Jared Goff's 'kryptonite' as a quarterback is incredibly obvious

At this point, it's well-known what Jared Goff is and isn't as a quarterback. When protected well and able to take apart a defense from the pocket, he's a stud. Every quarterback has some sort of drop-off in performance when they're pressured. But Goff's drop-off is unique, as he goes from a top-10 quarterback in the league by some measures to practically unplayable when he gets pressured.

If Goff has to throw on the move, or god forbid take off and run...it's not pretty. No wonder he faced more blitzes than any other quarterback last season. Working behind the best offensive line in the NFL means those extra rushers don't get home all that often. But the reward for getting to him, or at least moving him off his comfortable spot in the pocket, is far too great for defensive coordinators to ignore.

John Kosko of Pro Football Focus recently dove into determining the "kryptonite" for each NFL starting quarterback. As in, each guy's biggest weakness. In some cases it's something fairly broad, somewhat intangible or situational ("playoffs", "the fourth quarter", "late/money downs" or "age").

For Goff, it's something very tangible and abundantly obvious.

Jared Goff's quarterbacking 'kryptonite' is obvious, low-hanging fruit

Just because something's obvious doesn't mean it is any less true. Kosko tabbed Goff's "kryptonite" as "mobility under pressure."

'"Goff is a wizard when kept clean and has time to deliver strikes to his playmakers downfield, as his 92.4 PFF passing grade in 2023 shows. But when his NFL-best offensive line gets beat or the defense schemes up a pressure look to fool the offense, Goff looks like a shell of himself. His 54.5 PFF passing grade under pressure isn’t overly poor, but his 29.2 PFF rushing grade when evading pressure is the worst in the NFL. Luckily, the Lions don’t have to worry about Goff running too often with their big men up front."

Kosko went a little further than just saying "Goff struggles when pressured, and here's data/grades to show it" like is easy to do (and see on the field, without knowing specific data). Goff looks awful when he's pressured or forced to throw on the move, and on the rare occasions he takes off to run it's even worse.

Goff not being very mobile, or being bad when he's pressured, isn't news. But anyone who wants to use those things as a reason to knock him has plenty of viable rationale for that thought, and it isn't going away.