It’s been three years since the Los Angeles Rams traded Jared Goff to the Detroit Lions for Matthew Stafford in one of the biggest trades of the last decade. The Rams won a Super Bowl in Stafford’s first year, while the Lions are trying to accomplish the same thing in Year 3 with Goff.
They’ll have to get through the Rams first, though, with these two teams squaring off in the wild-card round on Sunday night. Not only is it Stafford’s return to Detroit, but it’s Goff’s second game against Sean McVay and the Rams since he was traded away.
McVay watches every team around the NFL as a fan of football, so he’s seen the job Goff has done in Detroit and he’s been impressed by the way he’s played. McVay shared his thoughts on Goff’s play the last three years ahead of Sunday’s game, complimenting his continued development as a quarterback.
“Yeah, I think he played a really high level in the four years here with us but I think he, just like anybody, has just continued to mature,” McVay said Monday. “You can see he’s got great ownership of what they’re doing. He’s got a lot of responsibility at the line of scrimmage, getting in and out of the different packages. You can see that (Lions OC) Ben (Johnson) and Dan (Campbell) give him a lot of leeway in terms of some of the audibles, but just a quarterback playing with a lot of confidence, has a great rapport with his skilled players. Even when you’re watching that Chargers game and you could see his ownership to be able to check into a run when they had a personnel grouping that they didn’t have and then it goes for a 75-yard touchdown. So just good ownership. All the things that you want to see from your quarterback and been really impressed. I’ve been watching just because I’m a fan of this game and then obviously you’re studying it through a different lens and it seems like we’ve crossed over with them a lot seeing their offense and it’s been one of the best and he’s leading the way.”
Goff played well for the Rams in 2017 and 2018, leading them to a Super Bowl once and three playoff appearances in his five years in Los Angeles. He did struggle in 2019 and 2020, however, which is what led to the Rams’ decision to swap him for Stafford.
Since then, Goff has thrown 78 touchdown passes and 27 interceptions, going 24-23-1 as a starter. That includes a rough first season in Detroit, however, when the Lions went 3-10-1 with Goff under center with an unimpressive roster that lacked talent around the quarterback.
In the last two years, Goff has gone 21-13 with 59 touchdown passes and 19 interceptions.
McVay and the Rams want nothing more than to beat their former quarterback on Sunday, but it won’t be easy against an impressive Lions team that went 12-5.
