Jared Goff showed out in the Detroit Lions' preseason contest against the Atlanta Falcons on Friday. As it turns out, however, the two-time Pro Bowl quarterback wasn't even supposed to play in the first place.
Lions head coach Dan Campbell had already determined that he would have his star QB sit out the team's preseason opener. Apparently, the Detroit shot-caller wanted to reward Goff with a day off amid his strong showing in camp (h/t Jeremy Reisman of Pride of Detroit):
“He was playing pretty good (in training camp), he was in a good spot,” Campbell said. “So we said, ‘Well, if we’re going to sit somebody, maybe we ought to sit Goff.’”
Jared Goff was having none of it, though. As soon as he found out that the rest of the first-team offense was suiting up against the Falcons, he just had to make sure that he was going to take part in the game as well:
“He came into my office and said, ‘I want to play,’” Campbell recalled. “And I said, ‘Well, you’re not playing.’ He said, ‘Well, if they’re playing, I’m playing.’ And I said, ‘Okay, you’re playing.”
Goff's inspiring act drew some high praise from left tackle Taylor Decker, who believes that it was a genuine show of leadership from the Lions talisman:
“I love that,” Decker said. “You want your quarterback to go out there, he’s like, ‘If my guys are out there, I’m going to go out there and compete and we’re going to go right down the field and score.’ And that’s what we did.”
In the end, the Lions ended up losing their preseason matchup against the Falcons, 27-23. What cannot be denied, however, is that Goff's actions have made their mark on his coach and his teammates. At the end of the day, this has much more value than a preseason victory.