Jared Goff originally wasn’t slated to play in the Lions’ preseason opener, but he literally went into Dan Campbell’s office and said he was.
Heading into the Detroit Lions preseason opener Friday night against the Atlanta Falcons, head coach Dan Campbell said starters would play a quarter or so. Some starters would surely play less than that, or not at all, and where quarterback Jared Goff was on that scale was sort of a question.
Given the shaky backup situation, risking injury to Goff in a meaningless game isn’t ideal. He has looked good in training camp, and has nothing to prove. But there’s also no substitute for game action.
After the game, Campbell said the original plan was to sit Goff against the Falcons. But Goff heard the starting offensive line was going to play, and…
"He was playing pretty good (in training camp), he was in a good spot,” Campbell said. “So we said, ‘Well, if we’re going to sit somebody, maybe we ought to sit Goff.’”He came into my office and said, ‘I want to play,’” Campbell recalled. “And I said, ‘Well, you’re not playing.’ He said, ‘Well, if they’re playing, I’m playing.’ And I said, ‘Okay, you’re playing.”I appreciate that about him,” said Campbell. “And he went out there and ran that offense."
Dan Campbell didn’t fight Jared Goff’s desire to play against the Falcons
Even without knowing the exact tone of the conversation in that moment, it’s pretty easy to see Campbell didn’t fight Goff too hard on playing against the Falcons. The head coach cited mutual trust in the decision to let Goff play.
The Lions’ offensive starters got just one series against Atlanta, but it was a good one. Goff went 3-for-4 for 47 yards, and the incompletion was a drop by Jamaal Williams. Overall Detroit went 79 yards on 10 plays in just over five minutes, capped by a nine-yard touchdown run from D’Andre Swift.
Left tackle Taylor Decker appreciated Goff forcing his way onto the field.
"I love that,” Decker said. “You want your quarterback to go out there and he’s like, ‘If my guys are out there, I’m going to go out there and compete, we’re going to go right down the field and score."
This year’s version of Goff couldn’t be any more different than last year’s version at the same point in time. And it goes without saying that’s a good thing.