With a 26-23 win against the Houston Texans, Jared Goff and the Detroit Lions extended their winning streak to seven games. They have lost only once this season and look like the best team in the NFC.
Goff was among the leading candidates for the MVP award heading into the Week 10 game against the Texans. However, he threw five interceptions in the prime-time game on Monday Night Football and now has the ninth-best odds of winning the award.
Former Lions quarterback Dan Orlovsky recently mentioned that Goff’s MVP case is over, as he cannot bounce back from the disastrous performance against Houston on Monday Night Football.
Dan Orlovsky Shares His Thoughts on Jared Goff’s MVP Case
Orlovsky has been a huge supporter of Goff throughout the years and has backed him no matter what. But, during a segment on ESPN’s “First Take,” he expressed his honest views about the Lions quarterback and why he can no longer be considered to win the MVP this season.
“I love Jared Goff; no one’s championed Jared Goff more,” Orlovsky said. “His MVP case is over. You don’t throw five interceptions in prime-time television and still be in that race. I think this weekend is going to go a long way in determining who is actually going to win the MVP.
“Think about it, [Lamar Jackson,] who is running away with the award right now, has a rivalry game against Pittsburgh, a massive moment for Lamar Jackson. Think about tonight — there’s two guys that are very much so in that conversation. What happens if Jayden Daniels goes to Philly tonight and lights Philly up, one of the best defenses in the league, and wins?
“He’s probably going to be in second or third place. Jared Goff is not going to catch that.”
.@danorlovsky7 says Jared Goff's MVP case is over 😳
"No one has championed Jared Goff more. His MVP case is over. You don't throw five interceptions in primetime television and still be in that race." pic.twitter.com/BjkUnSRVmu
— First Take (@FirstTake) November 14, 2024
These players have better odds to win the MVP than Goff before the start of Week 11:
- Lamar Jackson
- Josh Allen
- Patrick Mahomes
- Jalen Hurts
- Jayden Daniels
- Kyler Murray
- Brock Purdy
- Joe Burrow
No matter how he plays for the rest of the season, it’s nearly impossible for the Lions star to surpass eight players in front of him. The Lions can finish with the best record in the league, but players like Jackson, Allen, and Hurts will also lead their teams to good records while putting up better stats than Goff.
Moreover, the fact that Goff threw for just 85 yards when the Lions defeated the Tennessee Titans 52-14 in a game doesn’t help his MVP case.
Goff Still Has a Lot of Time Left To Redeem Himself
Goff’s performance against the Texans was arguably the worst of his career, yet he was able to lead his team to a game-winning drive. The 30-year-old quarterback might not win the MVP, but his main goal this season is to win a Super Bowl.
The Lions have one of the best rosters in the league, and even after losing a player of Aidan Hutchinson’s caliber, they have looked unstoppable. Goff has a lot of games left to redeem himself, and if he plays well in the playoffs, no one will care about what he did in Week 10 against the Texans.
Detroit has full faith in its quarterback, and so far, he has not let them down in big spots. Goff has the opportunity to lead the Lions to their first-ever Super Bowl in franchise history, and it’s better that he has already had a poor game like that early in the season.
The Lions will face the Jaguars in Week 12, and their quarterback can get back in form against the league’s third-worst passing defense.
Jared Goff’s QB+ Ranking
Here at Pro Football Network, we’ve developed a new stats-based approach, the PFN Insights QB+ Metric. We’re molding stats that include success rates when pressured, third-down conversion rate, and pocket production. The added wrinkle in this PFN Insight is quantifying “clutch.”
Defining “clutch” performance is an imperfect science. In this case, we’ve used timeliness-based stats to account for score and situation.
Through Week 10, Goff has earned a B grade. However, any talk of Goff for MVP hit the skids hard with his five-interception game on Sunday Night Football in Week 10. Overall, his performance last week was not that disastrous, but it does make it three C+ grades or lower in the last three weeks.
He is still on pace to finish with the best QB+ score of his career but has slipped back closer to the numbers we saw in 2022 and 2023.
Goff’s numbers remain good when throwing from a clean pocket, but he ranks just slightly above average when throwing under pressure and converting on third downs. He is doing an excellent job getting his receivers in space to make plays, ranking second when it comes to YAC/Cp, which has helped him a third-ranked nYPA and a sixth-placed ranking in EPA per dropback.