Jared Goff looking to win NFC North
In March, the Detroit Lions sent quarterback Matthew Stafford to the Los Angeles Rams in exchange for two first-round draft picks, a third-round pick and quarterback Jared Goff. Many viewed the trade as Detroit building for the future after an abysmal 5-11 campaign. While others may be thinking about the future though, Goff is focused squarely on the present.
Talking to reporters on Monday, Goff sounded optimistic and excited about the upcoming season.
“We feel really good,” Goff said, via the Detroit Free Press. “I’ve talked about this at length. Internally, our expectations are win games and first of all win the division. That’s always the expectations, win the division and then go from there. Externally, couldn’t care less and honestly don’t really know what it would be.”
The Lions haven’t won the division since 1993, when they were still playing in the Central Division. Since their move to the NFC North in 2002, they’ve only managed three playoff appearances, with their last coming in 2016. Detroit have just eight wins in their last two seasons combined and fans are hoping Goff can help change the culture.
“Of course, it’s a new regime, new staff, they weren’t very good last year. It’s a whole new thing and I understand it,” Goff said. “But just like every other team in this league, there’s expectations, and I don’t know what the stat is, but every year there’s new teams in the playoff. Every year there’s teams that were in the playoffs last year that aren’t and why not us? Why can’t we be that one that wasn’t in last year that is this year?”
Goff was drafted by the Rams in 2016 with the first overall pick in the NFL Draft and was named to the Pro Bowl in both 2017 and 2018. He led Los Angeles to the Super Bowl in 2018, but they ultimately lost 13-3 to the New England Patriots. Since 2017, he is the second-winningest quarterback in the league behind only Tom Brady.
The 26-year-old had also not played a single preseason game since 2017, something that Goff believes worked out well in Los Angeles. He did feature in the Lions’ first preseason game this year against the Buffalo Bills, but did not play in their games against the Pittsburgh Steelers or Indianapolis Colts.
“That was the approach taken in L.A. and it worked for us, and then here we played in the first game and I feel like it’s worked,” he said. “We’ve supplemented it well in practice and gotten the work we need in, and we all trust Dan and think the plan is great and we’re ready to go.”
The Lions kick off their season at 1 p.m. ET on September 12th on the road against the San Francisco 49ers. They will take on Goff’s former team the Rams in Los Angeles in week seven on October 24th.
“It starts one week at a time,” Goff said. “But internally our expectations are as high as anyone else.”
