The last time we saw Jared Goff in a Super Bowl game, he was a young rising star for a star-studded L.A. Rams offense and a hotshot young coach named Sean McVay. Despite numerous trips to the red zone, he also couldn’t get the one TD he needed to defeat Tom Brady and the Patriots, losing by a disappointing score of 13-3.
If the Detroit Lions are going to pull off a championship, Goff has to play lights out and then even better at times.
Shayon Green, Former NFL Linebacker Says Jared Goff Can Lead Detroit Lions To Super Bowl
Shayon Green, a former star linebacker at the University of Miami who also played for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2015, appeared on The Shadow League’s “Locker Room” podcast and says he thinks Goff has what it takes to close the deal this time.
“Oh yeah for sure, Green said. “All Goff has to do is get all those guys to buy in. As a former player … It takes the captains to buy in for the entire group to form an alliance so that we are all on the same page”
Detroit will get a well-deserved bye as other contenders slug it out this weekend. Home field advantage should also be huge for a team that blew a 17-point, third-quarter lead against the San Francisco 49ers last playoffs, spoiling a celebration of Detroit advancing to the NFC Championship Game for the first time in 32 years and just the second time in franchise history.
“Homefield advantage is huge,” Green adds, when discussing Detroit’s playoff advantage despite the injury losses. “Especially being in Detroit in your home stadium with your home crowd. That alone … the city receives the energy, and the players receive the energy and if everybody gets on one page and one accord, it should be no question.”
That devastating Super Bowl loss in 2018 was the peak of Goff’s career with the L.A. Rams. He never got back there with them, but the guy who he switched locations with, Matthew Stafford, escaped Detroit and got his ring with L.A. in 2021. That alone makes Goff’s Lions journey bittersweet. This season with the Detroit Lions — his revival story written seasons ago — Goff has a real shot at returning to the penultimate game and putting a bow on his career.
“Goff is a good leader,” Green tells “Locker Room,” “but at the end of the day it takes unity.”
Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell Bet The House On Jared Goff To Lead New Culture
GM Brad Holmes and spirited head coach Dan Campbell committed $212M in Goff because they believed he could do it from the beginning. Since joining the Lions in 2021, Goff has been among the elite quarterbacks in the game, directing one of the NFL’s most formidable and multi-talented offenses.
The knock on Goff is that he hasn’t elevated his team in the big game yet. With Aiden Hutchinson out on defense and all-word back David Montgomery down for the playoffs, this is Goff’s shot to boost his career into potential Hall of Fame discussions. He’s still just 30 years old, but he might not have another six seasons to wait for another crack at the Lombardi Trophy.
Goff has thrown for over 4,000 yards five times in nine seasons, including this season, where he also added a career-high 37 TD passes.
NFL Playoffs Is Filled With Quarterbacks and Juicy Narratives: Jared Goff’s On Legacy Mission
There are a bunch of elite quarterbacks with plenty at stake as far as their legacies are concerned and the history of their franchises who have invested much in them.
Patrick Mahomes is looking for the first three-peat in history. This seems to be Josh Allen’s best shot to get past Mahomes and taste Super Bowl victory. These are career-defining moments for once-forgotten quarterbacks such as Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield. New superstars on the horizon like Jordan Love and Justin Herbert and Jayden Daniels can take the next step in their career development. Then there’s the future Hall of Famers such as Russell Wilson and Mathew Stafford, who are still suiting up and leading teams into the playoffs with a shot at greatness.
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The narratives are overflowing, so choose who you want, but for Goff this playoff is truly his moment of truth and will define his legacy, because he will probably never have a better squad.