The primary story lines for this weekend's Wild Card game between the Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Rams are centered around the quarterbacks who were traded for each other in 2021.Matthew Stafford is making his return to Detroit with a Super Bowl ring from his first season with the Rams. Jared Goff is facing his former team, and a coach who didn't think he could win a Super Bowl unless he had a better quarterback.
This won't be Goff's first time playing his former team, as the Lions played the Rams in Los Angeles during the 2021 season. Head coach Sean McVay has expressed regret a couple times over how he handled the trade that sent Goff to Detroit and brought Stafford west, which Goff didn't seem to have much time for going into that game a couple years ago.
Goff is doing just fine in Detroit, but he wouldn't be human if how his trade from the Rams went down didn't stick with him a little.
The NFL is a business when it comes down to it, but Sunday night's playoff game has to be a little bit personal for Goff.
Jared Goff dismisses revenge angle attached to playing the Rams in playoffs
Goff appeared on 97.1 The Ticket Tuesday, as he does every week during the season. Much as Stafford attempted to do while saying he's excited to play a playoff game in Detroit, that is to dismiss anything especially extra once the game starts, the Lions' current quarterback dismissed the extra thing that's being attached to him.
"It’s so much greater than anything about me and the Rams or Matthew, obviously, in Detroit," Goff said Tuesday on 97.1 The Ticket. "It’s such a bigger (game) between both teams, so it’s easy to ignore for me. I’ll answer the questions all week, I’ll deal with it, as I’m sure they will. But it’s about our team. We’ve come a long way and it’s our opportunity now to go make a real run."
"They’re the one that’s in our way now," said Goff, "and we gotta go out and get a win."
It's no surprise Goff wants to put the focus everywhere except on any revenge angle there is for him going against the Rams and McVay in a playoff game.
Goff undeniably will make a big statement with his performance on Sunday night, against his former team on a playoff stage. It's just a matter of what that statement will be.