Goff: There Are 'No Moral Victories'
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Jared Goff certainly hasn't enjoyed the most productive start to his Detroit Lions tenure.
Through five games as Detroit's starter under center, the sixth-year pro has thrown just seven touchdown passes, and has recorded a 36.9 QBR -- the fourth-worst mark in the league among all passers.
He's also committed seven total turnovers (four fumbles and three interceptions) since the start of the season, including two (an interception and fumble each) in the Lions' 19-17 loss to the Minnesota Vikings this past Sunday.
Taking care of the football is a problem the former L.A. Rams signal-caller has had for a while now. In fact, since the beginning of the 2019 campaign, he's committed an NFL-high 45 turnovers.
Goff's aware that he has a ball-security issue that needs to be cleaned up, but he's not overly concerned about it, either. He expressed as much during a guest spot on 97.1 The Ticket's "Karsch & Anderson" show Tuesday.
"Looking specifically at myself, two of them (the fumbles) were snap exchanges, so that’s not necessarily in the pocket. And then last week, that’s (a) lack of ball security on my part," Goff told 97.1 The Ticket's Doug Karsch and Scott Anderson. "Of course, I know those guys up front want to be better, but it doesn’t matter if I take care of the ball. I should be able to take a snap and not just fumble the ball there.
"So, it's something that I’m absolutely conscious of and always working on, but not something that I’m going to overly pressure myself with. I think I’ve done a decent job with it."
The Lions have been competitive in each of their last three games, especially in their 19-17 loss to the Baltimore Ravens in Week 3 and in Week 5 against the Vikings. And, you can argue that Goff & Co. should've won each of the aforementioned contests.
Yet, the Lions are 0-5 for a reason -- they haven't played complete enough games to emerge victorious.
So, for Goff, he doesn't view any of the past five games -- despite the strong effort -- as a moral victory for Detroit.
"There's no moral victories or we did this well," Goff commented. "I know I just pointed out a couple things, but it doesn't make a difference in the wins and losses column. I think we're in a place where we want to start seeing the other side of that. We can't get down on ourselves, because we are doing the right things in practice. We are showing up daily and working hard. We just need to see it translate to the field a little bit better."
Through the first five games, Goff has had to get used to playing with a batch of inexperienced receivers -- from KhaDarel Hodge, who caught the 2-point conversion on Sunday in Minnesota, to the likes of fellow former undrafted free agents Trinity Benson and Kalif Raymond and rookie Amon-Ra St. Brown.
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While there have been some obvious growing pains, Goff had some positive remarks for the wideout group during his conversation with Karsch and Anderson.
"I played with KhaDarel in L.A. So, I have had some familiarity with him, and me and him have some decent chemistry from years ago," Goff said. "Everyone else has been great. (Quintez) Cephus obviously went down this week, and we won't have him for a little bit (could be done for season with broken collarbone). But, Kalif's done a tremendous job. I think St. Brown's done a tremendous job. Trinity's stepped in and done a good job. Ultimately, it's just trying to find ways to get those guys the ball in space and let them work, and find ways to get them open."
The Lions will attempt to get in the win column for the first time in 2021 this Sunday (1 p.m. EST at Ford Field) against Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals.
