Jared Goff: 'It's Bizarre' Dan Campbell Is Being Criticized
The Detroit Lions' aggressive approach paid off against the Green Bay Packers, as the offense was able to convert four of their five fourth down attempts.
The biggest of these conversions was a late-game dash by David Montgomery to convert a fourth-and-1 from the Green Bay 21-yard line, late in the fourth quarter that secured another divisional victory.
Detroit and Green Bay were tied, 31-31. The Lions and Dan Campbell were facing a decision: kick the field goal to take the lead and trust the defense against Packers quarterback Jordan Love with under a minute left and no timeouts, or risk the conversion and, if successful, run out the remainder of the clock.
If unsuccessful, Green Bay would only have to drive into field goal range to get a chance to win the game.
Ultimately, the Lions were able to move the chains and kick a game-winning field goal as time expired.
Despite the Lions' success on fourth down in Thursday's game, several analysts voiced their opinions about the aggressive way in which Campbell approaches these situations. Campbell admitted that he understands the backlash he would face if unsuccessful, and thinks that some coaches avoid employing a similar style for this very reason.
Yet, quarterback Jared Goff noted that the team has full belief in their coach during his weekly interview with 97.1 The Ticket. As a result, there is an abundance of confidence when they face these pivotal scenarios.
"It’s funny to hear all the criticism after it works," Goff said. "You can only imagine how bad it would have been if it didn’t work. It’s bizarre. It was a weird weekend to hear them talking about it and how critical they were of Dan on a decision that was correct in hindsight. It’s funny, everybody’s got an opinion."
MORE: How Jared Goff Factored Into Lions Late Fourth-Down Decision
Following the game, former star defensive back and current pregame analyst for Prime Video Richard Sherman said it was Goff who urged coach Campbell to go for it during a timeout.
However, the veteran passer dispelled that notion. He explained that the coaching staff didn't need to be convinced to take the risk.
"I think someone said that I had convinced him to do it. I’m like, 'No, I didn’t do any convincing with him.' He does that all on his own and we’re fired up when he does it," Goff explained. "It had nothing to do with me. I walked over there, asked him what the plan was, he was deliberating it and told us we were gonna go for it."