DETROIT — Jared Goff is finally having fun as a member of the Detroit Lions.
His first season in Detroit was about as bad as it could have been. The Lions went 3-13-1 while the quarterback he had been traded for, Matthew Stafford, won the Super Bowl with the Los Angeles Rams.
This year wasn’t much better. At times, Goff had the Lions offense playing as well as anyone in the NFL, but inconsistency, turnovers and a terrible defense left Detroit at 1-6 and looking at yet another lost season.
Now that’s changed. The Lions are 5-1 since the start of November, with the only loss coming on a last-second field goal by the Buffalo Bills on Thanksgiving. After beating the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, Detroit is 6-7 and in playoff contention.
“We’re playing well as a team, certainly, but I think offensively, we’re settling into our identity really firmly in these last five or six weeks,” Goff said Sunday after the win. “When you know what you are and come into a game really knowing the plan, and really knowing how you want to attack them as a whole 11 on offense, not just the coaches, it can change things tremendously.”
Last season, the Lions didn’t know how to use Goff. The quarterback who led the NFL with an average of 12.9 yards per completion in 2017 and matched that total in 2018, was reduced to 3- or 4-yard throws to running backs and tight ends. If the play call was for something downfield, the offensive line didn’t give him time – he was sacked a career-high 35 times and averaged less than 10 yards per completion.
Things got better in the second half of the season after Dan Campbell took over play-calling duties from fired offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn, but he still didn’t look like the quarterback who had taken the Rams to a Super Bowl.
This year, with new offensive coordinator Ben Johnson calling the plays and Amon-Ra St. Brown turning into one of the league’s most versatile receivers, Goff has returned to his Los Angeles form. He’s averaging 11.6 yards per completion and has already thrown for more yards (3,352) and touchdowns (22) than he did last year.
His one failing was turnovers. In Detroit’s 1-6 start, he turned the ball over nine times, with two returned for touchdowns.
On Nov. 6, with the Lions leading the Packers 8-0 early in the third quarter, Goff threw another interception, giving Green Bay the ball at the Detroit 23.
For once, his defense bailed him out, picking off Aaron Rodgers two plays later, and the Lions went on to a 15-9 win.
He has been immaculate with the ball since. In the last five games, with Detroit going 4-1, Goff has completed 69.2% of his passes at an average of 11.2 yards per completion, eight touchdowns and no interceptions.
“I have complete faith in the guy,” Campbell said Monday. “There have been times when he’s had his back against the wall, and he’s played the best football of his career. He’s in a great place right now and he deserves it.”
FALCONS: Atlanta is turning to rookie Desmond Ridder at quarterback, announcing Monday that Marcus Mariota has been benched with the team still in contention for a playoff berth but struggling with four losses in its past five games.
The Falcons (5-8) made the switch to Ridder to bolster an offense that is averaging just 17.6 points a game during its recent skid. The third-round pick has yet to take a snap in an NFL game that counts.
“It’s a performance-based decision,” Coach Arthur Smith said. “We’re trying to push the offense. We feel like this is the best decision for where he’s at, where the team’s at.”
Atlanta is only a game behind Tampa Bay (6-7) in the NFC South, still contending in a division where no team has a winning record.
SAINTS: Defensive end Cameron Jordan continued to assail the NFL on Monday for fining him after concluding that he faked an injury in the fourth quarter of New Orleans’ 17-16 loss at Tampa Bay on Dec. 5.
“If this was a civil lawsuit, I’d countersue for triple the amount,” said Jordan, who was fined $50,000 for the delay that resulted from Jordan signaling to Saints coaches that he needed attention from trainers.
The Saints, who as a club also have denied wrongdoing, were fined $350,000 by the league office. Coach Dennis Allen was fined $100,000 and co-defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen was fined $50,000.
Jordan and his agent, Doug Hendrickson, have said they are appealing the fine, which Hendrickson has derisively labeled as “idiotic” and “a joke.”
“The amount of work I’ve put into being a part of the league, the amount of honor I take in playing this game, that’s why I also laugh at this,” said Jordan, a 12th-year pro who has earned a reputation among the Saints for playing through pain.
COWBOYS: Dallas signed free agent receiver T.Y. Hilton on Monday, adding the former longtime Indianapolis Colts player after their much-publicized courting of Odell Beckham Jr.
Hilton had gone unsigned all season after his 10-year run with the Colts ended following the 2021 season. The 33-year-old played 10 games for the Colts last season after starting the year on injured reserve because of a neck injury that required surgery.
BRONCOS: Just when he started to look like his vintage self – scrambling for first downs and diving for the goal line – Russell Wilson was knocked out of the game with a concussion Sunday.
Wilson, who hasn’t had a lot of things go his way in his first season in Denver, left the Broncos’ 34-28 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs after suffering a head injury at the end of a 14-yard scramble to the Kansas City 2 early in the fourth quarter.
Wilson had rallied the Broncos (3-10) from a 27-0 deficit with a trio of touchdown drives. His backup, Brett Rypien, threw a touchdown pass to Jerry Jeudy after replacing Wilson, but the Broncos came up short.
Again.
They’ve now lost seven one-score games this season and have dropped 14 straight to the Chiefs (10-3). They had their highest-scoring game of the season, only to fall to 1-2 when scoring 20 points or more.
“This team, we never finish how we want to. But one thing I can say for sure is that we never quit,” said Jeudy, who caught eight passes for 73 yards and three touchdowns. “We just keep fighting throughout the whole game, even when we’re down 27-0. If there’s time on the clock, there’s time to win the game.”
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