Lions film review: Breaking down Jared Goff performance that has national media swooning

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Allen Park — The city of Detroit has been chanting its quarterback’s name for months, but the national media was tripping over itself after Sunday to praise Jared Goff.

I mean, what’s not to love? Goff is on the heater of his career, extending back a little more than a month. During the four-game stretch, he’s completing 83.5% of his throws for 1,086 yards, nine touchdowns and a single interception. Tallied, it’s worth a 144.8 passer rating.

He’s the only quarterback in NFL history to complete better than 80% of his throws and hold a passer rating above 140.0 across a four-game span. He’s proving more than worthy of your chants at Ford Field (or at opposing stadiums) and the avalanche of outside praise.

The attention crescendoed after Goff picked apart the Vikings — a 22-for-25 outing that knocked the NFC rivals from their undefeated perch. And to do it against the vaunted Brian Flores defense, which blitzes and generates pressure at a higher rate than any team in the league, was the cherry on top.

And while there were other topics worthy of exploration with Detroit’s offense performance — namely Jahmyr Gibbs’ 160 yards from scrimmage — it was never a doubt Goff would ultimately get our spotlight treatment after breaking down the tape.

Interestingly enough, Round 1, really the entirety of the opening quarter, went to Flores’ unit.

Detroit’s first possession was marred by two holding penalties against backup guard Kayode Awosika. That put the offense behind the chains and allowed the defense to blitz on its first opportunity to rush, resulting in the first of four sacks.

Goff had next to no time to react when linebacker Ivan Pace Jr. came through the rightside A gap cleanly. And a desperate effort to sidestep the pressure and get the ball to Amon-Ra St. Brown running a shallow cross was taken away by a late-dropping linebacker from the line of scrimmage.

Facing third-and-a-mile, Goff settled for a check-down to running back David Montgomery — in open space in the middle of the field for 19 yards —putting the team in a down-and-distance where they felt comfortable faking a punt.

Of course, we know how that went.

After a short throw and handoff to Gibbs to open the second series, the Lions faced third-and-3, with the threat of again going three-and-out (technically speaking).

This time, Flores deployed another one of his popular defensive strategies, dropping eight into coverage with what appeared to be a Tampa-2 call that had the middle linebacker at a depth between the underneath zone layer and split safeties.

Goff progressed through three reads on the snap. One and two were blanketed, while the window was uncomfortably small and closing on No. 3, tight end Sam LaPorta's sit-down route across the middle. The QB decided to tuck the ball and scramble, only to be dropped for a no-gain sack.

Not that any of it mattered since Taylor Decker was flagged for holding, the first signs of a rough day to come for the typically reliable left tackle.

An inaugural first down remained elusive through Detroit’s third series. Goff dropped back to pass on first and second down, facing immediate pressure on both snaps.

To his credit, he was able to quickly work the ball to check-down reads each time, setting the Lions up with a third-and-1.

But Montgomery got stuffed — and injured — on the first try before Awosika jumped early ahead of fourth down, forcing the team into another punt.

The offense finally scored its first chain-mover on the final play of the opening quarter. It wasn’t fancy, a quick out to St. Brown that gained 8 behind a quality perimeter block from Jameson Williams.

Goff added another easy completion, an 8-yard swing to Gibbs for another first down, which led directly to the longest run of the back’s young career, a 45-yard romp going right that finished in the end zone.

Still, by the time the Lions’ offense took the field for its fifth possession, nearly 20 minutes into the contest, Goff had yet to attempt a pass that traveled more than 3 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. In fact, four-of-six were taken in by the intended target behind the line.

Outside of Gibbs’ scoring run, Flores’ defense was dictating things. But momentum started to shift with Goff opening this possession with a 17-yard completion to St. Brown.

Pressure continued to be an issue, but Goff stood tall in the pocket and absorbed a hit when Montgomery failed to pick up the blitzing Pace, who was flagged for going low on the play.

St. Brown’s feel for finding space against zone coverage showed up on his snap as he glided between the layers of Minnesota’s Cover-2 and slowed his route's tempo in between zones to give Goff a window.

St. Brown would add another 12-yard grab on a hot route to counter a safety blitz before scoring a 35-yard touchdown two snaps later.

The Vikings sent the house, seven total rushers, which the protection adequately picked up. But it was Goff who was central to the play’s success, looking off middle-field safety Camryn Bynum by staring down Jameson Williams immediately after the snap, which cleared the seam route for St. Brown out of the right slot.

Back to the protection for a moment, watch Penei Sewell. He leaves his man to shove down Pace (No. 0), coming unblocked. I wrote about Sewell’s instincts to adjust after talking to him for my “Locker Room Buzz” recap after the game. Feel free to go back and check that out.

Goff stayed “perfect” through the first half, taking a check-down to Gibbs across the middle and a 2-yard shoot route to St. Brown, designed to move the chains more than anything.

The QB added 25 more ahead of the 2-minute warning on an excellent call by coordinator Ben Johnson to beat the Vikings’ Cover-2 defense.

Running empty with three receivers to the QB’s left, Goff initially looks for a go route to Gibbs down the left sideline but doesn’t like the safety’s positioning to that side. Goff progresses to his second read, a LaPorta post pattern, which is free from safety obstruction because the deep defender to that side provided support on Williams’ corner route toward the sideline.

After the Vikings opened the third quarter with a touchdown drive, the Lions countered, leaning on an unlikely target: Kalif Raymond.

But, let me tell you, with routes like these, Raymond rewarded Johnson’s decision to feature him during the possession.

After a quick, pressure-beating swing pass to Montgomery for 14 yards to open the series, the Lions found themselves behind the chains after another holding infraction.

On second-and-14, Goff countered the Vikings’ double-linebacker blitz with an easy out route to Raymond for 5. And on the next play, Raymond ran a tight out from the opposite side as the middle option from trips to the QB’s left for 13 more, keeping the drive afloat.

Goff’s completion streak was halted when a quick pass to LaPorta was batted down by a lineman, but the quarterback responded with his best play of the afternoon.

Facing heavy edge pressure from Jonathan Greenard, who initially blew past Decker and took a swipe at the ball, Goff stayed remarkably poised, stepped up into his pocket and delivered a strike to Tim Patrick, running the in-breaking dagger that benefitted from St. Brown’s vertical route from the slot clearing a window.

Three plays later, the Lions were into the end zone for the fourth consecutive possession, thanks to a brilliant route release by Raymond. The speedy receiver snapped the ankles of five-time Pro Bowler and 2019 Defensive Player of the Year Stephon Gilmore at the start of a shallow crossing pattern.

Taking the quick throw in space, Gibbs provided the springing block for Raymond to turn the corner and waltz across the goal line.

The Lions looked poised to keep their scoring parade going after another zone-beating dig route to St. Brown for 16 yards carried the offense into Vikings territory. But on second-and-9 from the 44-yard line, Greenard got home for a huge sack, swiping away Decker’s punch to bend the edge before crushing an unsuspecting Goff, who was fortunate to fall on the ball after it was jarred loose.

After losing the lead on a fumble recovery returned for a touchdown, the Lions had a shot to counterpunch when Raymond ran a slick, slow-and-go vertical route out of motion that got the cornerback to bite.

Instead, Goff made one of his only mistakes in the contest, pushing the sideline shot too wide and carrying Raymond out of bounds by a foot or two.

Now facing third-and-6, Decker got beat by Greenard again, this time with an inside spin move. Goff was able to twist away from the initial pressure, but right into the arms of Andrew Van Ginkel, who forced another fumble, which the Lions were again fortunate to recover.

Getting the ball back after the defense forced a three-and-out, Goff married quality calls with good execution to get the offense in position for a game-winning field goal.

After two strong runs by Gibbs to open the series, the Lions ran play-action along with two clear-out, vertical routes to the right side, creating space for an effective swing pass to Gibbs that gained 14.

Johnson followed that up with a zone-beater to St. Brown that utilized a Patrick vertical route and underneath patterns by LaPorta and Gibbs, out of play-action, to stretch the space between the layers in Minnesota’s Cover-3 to give St. Brown room to operate on the in-breaking route for Detroit’s final 16 yards.