Leave aside throwing five interceptions in Week 10 against the Houston Texans, and Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff is having an excellent, MVP-caliber season. He has played remarkably well for stretches, with efficiency that's rarely if ever been seen in league history.
Thursday night against the Green Bay Packers Goff played very well again, completing 32 of 41 passes for 283 yards with three touchdowns and an interception (109.7 passer rating; 90.9 QBR). He even came up clutch as a runner a couple times.
Goff completed passes to six different receivers against the Packers. Much to the chagrin of Amon-Ra St. Brown and Sam LaPorta fantasy football managers two of his touchdown passes went to Tim Patrick, with the other going to Jahmyr Gibbs.
Here's how the stats looked for the Lions' pass targets on Thursday night:
Patrick: six catches for 43 yards
RB Jahmyr Gibbs: six catches for 30 yards
WR Jameson Williams; five catches for 80 yards
LaPorta: five catches for 54 yards
St. Brown: five catches for 43 yards
RB David Montgomery: five catches for 33 yards
TE Brock Wright: zero catches, one target
Jared Goff set another passing mark on Thursday night
Goff put himself in some rare air again on Thursday night, in terms adding to the breadth of what he has done this season.
But OptaStats narrowed just to what he did in against the Packers to point out a new mark that will be hard to top.
"Jared Goff of the @Lions is the first QB in NFL history to complete passes to 6+ different receivers in a game with every one of them having at least 5 catches:"
Jared Goff of the @Lions is the first QB in NFL history to complete passes to 6+ different receivers in a game with every one of them having at least 5 catches:
— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) December 6, 2024
6 - Jahmyr Gibbs
6 - Tim Patrick
5 - Sam LaPorta
5 - David Montgomery
5 - Amon-Ra St. Brown
5 - Jameson Williams pic.twitter.com/mWgfqWinJW
No other quarterback in NFL history has completed passes to six or more receivers in a game, with all of them having at least five catches. Writing it again
Goff is the metaphorical point guard for the Lions' offense (which is not meant as a criticism), distributing the ball to a set of weapons not many teams can match. The distribution of his passes felt unique somehow on Thursday night, and indeed it was revealed to be.