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NOTEBOOK: Goff continues his strong play to start the season

Glendale, ARIZ. – There were several stars for the Detroit Lions Sunday in a 45-21 win over the Arizona Cardinals that improved their record to 3-2 on the season as they head into their Week 6 bye with a chance to get some rest and take a breath.

The play of quarterback Jared Goff was right at the top of the list.

Goff completed 19-of-30 passes for 271 yards, three touchdowns and zero interceptions for a 125.8 passer. He's shown complete command of Drew Petzing's offense to start the season. He converted four critical fourth downs, three via pass and one on his one-yard touchdown run.

Sunday was the 28th-straight game he's thrown at least one touchdown pass, which is the longest active streak in the NFL and the longest streak in franchise history.

"Goff just is Goff. He's as good as they come," Lions head coach Dan Campbell said of his veteran quarterback after the game. "That's the way he's played these five games here. I just think he's gotten better every year. He's even better than last year. He's the real deal."

Goff has now gone five-straight games to begin the year without throwing an interception. He joins Russell Wilson (2019) as the only players in NFL history to throw at least 12 touchdown passes and zero interceptions through the first five games of any season.

He's playing at an MVP level to begin this season. No question about it.

"I mean, some of them bounced our way," Goff said. "I think I had a sack-fumble today that we landed on, but I've been very conscious of that and through the last handful of years of my career tried to really focus on that.

"I have been doing a good job of that up to this point. Again, a lot of this stuff is the way the ball bounces, but I'm proud of that right now and want to keep that going."

GAME BALL FOR DAN MILLER

Campbell started his postgame press conference Sunday with a game ball for play-by-play announcer and voice of the Lions Dan Miller, who lost his wife Cindy to cancer this week.

"I want to start with this. This ball goes to Dan Miller and his family," an emotional Campbell said. "That was hard to hear what they went through. It's been a tough road for Dan. Salt of the earth, man. He's salt of the earth. I know this has been hard, but now I know Cindy is in peace and we love you, Dan. Appreciate you."

FIRST INTERCEPTION

In his first career start, rookie fifth-round pick Keith Abney II made his first career interception to end a dominant first-half performance for Detroit's defense. Abney held the interception ball and a game ball awarded by Campbell and joked he planned to sleep with both tucked under each arm Sunday night.

The Lions view Abney as a young player with three position flexibility – outside cornerback, slot cornerback and safety. He started at safety and recorded six tackles (five solo), one interception and one pass defended.

At 21 years and 273 days old, he is the second-youngest Lions player since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger to record an interception.

View photos from the Detroit Lions at Arizona Cardinals game at State Farm Stadium on Sunday, Oct. 11 in Glendale.

EXTRA POINTS

  • Linebacker Devin White left the game in the first quarter with a broken forearm that Campbell said after the game will require surgery and keep him out long-term.
  • Wide receiver and returner Tom Kennedy also left the game and will miss some time with what Campbell described as a sprained knee.
  • Wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown notched six receptions for 69 yards Sunday. In doing so, St. Brown passed Justin Jefferson for the most receptions through a player's first six seasons with 579.

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