First Impressions of Quarterback Jared Goff
New Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff has worked all offseason to get acclimated to playing with his new team.
He has already gathered skill players for workouts, and he will be present for the duration of organized team activities in Detroit.
“It’s been big. Any time you can get your quarterback here around all your guys, the offensive line, the receivers, the backs, the tight ends, and let him work the system -- not only get used to the system himself, but then how he’s going to run the system and for those players around him to get used to it -- it’s been huge," Lions head coach Dan Campbell told reporters.
Last week, reporters had their first opportunity to observe Goff working with the offense at the Lions' Allen Park practice facility.
While Goff doesn't possess the same fastball as Matthew Stafford, he displayed accuracy and gave his receivers an opportunity to catch deep balls by putting the proper amount of air on his passes.
"Look, we’re only one week into it. I can tell you this, he throws a pretty ball," Campbell said. "That’s for sure. But, I’ve liked his mannerisms. I liked his command in the huddle, and I would say, man, he’s progressing right kind of where you want him to progress at this point. We’re not in team, we’re doing these walk-throughs. But, the first live seven-on-seven yesterday, just watching him throw and some of the things that come out of it, it’s baby steps right now. It’s good to have him here.”
Goff was not starting from scratch last week, as he has worked with the coaching staff during Zoom meetings and several of the skill players, who were willing to travel on their own to work out with him.
Campbell explained, “It helped a little bit, it certainly did, because he had part of the system back in L.A. and he had those guys come out. So, they had already began to implement it a little bit. It wasn’t 100% starting from scratch, that on top of the fact we’ve been doing these Zooms. But, it did, it helps. It at least gives you a jumpstart into the first week, basically. You’re not coming in here and having to just stop and literally just teach every small thing and go as slow as possible. Now, all we need to know is how is the cadence going to go, as far as it works for the offensive line and those things. But, it did, it certainly helped. You can tell that they had an idea walking in of what it needed to kind of look like or what we were calling things. It did (matter), and that’s a credit to him and those guys. I mean, they’re willing to go out there and work with him out on their own time. There again, that says a lot, I think, about the guys we have on this team.”
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