The best year of Jared Goff’s NFL tenure came in 2018.
The 2016 No. 1 overall pick set career marks in his third season in yards passing (4,688), touchdowns (32), average yards per attempt (8.4) and passer rating (101.1) as his Los Angeles Rams marched to the Super Bowl. That same season, Rams running back Todd Gurley was named first-team All-Pro, as he rushed for 1,251 yards and a career-high in touchdowns (17) and yards per carry (4.9).
Their simultaneous success was not a coincidence.
Goff and the Detroit Lions would like to see a similar symbiosis this season between the quarterback and running back D’Andre Swift.
“It’s very helpful, it’s helpful for any passing attack,” Goff,, said Wednesday. “It’s a quarterback’s best friend when you can have that, have the play-action stuff off of it, the keeper stuff off of it, the roll-out off of it.
“And it’s fun to watch Swift take off too, I know those guys up front love it.”
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The Lions haven’t featured a formidable rushing threat for decades, with Barry Sanders — who made the Pro Bowl in 1998, then retired before training camp in 1999 — the most recent Lions Pro Bowl running back. But if Game 1, in which Swift ran 15 times for 144 yards with a touchdown — is an indication, that could change in 2022.
A big season from Swift would create a new offensive identity for the Lions, Goff hopes.
“A team that’s going to apply pressure and put the defense on their heels a little bit,” Goff said. “Be able to keep them guessing in some ways — is it a run, is it a pass, is it a jet, is it a screen, is it a draw? — just to be able to keep them guessing.”
Goff said he and his teammates feel the Lions’ multitude of talent at skill positions means there isn’t a hole anywhere on the offense, a big change from a season ago.
Week 1 showed the team is looking to spread the ball around i the passing game; three players — Amon-Ra St. Brown (12), DJ Chark (8) and TJ Hockenson (7) — had at least seven targets, while Lions running backs combined for five.
Chark was the only newcomer on offense, and it showed at times Sunday.
Such as a third-down play early in the second quarter, when pressure came off Goff’s right side. With Chark apparently on an option route, he and Goff couldn’t connect: Goff thought the fifth-year veteran would end his route at the sticks, but Chark continued upfield.
“That was just a miscommunication,” Chark said. “He had to get the ball out of his hands, pressure, a guy came hot. Like I said, communication, I think that’s all that really was.”
The disconnect was soon forgotten, however, as Goff found Chark in the end zone in the fourth quarter. On third-and-2, the duo connected on a go-route against one of the best corners in the game, ex-Lion Darius Slay.
Goff called it trust. Chark called it a great pass.
“I feel like (his ball) is very catchable,” Chark said. “He’s not going back and drilling it at you and throwing it 100 miles an hour, but also it’s not just a little fluffy, lollipop ball.
“It’s right in the sweet spot, and when we’re clicking and knowing where he’s going to put it, like I said, he’s pretty accurate.”
Still, that success was built on the Lions’ mix of talent: The 6-foot-4 Chark gave Goff a big target to test the former All-Pro corner, and Swift’s success forced the Eagles defense to keep an eye on the backfield for an extra moment freeing Goff to make the throw.
“I think that’s kind of how we’re built,” Goff said. “Obviously, I want to throw the ball a bunch, but I know that’s not always the key to winning. So whatever it takes.”