How good has Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff been to start his 11th NFL season?
He is the first quarterback in NFL history with at least 14 touchdown passes and no turnovers through the first six games of a season.
"Goff one more time putting it in his hands. He's playing at such a high level," Lions head coach Dan Campbell said after Detroit's 20-17 win over Green Bay Sunday. "We have a tremendous amount of trust (in him)."
Goff led a 10-play, 77-yard drive taking the last three minutes and 21 seconds off the clock after DJ Wonnum got his hand on a Packers' late field goal attempt that kept the game tied at 17-17.
Goff's biggest throw of the game was an 18-yarder to tight end Sam LaPorta over the middle out to the Lions' 45-yard line while standing in the pocket and taking a high hit that resulted in another 15 yards being tacked on.
Goff finished 22-of-32 passing for 303 yards with two touchdown passes to wide receiver Jameson Williams, finishing with a 119.7 passer rating.
"He's just going to take care of the football and do the right thing make explosive passes when they're there and get it to the right person," Campbell said of Goff. "Manage the game when we need him to manage it. Push the ball when we need him to push it. Man, he's playing at such a high level."
Goff has now led 18 game-winning drives as a Lion and 26 game-winning drives in his career.
"I thought we did a good job of trying to, even with the bye week, pull back some of that momentum in practice this week that we had in Arizona and build that into the game," Goff said of the offense.
"And I think it starts up front with the O-line. Thought they had a great game, they really did. And moving the line of scrimmage and giving me a nice pocket when those guys do that, man … we can do anything."
WONNUM BLOCK
Wonnum has proven to be a nice signing for the Lions this offseason. He's tied for the team lead with Aidan Hutchinson at 5.0 sacks on the year and arguably had one of the biggest plays in the game Sunday, getting his hand on kicker Trey Smack's 35-yard field goal attempt in the final minutes that could have given the Packers a late lead.
"That's a huge individual effort," Goff said of Wonnum. "The field goals from there typically are pretty high percentage, and to be able to get the ball back, to miss that fourth down conversion and get the ball back with no harm, no foul. Again, hats off to our defense and (Wonnum) there with the block."
FOURTH-DOWN CALLS
Campbell is an aggressive coach and will never apologize for the faith he has in his offense to convert on fourth down to score or keep drives alive.
The Lions couldn't convert a 4th & 5 at the Packers' six-yard line in the final minutes of the third quarter Sunday. They passed up a potential 20-14 lead going for the two-score advantage, but Goff's pass to Williams in the back of the end zone was incomplete.
Detroit also went for it on 4th & 1 at their own 24-yard line with less than five minutes remaining in a tie game and running back Jahmyr Gibbs was tackled for a two-yard loss.
"Well, I thought we would get it, number one," Campbell said of the second attempt. "I really believed we would get that. Number two, I knew we would get the ball back if it didn't work out. And those were the key thoughts."
The Lions got the ball back after Wonnum blocked the field goal on Green Bay's possession following the Gibbs tackle for loss on fourth down. Those are calls Campbell will make more often than not. They didn't go Detroit's way Sunday, but the Lions still found a way to win thanks to the defense and special teams stepping up after both failed attempts. That's what good teams do.
EXTRA POINT
Gibbs had 116 rushing yards and 27 receiving yards Sunday. He now has 890 scrimmage yards through the first six games of the season, the second-most any Lions player has tallied through the first six games of a season. The record is 914 scrimmage yards by running back Billy Sims in 1980.
