepted the penalty and pushed the Rams back 10 yards, and after Stafford threw incomplete to Puka Nacua defended by Cam Sutton on third-and-14, Rams coach Sean McVay decided to punt and put the game in the hands of his defense.
The Lions started their final possession at the 17-yard line with 4:07 on the clock. Montgomery ran for 3 yards on first down, then always aggressive Lions coach Dan Campbell turned things over to Goff.
Goff threw a short pass that Montgomery turned into an 11-yard gain and a first down.
Montgomery carried again for 1 yard, and after time ticked down to the twominute warning, Campbell asked Goff to throw once more.
“I didn’t go in saying, ‘All right, at the very end of this game, even if we should run it we’re going to just put it in his hands,’ ” Campbell said. “But that was the moment where we need to seal this game and we felt like the right thing to do was put it in his hands and get it to our best player. And we did that, man. Those guys executed and he just ran him off and, man, we were hugging, laughing, enjoying it and we talked about that last play and I said, ‘How many times have we done that over a two-year period?’ And, a ton. And he’s made the same play, and he did it again. So, a lot of trust in him.”
The Lions will host the winner of Monday’s Philadelphia Eagles-Tampa Bay Buccaneers game in the divisional round of the playoffs next Sunday afternoon at Ford Field. If they win, they’ll play the following week in the NFC championship game for the second time in modern NFL history.
The team has never felt closer to reaching a Super Bowl, and Goff ’s steady demeanor and steely play are as big a reason as any why.
Campbell called Goff “reliable” and said “the guys love him.” Goff said he’s “very fortunate to be playing for these people here and to be playing for this city and this organization, and to be able to enjoy special moments like” the one he experienced Sunday and won’t soon forget.
“I don’t take it for granted,” he said. “And things happen in weird ways and it’s been a three-year road to get to this point to enjoy that moment, and it was a sweet one. But with that being said, we’ve got some more games that we want to win now.”