Jared Goff
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Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff addressed one big problem his offense had against the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Detroit Lions had a significant problem trying to complete passes against the Philadelphia Eagles during Week 11. Quarterback Jared Goff posted a season-low 37.8% completion percentage in large part because of 10 pass deflections from the Eagles.
Philadelphia deflected a lot of those passes at the line of scrimmage.
Goff, though, made clear to reporters this week that he isn’t going to change his approach because of one bad game.
“No, not at all,” Goff said, via PFT’s Michael David Smith, when asked if he needed to change something because of Philadelphia’s knockdowns. “If it continues to happen, sure, yeah, you would look at something, but right now I would consider that an outlier.
“They did a good job. Whatever it was, they did a good job. Tip your cap.”
Eagles defensive lineman Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis combined for five of the team’s 10 pass defenses in Week 11.
Lions’ Jared Goff Addresses Opponent Pass Deflections
It’s understandable to take Goff at his word with his answer on the pass deflections at the line of scrimmage. Besides against the Eagles, he Lions really haven’t experienced that issue this year. So right now, Week 11 is an outlier.
But it’s also likely that if Goff was going to change something with his approach, he wouldn’t share it with the media.
The Lions quarterback did his best to downplay his pass protection versus the Eagles. Clearly, he’s going to cover for his teammates.
But last Sunday, Goff received pressure on a lot of throws, which resulted in the deflections at the line of scrimmage and two sacks.
“I don’t know, I don’t know,” Goff said told the media after the game when asked if the Eagles pressure was the worst he had seen in awhile. “I think [the Eagles] did a good job; I do — I think they did a really good job.”
Goff has given Philadelphia a lot of credit this week rather than assigning blame on his own unit.
“They’re aware of how teams want to attack them, and they know if you are going to throw the ball quick, they can stop and put their hands up. They understand that.
“[The Eagles] also know that if it’s a longer drop back, to get their pass rush going. They did that to some extent. I don’t want to take any credit away from them. But we shot ourselves in the foot a whole lot, and it hurt us.”
Lions Searching for Consistency
Detroit has shown flashes of being the dominant team it was a year ago.
In Week 7, the defense shut down Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, holding them to only nine points. During Week 10, they dropped 44 points on the Washington Commanders on the road.
The Lions racked up 320 passing yards and 226 rushing yards in that contest.
But they lost to the Minnesota Vikings in between those two games. The Lions haven’t won consecutive weeks since late September-early October.
Dan Campbell’s team will have the opportunity to get back on track against the New York Giants this weekend. To do so, they will have to prevent more Goff passes getting knocked down at the line of scrimmage.
But then the Lions will welcome the Green Bay Packers to Detroit on Thanksgiving. Green Bay defeated Detroit in Week 1 27-13.
The good news for the Lions, though, is in that contest the Packers had just two pass defenses — none by defensive linemen.