NFL
Jared Goff Is Getting Help in Detroit From an Unexpected Source
John Moriello started covering sports in 1982, began digital publishing in 1995, and joined Sportscasting in 2020. A graduate of St. John Fisher University, he finds inspiration in the underdogs and the fascinating stories sports can tell (both the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat). John expertly covers all aspects of NASCAR. Beginning with his 2014 coverage at Fox Sports of the aftermath of the dirt-race tragedy in which Kevin Ward Jr. died after being struck by a car driven by NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart, John has excelled as a journalist who specializes in the motorsports world. He previously spent more than three decades covering high school sports and worked as a beat writer covering Big East football and basketball, but NASCAR is now where the true expertise falls. John is a member of the New York State Basketball Hall of Fame (2013), the President of the New York State Sportswriters Association, and a two-time Best of Gannett winner for print and online collaborations whose work has appeared on FoxSports.com and MaxPreps.com.
Get to know John Moriello betterPublished16 Feb 2021
The Detroit Lions got a lot of mileage out of quarterback Matthew Stafford, even if it never led to a playoff victory during his 12 seasons. Now they need Jared Goff to go above and beyond what Stafford was able to accomplish.
The former Los Angeles Rams signal-caller will receive plenty of help getting up to speed with the system being implemented by incoming head coach Dan Campbell and offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn. He’s already receiving help in getting his bearings in Detroit – and it’s coming from an unlikely source.
Will the Lions ever win a Super Bowl?
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The recent Detroit Lions haven’t been stumbling and bumbling as badly as they did with 10 consecutive losing seasons at the start of the century, but they’ve just never been able to gain much traction since winning three NFL championships in a six-year span beginning with the 1952 season. They haven’t even won a playoff contest since reaching the NFC championship game in 1991.
Barring the presence of a phenomenal defense, the journey toward winning the Super Bowl invariably begins with the quarterback. Matthew Stafford lasted longer in that position than any Lions quarterback in the Super Bowl era and couldn’t move the team beyond three losses in wild-game games in his 12 seasons.
The Lions are starting over with a new coach, their eighth since Wayne Fontes got them within one victory of playing in the Super Bowl after the 1991 season, and a new quarterback in Jared Goff. Coming off a 14-33-1 mark over the past three seasons, there’s going to have to be some rebuilding before Lions fans can dare dream of winning a Super Bowl.
Acquiring Jared Goff might be a good start for the Detroit Lions
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Matthew Stafford’s final numbers – a 74-90-1 record as a starter and 10 seasons with-double digit interception totals – detract from 282 touchdown passes, but he still played quarterback better than many of his teammates played their respective positions. The acquisition of Jared Goff might just fix that.
At 26 years old to Stafford’s 33, Goff gives the Detroit Lions the possibility of a decade or more of service if he proves to be the answer. Not insignificantly, Goff will be bringing along friends that he hasn’t even met yet. In addition to the quarterback, the Lions acquired the Los Angeles Rams’ third-round NFL draft pick this spring and first-rounders the following two years.
Goff arrives in Detroit after five seasons with the Rams, who made him the No. 1 draft pick in 2016. After 60 touchdowns and 19 interceptions over his first two years as a full-time starter, he dropped off to 42 TDs and 29 picks over the past two seasons. He has also fumbled 42 times in 69 career games.
Matthew Stafford reached out to Jared Goff
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Like Jared Goff, Matthew Stafford is busy trying to coordinate a cross-country move in the middle of a pandemic. Still, Stafford has found time to reach out to Goff to offer support. Appearing on The Mitch Albom Show on WJR-AM in Detroit, Stafford talked about getting in touch with Goff.
“We texted a little bit,” Stafford said. “I just told him that I know going out there I’ve got big shoes to fill. That’s not lost on me that he was in the Super Bowl just a few years ago. So, he’s a really good player in his own right.”
Stafford added that Detroit can be intimidating to a newcomer, so he wanted to reassure Goff.
“Just wanted to let him know that I appreciated him as a player, and obviously reach out to me if there’s anything he needed when it comes to Detroit, just as far as advice or places to stay, anything,” Stafford said, according to Pride of Detroit. “I know that he feels that he can reach out to me, and I can reach out to him with anything in LA, too.”
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