Jared Goff looks like one of the best QBs … ever. Is it sustainable?

Photo by David Berding/Getty Images

Jared Goff’s recent play has him finally living up to the hype.

It’s not at all uncommon for an NFL quarterback to go on a one-game heater and never do anything else of import. Mitch(ell) Trubisky of the Chicago Bears once threw five touchdown passes in a single half against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Craig Erickson of the Bucs once singed the Indianapolis Colts with a near-perfect performance. Jeff Blake of the Cincinnati Bengals once put up a perfect passer rating against the Pittsburgh Steelers when that Steelers defense was at one of its all-time heights.

The key to quarterback greatness over time, of course, is to start stringing those games together in a credible fashion. Then we can start talking about you in any tone from season-defining to all-time amazing.

What then are we to make of one Jared Thomas Goff, who is playing the quarterback position about as well as it can be played right now?

Starting with Detroit’s 42-29 Week 4 win over the Seattle Seahawks, moving to the Lions’ 47-9 Week 6 win over the Dallas Cowboys, and ending (so far) with Sunday’s 31-29 over the Minnesota Vikings, Goff is on a three-game streak the likes of which we have rarely seen in the history of professional football.

Like, EVER.

Goff sliced and diced the Vikings defense, completing 22 of 25 passes for 280 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 140.0 – which actually represents a bit of a downgrade of late. As the Vikings came into this game ranked first in Pass Defense DVOA, we suppose we can give Goff a bit of a mulligan there.

He also had a 153.8 passer rating in Week 6 and a 155.8 passer rating in Week 4 prior to Detroit’s Week 5 bye. Per NFL Research, Goff is now the fourth quarterback in NFL history with a passer rating of 140.0 or higher in three consecutive games, joining Aaron Rodgers (Weeks 7-10, 2011), as well as Pro Football Hall of Famers Roger Staubach (Weeks 11-13, 1971) and Kurt Warner (Weeks 3-5, 1999).

Warner and Staubach were on the winning ends of Super Bowls in their historic seasons, and while Rodgers wasn’t (the defending Super Bowl champion Packers were upset by the New York Giants in the Divisional Round), Rodgers’ 2011 season is generally regarded by football connoisseurs as one of the greatest any quarterback has ever enjoyed.

The only thing that has stopped Goff in any way in that stretch of time was that Week 5 bye.

In any four-game span in NFL history, Goff is the only one to produce a completion percentage of 80.0% and a passer rating of 140.0. In each of his last four games, Goff has completed at least 72.0% of his passes, thrown for two touchdowns and posted a passer rating of 110.0. The only other player to have a four-game streak with these numbers in a single season was Tom Brady in 2007. And though Brady’s Patriots came up short in Super Bowl XLII, we all know what kind of offense that was.

We’ll let this statistic stand on its own, because it is just completely preposterous.

Goff under pressure during this streak has been even more of a revelation. Per Next Gen Stats, the Vikings blitzed Goff on a season-high 55.2% of his dropbacks, where he completed 13 of 15 passes against those blitzes for 163 yards and a touchdown. Goff has averaged a league-high 11.6 yards per attempt under pressure this season, while no other quarterback has averaged more than 9.0 yards per attempt.

“It’s hard,” Goff said of throwing against all those blitzes. ”I like to think I’m just pretty dang accurate outside of wherever I’m playing. But these guys are a good defense, man. They really are. Got a lot of respect for them and what they do on defense. I thought we had a great plan and executed it pretty well.”

Which has generally been the case. Offensive coordinator Ben Johnson gets most of the credit when Goff plays well, and while Johnson is a dynamite offensive mind in about 40 different ways, somebody still has to execute all those brilliant ideas on the field.

One reason that Goff is so great under pressure is his pocket movement, which has improved exponentially over the years. Goff doesn’t bail when he’s disrupted; he’s still in control no matter what. This 38-yard completion to receiver Kalif Raymond with 11:49 left in the first half against the Cowboys in Week 6 was an ideal example. Dallas’ five-man rush with safety Malik Hooker compressed the back of the pocket, so Goff simply hitched up and drove the ball to Raymond on the post part of the post/over combination.

Goff was just as composed on this 35-yard seam route touchdown to Amon-Ra St. Brown with 8:44 left in the first half. Goff’s teammates did a great job of picking up the extra rushers with receiver motion, but it was still up to Goff to reset in the changing pocket, and make the perfect throw, which he does more often than not.

When legendary Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores called his usual “This looks like a six-man blitz, but we’re going to drop into Cover-2 with four rushers” thing, Goff surveyed the scene, and hit tight end Sam LaPorta on a nifty double-crosser for 25 more yards with 2:15 left in the first half.

With 7:48 left in the third quarter, Vikings pass-rusher Jonathan Greenard actually got close enough to Goff to somewhat upset his walkthrough, but Goff did what he does in response – he went all Zen, man, and simply hit receiver Tim Patrick in a hole in Minnesota’s Quarters coverage — on second-and-15, no less.

Back in the day, Flores’ blitzes used to make Goff barf all over himself and throw the ball to Goff Knows Whom. Now? Flores (and everybody else in the NFL) had better come up with a different plan.

Not at all bad for a guy who was long considered a relative failure during his time with the Los Angeles Rams from 2016-2020, and who was a nondescript throw-in as part of the trade that sent Matthew Stafford from Detroit to L.A. before the 2021 season.

What makes this look more like who Jared Goff is as opposed to some fluke is the way Goff is so solid in all the attributes required of great quarterbacks.

Calm in the pocket, and the ability to move in short areas without panicking.
Using your mechanics to enhance your arm talent and accuracy.
Having a full view and understanding of what a defense is trying to do to you.
Working in perfect conjunction with a brilliant coach who has ultimate confidence that whatever he calls, you will execute.

These aren’t a few flashy plays to get an average quarterback beyond his own obvious limitations. Quietly, and almost behind our backs, Jared Goff has become One Of Those Guys, and this doesn’t look to be going away anytime soon.

“He’s a stud,” head coach Dan Campbell said of his quarterback after the Vikings game. “I just got asked a question, like, what did you see? This goes back to what did you see in ’21, when Brad and I acquired him? What makes it? And the guy’s got arm talent, there’s no question. But it’s what he’s got here [points to his head] and what he’s got here [points to his heart].

“That’s what makes him a dangerous player, and it’s what makes him really one of these guys that you can build around because he’s a winner, man. He will find a way to win. He’ll find a way to put the offense in a position to win the game. He doesn’t get frazzled. He’s tough.He’s competitive. And he’s just—he’s reliable. He’s reliable. And I love the guy, man. And once again, he steps up huge for us there on the road, division game.”

True that, but at this rate, Jared Goff is shooting for a lot more than a division game. He’s reaching for the sky, and the tape says that while regression from near-perfection is inevitable, the midline Goff might not be too far from the inconceivable heights.

That’s all you can ask of any quarterback.