The fears surrounding the Detroit Lions in the offseason came true in their season opener with the Green Bay Packers.
The bane of Jared Goff‘s career hasn’t been the blitz or pressure, but interior pressure specifically that forces him to speed up his processing or flush him outside the pocket. Goff has never been a mobile quarterback who can improvise and make a Mahomsian play.
There were concerns with the Lions having to replace guard Kevin Zeitler and center Frank Ragnow, both veteran Pro Bowl talents who could decipher defensive line stunts with poise.
That didn’t happen on Sunday in Green Bay, the site of a 27-13 loss.
Green Bay’s new look defense, with Micah Parsons playing in a limited role, forced pressure up the middle at will. Goff was rattled, taking nine hits and four sacks. The byproduct: dumping the ball off and deferring his progressions from new offensive coordinator John Morton. Goff’s average depth of target was just 4.2 yards, per Pro Football Focus (PFF).
Goff was still accurate, completing 31 of 39 pass attempts for 225 yards, but 10 of those completions went to Jahmyr Gibbs, who could only muster 31 yards receiving behind an offensive line that couldn’t create space for him to operate.
Detroit’s new guard tandem of second-round rookie Tate Ratledge and 2024 sixth-round pick Christian Mahogany allowed three sacks and seven pressures combined.
The obvious solution to teams creating interior pressure is to improve the offensive interior. That ship has sailed. The next step: moving the quarterback.
Goff’s mobility has never been his calling card, leaving the Lions with no options other than rolling with the growing pains of the new guard duo.
Hopefully, Mahogany and Ratelage can turn a corner, but if not, it’s going to be a tough go for Goff this season.
Jared Goff Addresses Red-Zone Struggles in Loss to Packers
While the box score suggested a closer game, the Lions did not score a touchdown until the final minute of the fourth quarter, a beautiful one-handed grab by rookie Isaac TeSlaa.
The Lions’ other three red-zone trips ended with two field goals and an interception.
“Not even close to good enough, right?” Goff said after the game. “There needs to be an urgency of improvement. There has to be. Today wasn’t even close to good enough offensively.
“I’m not worried about (the red zone). I am moreso just urgent about getting details fixed and making sure that everyone is on the same page and that our communication is better and getting lined up correctly and all that stuff. Ultimately, a lot of it falls on me. So, there are some things that I can do better.”
Jared Goff Addresses Lions OC John Morton’s Performance After Packers Loss
Communication was key to the Lions’ downfall on Sunday.
Veteran tackle Taylor Decker admitted that the Packers seemed to fluster the offensive line’s communication with twists, stunts and rotations from the defense.
Goff seconded that communication of everyone’s jobs and roles and praised Morton in his first game as the Lions’ offensive play-caller.
“Yeah, I thought he (Morton) did good,” Goff said. “I thought he did a good job and got us in and out of there well. I think that we can do a better job communicating from me to everybody and then getting lined up correctly, and then knowing our jobs and assignments; and then throughout the week just making sure that we are doing what we want to do, that our players know our intentions on each play and that we are then executing it on gameday.”
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