The Detroit Lions' offense didn't look like themselves for large stretches of their 26-20 overtime win over the Los Angeles Rams in Week 1. They looked very little like one of the best offenses in the NFL, with 363 total net yards.
Jared Goff threw for just 217 yards with one touchdown and an interception in the game, and he should have been picked off twice.
It was an off night across the board for the Lions' offense, and Goff accepted his share of the blame.
"I think the theme of the night, we kind of just kept shooting ourselves in the foot a little bit. Certainly offensively, we had some plays that we could have had and I got to be better with the cadence for our guys and be a little smoother there on the operational stuff. That alone would solve a lot of problems that we had. It just wasn't our smoothest, but a win's a win. We got to be happy about it."
While Goff is happy that his Lions were able to get the win, he knows that there is simply no way the effort that was shown in Week 1 is going to be good enough moving forward.
"There's certainly things that were below our standard, but some of the operational stuff is ultimately my job and it wasn't good enough. (It was) good enough for a win, (but) wasn't good enough for our standard."
Jared Goff encouraged by Lions' ability to persevere
In the end, the Lions were able to get the win in spite of playing poorly at times. Their ability to stay together and rally is commended,
Goff appreciates the fact the Lions won a game they didn't fully dominate.
"I think ultimately, it shows that we didn't play our best game and still won. (We have) a ton of stuff to clean up, (a) ton of things to get better at. It does feel a little bit like Week 1 last year where it's like 'yeah, we're making some mistakes, but we're able to get the win anyways.' For it to be in overtime, it is special. I think months from now, we'll look back and be happy we have (this win)."
The Lions and Rams could be end up having a playoff rematch. That will make the Lions thrilled to have collected this early win, even if Goff knows there are plenty of things to fix.