Jared Goff among NFL’s highest-rated passers over the last month

Monday’s news on him was a buzzkill, but Lions quarteback Jared Goff has been one of the highest-rated passers in the NFL over the last four weeks.

Coming off Sunday’s big win over the Arizona Cardinals, the Detroit Lions placed quarterback Jared Goff on the reserve/COVID-19 list on Monday. Talk about a buzzkill, but there’s a chance Goff will able to play Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons based on the NFL’s revised virus protocols for vaccinated players.

Goff had a nice day against the Cardinals, who he is now 8-1 against in his career, completing over 80 percent of his passes (21-for-26) for 216 yards with a 139.7 passer rating. He has multiple passing touchdowns in three of his last four games, when he returned from a one-game absence due to an oblique injury. The Lions have also won two of their last three games.

Jared Goff has been one of the NFL’s highest-rated passers lately

Goff made a fairly surprising return on a short week against the Chicago Bears on Thanksgiving Day. He played pretty well in that game (21-for-25 for 171 yards and two touchdowns, 121.8 passer rating), and he has arguably played better in Detroit’s two wins since.

Passer rating is not a perfect metric to measure how good a quarterback is. But there’s no denying how well Goff is playing lately, and passer rating shows it among his league-wide peers.

Over the last four weeks, only Aaron Rodgers, Matthew Stafford and Russell Wilson have a higher passer rating than Goff. And that’s with a rough game for he and the Lions against the Denver Broncos in Week 14, where he posted a 74.2 passer rating and averaged just 5.5 yards per attempt. With even a slightly better showing in that game, Goff would likely be third in the league in passer rating over the last four weeks.

If Goff is able to play on Sunday, there’s a good chance he keeps his good run going against a feeble Falcons’ defense.