Getty Jared Goff fires a pass for the Lions against the Bengals.
Jared Goff has yet to win a game without Sean McVay as his head coach. That stat has become somewhat of a major focus for the media, but the Detroit Lions’ quarterback himself doesn’t seem to care about it whatsoever.
Ahead of this weekend’s matchup against the Los Angeles Rams, naturally, the stat has become a major focus. The media brought it to Goff’s attention and asked him for a take about it, and the quarterback seemed downright perplexed about the implications.
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Speaking with the media on Wednesday, October 20, Goff was asked about the stat and provided a quick answer. It might be a stat, but he doesn’t put any stock in it, even though he respects what McVay and the Rams have done on the field.
“Lost seven my rookie year and we haven’t won one here. Yeah, that’s a stat I guess, sure. No, I don’t put any stock in it,” Goff said bluntly. “I think Sean is a tremendous coach. Like I said, I got all the respect for him, what he does on the field and the way he has coached since I was there and think what they do is tremendous.”
Folks have tried to use the stat as a way of showing that Goff doesn’t belong in the league without McVay, or cannot be successful away from the Rams. Reality is, this season, he is struggling mostly thanks to the roster around him in Detroit. The team has been injured from the start of the season until now, and 2021 was always looked at as a rebuilding year for the Lions.
Clearly, Goff isn’t putting a lot of stock in a statistic that he doesn’t believe in, even if the rest of the NFL world is trying desperately to make it mean something.
Goff Motivated for Game, Yet Not Obsessed With Revenge
With all of this in mind, it would be easy to see how badly Goff would want to win this game. As he said, he is certainly excited to get going and get back to a place he used to call home. Even such, he won’t burn with desire for revenge once the game kicks off nor will he let that impact how he is playing on the field.
“To sum it up, it will be fun to see all those people, it will be fun to be there and of course you’re motivated, of course you have the chip on your shoulder,” Goff said. “There was some disrespect felt toward the end, there was some sourness there toward the end. You still feel that. You still have that chip on your shoulder. But at the same time, when the game starts, if I let any of that come into how I’m going to play the game, it would be selfish and I am gong to play the game like I would any other game. To be honest, I am not worried about feeling some type of way once the game starts, I really don’t.”
Goff admitted he does respect McVay and the Rams and appreciated his admission about how things ended, it’s clear he will draw his own motivation for the game.
Goff Has Major Chance to Silence Critics Sunday
The Lions have a chance to score their first win, but more than that, Goff has a chance to silence all of his critics with a big performance. When he left Los Angeles, folks cast Goff aside despite the fact that he helped the team crack the Super Bowl in 2019. No matter how much Goff tries to downplay the matchup, it is clear he would like to find a way to lead his team to a win on the road no matter how difficult it might prove to be all things considered.
Thus far this season, Goff has thrown for 1,505 yards, 7 touchdowns and 4 interceptions. While those numbers aren’t eye-popping for some, they still are decent early on. Goff is getting a lot of flack for what’s happening to his team, but there are severe limitations of the roster in 2021.
Should Goff win, it will likely be a major moment for the Lions and for the quarterback, even if he is downplaying it prior to kickoff.
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Jared Goff ‘Puts No Stock’ in ‘Winless Without Sean McVay’ Stat