Cal Sports Report

Jared Goff Makes One Awful Throw, but Lions Win

Former Cal quarterback helps Detroit improve to 6-2 with a win over Raiders Monday

Jake Curtis

Jared Goff did not have his best game, and he had one horrible play that could have ruined his team's night, but the former Cal quarterback did enough good things to give his Detroit Lions a 26-14 win over the visiting Las Vegas Raiders on Monday night.

The win gives the Lions a 6-2 record, providing them with a two-game lead over the Vikings in the NFC North. The Lions are tied for the second-best record in the NFL, behind only the 7-1 Eagles. It puts Detroit in position for its first playoff berth since 2016 and possibly its first postseason victory since 1991.

Goff was 26-for-37 for 272 yards, one touchdown, one interception and a passer rating of 89.0.  That certainly was not his best game of the season, but it was much better than what Raiders quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo produced in the game. Garoppolo was 10-for-21 for 126 yards, no touchdowns, one interception, six sacks and a 46.9 passer rating.

In fact the statistics suggest the Lions should have won this game by 30 points. Detroit had 486 yards to the Raiders' 157 yards, and the Lions had 29 first downs to Las Vegas' 12.

The star of the game was Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs, who rushed for 157 yards and a touchdown and caught five passes for 37 yards.

But the Lions kept the Raiders in the game by failing to score touchdowns after getting in the red zone and committing three turnovers.

The worst turnover was committed by Goff.

The Lions seemed to have the game in hand when Goff threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to tight end Sam LaPorta to put the Lions ahead 16-7 at halftime.

Detroit was in complete control and was moving the ball early in the third quarter, when Goff unleashed this terrible pass. It was intercepted by Marcus Peters, who returned it for a touchdown to cut the Lions' lead to 16-14 early in the third quarter.

However, Goff responded by playing solid football the rest of the way as the Lions continued to dominate play despite the mistake.  Goff made the new Lions helmets look good.

Oh, by the way, the Los Angeles Rams, the team that traded Goff away in January 2021, is 3-5.

Cover photo of Jared Goff is by Junfu Han, USA TODAY NETWORK

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Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

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