Lions QB Looking For Areas to Be 'More Aggressive' After Bye Week

Jared Goff outlines areas of desired improvement ahead of Vikings game.

Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff (16). | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Detroit Lions have reaped the benefits of Jared Goff's continuous development over his five seasons with the organization.

Goff has been one of the NFL's most consistent and efficient quarterbacks once again in 2025, completing 74.9 percent of his passes through the first seven games of the season and piloting the team to a 5-2 start.

Entering the final 10-game stretch out of the team's bye week, Goff is looking to find areas within games where he can be more aggressive within games. Calculated risks are a big part of Detroit's identity, and Goff believes that taking more chances in certain areas could be very beneficial to his game.

“Yeah, getting the ball out I’ve been pleased with. Trying to avoid sacks and my completion percentage and just getting the ball into our guys’ hands as often as possible and getting it out of mine really. And just continuing to improve that," Goff said. "Where can I improve? I think there’s some areas of aggressiveness that I can be a little bit more aggressive. And I say that and then I’ll make a poor decision and say I need to not be so aggressive in certain situations. So, yeah, it’s a double-edged sword there. But yeah, maybe there’s some areas where I can do that. But at the same time, if I’m getting the ball in our guys’ hands underneath regardless, it doesn’t really matter.”

Additionally within the week off, Goff spent time self-scouting and being critical of his early season performance. In doing so, he can become more aware of tendencies that teams could look to exploit.

The extended time without having to prepare for the next opponent was a beneficial part of this process, as a normal week would demand Goff move on quicker than he had to during the bye.

“I think - yeah, you’re thinking critically and being critical of yourself more so than maybe during a week when you have to turn over so quickly a day later to the next team," Goff said. "You have three or four days to kind of think about what you can do better, how you want to approach the last 10 games of the season, how you want to come back in the building. And certainly that was part of my thoughts.”

One area the Lions are looking to improve as a team is on third-down, where they currently rank 22nd in the league with a 37.6 percent conversion rate. Though Detroit has been one of the league's top performing offenses, they've left opportunities out there by failing to convert on third-downs.

A key to improving this will be better execution in early downs, which would allow the team to work more out of manageable third-down situations.

“Oh, just execution. It’s simple execution. Staying in third-and-manageable is certainly the goal. And when you get in third-and-long it becomes harder," Goff explained. "But yeah, you’ve got to convert on some of those. And I think last week was a pretty good example of not being good enough in that area. And I think if we had converted a few more of those, the game’s maybe a little bit different. So yeah, just focusing on ways to improve there and we will.”