Dan Campbell has mostly refrained from calling players out, but it appears another dismal game from Jared Goff has broken the Lions’ head coach.
The Detroit Lions were thoroughly dominated on Sunday by the Cincinnati Bengals, to the point the 34-11 final score was not fully reflective of the how bad it was for Detroit. Head coach Dan Campbell cried for his players after a Week 6 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, but after Sunday’s game his tone changed.
Campbell is so honest with his emotion. Last week, it was tears because his team fought and lost in heartbreaking fashion. This week it’s anger because his team played like crap. Both appropriate, both probably mirror what a lot of others felt.
— Dave Birkett (@davebirkett) October 17, 2021
Campbell was hesitant to place all the blame on quarterback Jared Goff after Sunday’s game, saying the offense’s struggles are shared by everyone. The Lions have not scored more than 17 points since Week 1, and in the last two games they have not gotten to 300 yards of offense. Goff averaged a season-low 4.8 yards per attempt against the Bengals, as he went 28-for-42 for 202 yards with an interception.
Campbell said there hasn’t been any consideration given to benching Goff. When David Blough is the backup, that’s easily expected to be said. But that didn’t stop Campbell from calling Goff out a little after his latest lackluster showing.
Dan Campbell makes an attempt to call out Jared Goff
“I feel like (Goff) needs to step up more than he has,” Campbell said. “And, I think he needs to help us, just like everybody else. I think he is gonna need to put a little weight on his shoulders here, and it’s time to step up and make some throws and do some things.”
Campbell couched his comments about Goff a little by saying the quarterback needs help, which is absolutely true. But the coach circled back to his thesis.
“He needs help,” Campbell said. “He needs help. Like I told (Goff), and he knows this, but some of that stuff, we’re getting holding calls, because he’s drifting back into the pocket 10 yards deep. That’s not fair to those guys, either, if you hang on to the ball. So, this is a collective effort now. Everything goes hand in hand. But, I want to see (Goff) step up. Because I think he can do it.”
Goff is not going to be benched for anything other than an injury he can’t play through, and the process to replace him long-term might require patience. But in a broad sense, even if Goff is hardly the only problem for the Lions right now, it’s nice to see Campbell not totally avoid criticizing his quarterback.