Everything Jared Goff Said After Lions Loss to Bills

Jared Goff says Bills 'punched' Lions in the mouth early in their Week 15 contest

Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott talks to Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff (16) after victory at Ford Field / Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff expressed the loss to the Buffalo Bills has the potential of having silver linings, if the team responds appropriately moving forward.

Here is everything Goff said after his team was defeated by the Bills, 48-42.

On having one of the best individual performances of his career and it not being enough to win the game: “Yeah, it’s not enough. That’s really the best way to put it. I think we were able to rack up some yards and some touchdowns there late in the game and if we had done that earlier in the game, it probably would’ve been a closer game and wouldn’t have felt so much like garbage time there at the end. I know we kind of made it close there at the end, you get the onside kick, you have a chance. But yeah, I think early in the game we kind of shot ourselves in the foot offensively. In a game like that against an opponent like that, you get behind the eight ball a little bit, down a couple scores, and it’s hard to climb back.”

On if he was able to diagnose what the issues were today with the run game: “I don’t know. I think we had to in some ways move on from it with the way the game was going. Maybe we stick with it if the game is in a little bit of a different place, it starts to pop, and then it’s a different story. I don’t know. But no, there’s nothing significant there.”

On if it is a hard pill to swallow that Lions Head Coach Dan Campbell said that they did not match the intensity of the Bills: “No, I think he’s right. He’s as good a head coach as there is in this league and he knows when things are right and he knows when things aren’t right and for whatever reason, they came out and kind of punched us in the mouth there early on and we kind of found a way to respond there later on. But still, it wasn’t enough and again, against a team like that, you can’t come out and allow them to do that early on and try to claw your way back. It’s too hard, it really is and that’s the games that we’re going to be playing from here on out, so yeah, maybe it’s a good wake-up call for us and a nice little recalibration for us and now we get to go on the road. We had some nice home games we just finished up, but now we get to go on the road. It’s us against everybody again and come together and be a bit tighter and move on.”

On if he can take appreciation from a test like this game late in the season: “Appreciation from the loss, I don’t know. I think that’s a dang good team and I think we’re a dang good team and they played really well and we didn’t, and that’s why the game was lopsided for most of the game and they’re the class of the NFL and we’d like to think we are too and they came out and played better than we did today.”

More: Everything Dan Campbell Said After Lions Loss to Buffalo Bills

Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff (16) throws a pass during the second half at Ford Field against Buffalo Bills / Kimberly P. Mitchell / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

On if they have to resist the temptation to overact to a loss like this: “We don’t, yeah no. We’ll be just fine. I’m sure there will be a ton of stuff written about the sky falling, but no, internally, we’re good. Yeah, we had won how many in a row up to that point, but it sucks to lose. We would’ve loved to win every game out, all the way through the Super Bowl and I hope we can look back on this one as a good learning lesson for us and move on and use some of the stuff that we learned in this game to help us win these next three before we hit the Playoffs.”

On if this loss can be beneficial to the ultimate goal of winning the Super Bowl: “Yeah, if you handle it the right way. That’s what I’m saying, like if – yeah, and I think we will. If you handle it the right way and you recognize where your shortcomings were and get better and move on, then sure, it can be a great thing for a team. We know we’ve got Minnesota on our heels in the division and we’re battling Philly for the one seed and now, if there’s not urgency now, then there won’t be. And I believe there will be a ton of urgency from our guys, not that there wasn’t today, but there will be now for sure. We have three games. It starts with the division next week and we move on from there.”

On if there was anything about how the Bills defensive line rushed that stood out: “No, I just thought that they played well. They played well early on, certainly the first quarter, they played better than us, myself, everyone. I don’t think that’s up for debate and then as the game went on, we settled in, played better, and made it a close game, but it wasn’t enough.”

On Lions T Dan Skipper’s touchdown: “Yeah, it was cool. It was cool to see him score, and he almost came up short trying to run that guy over, but yeah, I’m glad he got that touchdown. But yeah no, it would be a lot more fun to celebrate that in a win, absolutely.”