5 Detroit Lions who must step up in Week 2 vs. the Commanders

1. QB Jared Goff

Goff did not have a great game against the Eagles, and he was particularly bad in the first half (7-for-15 for 53 yards with a pick-six and bunch of short throws) as the Lions’ offense stagnated in the second quarter.

Goff said it himself after last week’s game.

"That’s ultimately what we’ll look at what hurt us the most,” “Lot of mental errors mostly. Stuff that can be cleaned up easily, but stuff that can’t happen on gameday. Hopefully we can attribute it to first game stuff and hopefully next week stuff like that isn’t happening.” We left a lot of points out there,” Goff said. “Tip your cap to the Eagles, they’re a damn good team, but we shot ourselves in the foot all day long. Specifically on that lull.” We felt like we could have scored 50 points,’’ Goff said."

Goff was not deflecting blame to anyone else. He knows he had some missed throws besides some drops from his pass catchers against Philadelphia, and better execution by the Lions’ offense (and better consistency) starts with him.

If Goff can navigate Washington’s pass rush and sure to remain blitz-heavy tendencies from their season opener, before and after the snap, their secondary is vulnerable. Pushing the pace between plays similarly to last week can only help, so more of that is certainly on the agenda for Sunday.

Goff will be an easy target to be called the Lions’ weakest link until he proves otherwise. He cannot have a half anything like he did in the first half last week if Detroit is going to beat the Commanders, it’s that simple.