Bill Belichick heaps praise on Lions' offense in interview with Jared Goff

In Week 8 against the Tennessee Titans, the Detroit Lions simply didn't need much from their offense (47 plays, 225 total yards). But they were 5-for-5 in the red zone as they cashed in on a bunch of short fields provided by the defense and return units, taking care of business like a top-tier offense would.

Jared Goff is on one heck of a hot streak lately, literally historic with virtually every passing week. The MVP buzz around him is easy and well-founded, as the Lions have asserted themselves as the best team in the league through eight weeks.

Former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick has gone full-force into media during what may be a gap year before he has another head coaching job in 2025. On this week's edition of the "Let's Go" podcast, he and co-host Jim Gray interviewed Goff.

Belichick had some big praise for the Lions' offense.

"It’s impossible, I think, for a defense to stop your offense,” Belichick said to Goff. “There are too many weapons, the offensive line is too good, blitzing isn’t the answer, not blitzing is not the answer. I think you’ve just gotta—playing you guys, to me, would be just, hang on and try to create as many long and long situations as possible. But that’s hard because you have so many explosive players and you do such a good job of distributing the ball.”

Bill Belichick directly praises Jared Goff for the work he's doing

Praise from someone like Belichick carries a little more weight than praise from a lot of others in football. The future Hall of Fame coach with a total of eight Super Bowl rings was sure to praise Goff directly in the interview when asked how the Lions' signal caller's game has evolved recently.

"But just (your) decision-making has been great,” Belichick said. “And getting the ball to the guys, not forcing it, taking the checkdowns. Your checkdowns are more dangerous sometimes. You can throw the ball 15 yards downfield and your receiver gets tackled or you can throw a 5-yard checkdown and turn it into a 30-yard run. So, making good decisions and getting the ball to the guys that are open, taking what the defense gives you.”

Goff added his perspective on that topic, and acknowledged Belichick noticing his growth.

"That’s kind of what I’ve grown and matured in", Goff said. "Don’t just throw it because you think it’s going to be there all week. It’s kinda open, but it’s not really. It doesn’t look great. Get onto the next play, live to see another down. I appreciate that because that’s something that I’ve really worked on.”