Jared Goff acknowledges area he has to get better in as a passer

The Detroit Lions have been a top-five scoring offense in each of the last two seasons, and the pieces remain in place for them to land there again this year (and beyond). If there's improvement to be had, it will naturally be in small margins.

Only Patrick Mahomes has completed more passes for more yards over the last two seasons than Jared Goff. A fully healthy and refined Jameson Williams is lined up to offer something to the Lions' offense no one else quite can this year.

Early in the first training camp practice on Wednesday, what Williams can do was on display.

After Wednesday's practice, Goff was among the Lions' players who talked to Fox2 and he mentioned a specific area he feels he needs to improve.

"Off the top of my head, personally, the deep ball and hitting those shots more often," Goff said. "That’s an easy one."

Goff then mentioned getting better on deep balls in light of that practice connection with Williams.

"We gotta do it when it matters in the game, but yeah, we’re getting better at it," said Goff. "But that’s the first one I can think of for me personally."

Jared Goff needs to match proficiency with volume as a downfield passer

Based on Pro Football Focus grades from last year, Goff was one of just two quarterbacks in the league with a top-10 grade on short (under 10 yards in the air), intermediate (10-19 yards in the air) and deep (20-plus yards) pass attempts. His 95.8 passer rating on deep passes (per PFF) was 12th-best in the league, compared to his sixth-best passer rating on short (102.8) and intermediate (120.9) throws. So not bad, but on elite as a deep passer.

Counting the playoffs last year, per PFF, just 7.8 percent of Goff's pass attempts were deep attempts with five touchdowns and four interceptions on those passes. Over the last three seasons, also per PFF, his accuracy on deep passes has been a little below-par (41.9 percent).

Deep passes, obviously, require timing, trust, etc between quarterback and receiver. Up until OTAs this year, and now with training camp getting going, Goff and Williams simply haven't had a lot of time to build that rapport. The clear highlight of Wednesday's practice was a good start on that front.