Dan Campbell Explains Why Jared Goff Gives Lions ‘Best Chance’ to Win

Jared Goff

Getty Jared Goff fires a pass for the Lions in 2021 against the Eagles.

Jared Goff struggled through another rocky performance on the field in Week 10, and that has led many folks to wonder whether or not the team should look in a different direction at quarterback in the weeks ahead.

In spite of that, however, there doesn’t figure to be a change on the horizon. Detroit Lions’ coach Dan Campbell spoke on Monday, November 15, and was asked about Goff’s status moving forward. As he admitted, there isn’t a change coming in sight.

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Speaking to the media on Monday, November 15, Campbell was asked about the plan moving forward and admitted he didn’t think that Goff wasn’t the right guy to take the team forward. Brad Galli of WXYZ had the clip:

“It’s hard to say that he shouldn’t be the guy right now. It’s hard to say that, man. Because there again, every time we tried to throw it and drop back, our protection breaks down. So, until we can do things right around him, now, yeah, there’s throws we want to see that he needs to make. There was a dart we threw to Kalif (Raymond) that he should make and he’s p***** off about it, too. But ultimately, right now, I still think he’s the guy that gives us the best chance.”

Fans might not like to hear it, but Goff is likely to stay as the quarterback according to the coach.


Campbell Dishes About Goff’s Injury Status

A big reason for a lot of the struggles of Goff this past weekend had to do with not only the sloppy conditions, but an injury he sustained during the game. As the coach said, Goff still gave Detroit the best chance to win during the time and did not want to come out, thus he continued to play. Even though that might have seemed like a mistake, it was what played out in the end.

Speaking on Monday, Campbell said that Goff was getting checked out, but he did not believe any of Detroit’s ailments were long-term in nature, including Goff.

“You know, I would say most of these guys really, we won’t know a lot but I can’t say anything looks long-term. I would say some of these aren’t as bad as they appeared. We’ll know more in a coupe of days but I feel like we may get out OK here.”

If Goff is healthy, fans can expect to see him on the field for the Lions again. It seems at this point that’s a good bet.


Why Lions Should Keep Goff as Quarterback

While many might want to see the Lions move in a different direction, keeping Goff as quarterback barring any sort of injury is the right move for Campbell and the staff to be making.

This might be a controversial statement to several portions of the Lions fanbase, but benching Goff is actually counter-productive to the team finding the juice to get a win. As much as David Blough has experience on his side, he doesn’t have great statistics, with 1,033 passing yards, 4 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. Tim Boyle is still injured, and if he comes back, he has yet to play in a meaningful regular season game in his career. Dan Campbell would be smart to avoid the outside noise and keep his quarterback entrenched. Sitting Goff would simply send the message that the team is quitting, and thus would allow players to quit and check out as well. Even the most ardent pessimist would have to admit that Goff is not the biggest problem for the 2021 Lions at this point.

Removing him would do nothing to help spark the team, and might only have a negative effect when all is said and done. The Lions have to do more things to help Goff rather than make a panic move to sit a player where there is obviously nobody better behind him at this point in time.

Credit to Campbell for realizing this and sticking with his player.

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