Cal Sports Report

Jared Goff Seems at Ease in Lions' Offense and When Mic'd Up

Former Cal QB shows he has a sense of humor when his conversations during a practice are made public

Jake Curtis

Jared Goff Seems at Ease in Lions' Offense and When Mic'd Up
Jared Goff Seems at Ease in Lions' Offense and When Mic'd Up /

Former Cal quarterback Jared Goff seems to be getting comfortable with his new team, the Detroit Lions, and he demonstrated that with his three-touchdown performance in a scrimmage and with his rather humorous remarks while he was mic’d up during a Lions practice.

Take a look and listen to his mic’d-up session of last week, and see how Goff, usually described as a stoic, laconic quarterback, seems completely at ease with his new team.

Video of Goff mic'd up.

On Saturday, he demonstrated his comfort in the Lions offense by completing 12 of 15 passes with three touchdown throws in a sharp performance in Saturday’s intrasquad scrimmage.

And he did it without two starting receivers present.

“He’s been one of those leaders,” tight end Darren Fells said, according to mlive.com. “He’s taken control of this offense. And obviously with the new offense, it takes a little time to get adjusted with the team and calls and everything like that, and he’s adjusted extremely well.”

It showed progress, because Goff had thrown multiple interceptions and had struggled to throw the deep ball accurately in the previous week’s practice sessions.

“He’s been good,” Lions head coach Dan Campbell said, according to SI’s All Lions website. “You can just see him, from where we were in the spring to where we are now, you can see how much more comfortable he is and how much more he’s taken ownership of this offense, which is what we want.”

Action from the day before the scrimmage:

Whether Goff is willing or able to throw the deep ball accurately has been one of the questions surrounding Goff since he was acquired from the Rams in a trade that sent long-time Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford to the Rams.

In 2017, Goff led the NFL in yards per completion at 12.7 yards per reception. But in 2020, Goff averaged just 10.7 yards per completion, which ranked 21st in the league. He seemed eager to throw a check-down pass at the earliest opportunity.

Campbell said the team is designing the offense to Goff’s liking, and throwing downfield is part of the package.

“There’s certain things [Goff] really likes and he does really well,” Campbell said, according to All Lions. “He loves progressions. He loves progression reads. He loves throwing it downfield. He really does."

Here is a recent interview with Goff and how he is adapting to his new team:

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Cover photo of Jared Goff by Kirthmon F. Dozier via Imagn Content Services, LLC

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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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