Confidence is a funny thing. One minute you’re quarterbacking in the Super Bowl, the next you’re traded to the NFL’s dungeon.
Wait … what? How’d I get here?
Jared Goff never asked that publicly, but the whiplash he must’ve felt last year could’ve catapulted a rocket. He went from golden-armed conveyor of Sean McVay’s offense to the quarterback who couldn’t keep up with his genius coach.
The outbursts McVay directed toward the Rams’ No. 1 overall pick were easy to spot during Goff’s last season in Los Angeles. And by the time he was finally traded to the Detroit Lions, five years and a career’s worth of ups and downs in, he wasn’t sure who he was as a player.
This was obvious early last season as the Lions’ leading man, too: the hesitancy to throw deep, the deep — deep —dropbacks, the penchant to hold onto the ball too long and take sacks even when a receiver was open underneath.
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He looked unsure and sounded uncertain as the losses piled up, as though he were a man without a team and, truthfully, without an offense. Which is no way to rediscover yourself on the field.
Then he got injured. When he returned from a strained oblique muscle, he settled in a bit and showed a little of his old form toward the end of the season.
He clicked with Dan Campbell calling plays and has clicked even more — by all internal accounts — with new offensive coordinator Ben Johnson over the offseason.
“I think he’s given me as much as I can handle and hopefully that’s a lot to him and I think it is,” Goff said Wednesday. “But he’s given me a lot — a lot of responsibility and a lot of say in the direction of things — and at the same time, it’s his fingerprints on everything. But he has me in mind when he is making those decisions, and that’s all you can ask for.”
The instructive phrase here is, “hopefully that’s a lot to him.” Goff doesn’t want to be shackled with a limited offense. McVay didn’t hide his displeasure with Goff the last two seasons in Los Angeles and wasn’t shy about discussing what he thought were his limitations.
Even a year ago, Campbell hinted the offense needed to be simplified when Goff was struggling early. The quarterback is sensitive to the idea. Most quarterbacks are.
In Johnson, though, Goff feels he has a coach who trusts him. That, in turn, has led to more comfort and, just as critically, more confidence. When I asked him if this was as confident and comfortable as he’s felt in a while, he was quick to answer:
“Yeah, I’d say so,” he said. “I think I’ve got full control of what we’re doing on offense and full ownership. They’ve given me the reigns and I’ve ran with it as best I can. I know that — I think I know that they’ve been happy with the way things have gone up to this point with me in that position. But it’s — yeah, I feel confident. I feel confident in the guys around me too. It’s been really fun.”
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Fun, of course, is another sneaky-important predictor of confidence. You can’t have fun unless you can relax. And you can’t relax unless you’re confident. And you can’t stay confident unless you can read defenses.
Which brings us to one of the knocks on Goff during his final days in Los Angeles — that when he didn’t have his first read, the play broke down too frequently. Goff wouldn’t dispute that he struggled with this last season for the Lions. Nor would he argue that he was hesitant for the first half of the schedule — the tape doesn’t lie.
No one questions his arm talent. When he was rolling in LA, he threw as nice and fluid a deep ball as anyone in the league. He was the No. 1 overall pick in 2016 because of that talent.
He doesn’t possess the fastball of Patrick Mahomes or Aaron Rodgers or Josh Allen or even Matthew Stafford, but he can throw it, and he has shown that this summer.
“Just to see him sling the ball the way he is right now gives us confidence,” said one of his sturdiest protectors, Penei Sewell. “He’s more comfortable.”
Goff feels an ownership of the offense he hasn’t felt in years. This doesn’t mean he’ll toss his way to the Pro Bowl this season, but at least it gives him a chance to make a difference.
This begins with his relationship with Johnson, who was named coordinator by Campbell in part because he thought he could help Goff. Sometimes it’s not just about strategy but tone as well.
He and McVay struggled to communicate late in their relationship in Los Angeles. And when McVay would tear into him during games or implicate him during postgame news conferences, Goff often didn’t know how to flush it.
As for his connection with Johnson?
“It’s been better than I could ever imagine,” he said. “The trust he has in me, and the amount of questions he asks me, and, vice versa, the amount of questions I can ask him. And his responsiveness, and how great he is at listening, all that stuff is so helpful for a quarterback, and I don’t take it for granted. He’s a great coach and someone I’m excited to work with.”
The success of this partnership will play out starting Sunday at Ford Field, when the Lions open their season against the Philadelphia Eagles, a team with as good a defensive line as there is in the NFL. It should be a good test of Goff’s newfound equanimity, and of his redoubled confidence.
“I … feel like I haven’t played in forever,” he said Wednesday. “Excited to get going again and to be back on the field.”
No doubt it feels longer than it is to Goff. That’ll happen when you look inward and see a piece of yourself that’s been missing. When you find it, you can’t wait to show the world it’s still there.
He’ll get that chance in three days.
Contact Shawn Windsor: 313-222-6487 or swindsor@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter@shawnwindsor.