Jared Goff has made the NFC Championship Game of the 2023 NFL playoffs as quarterback of the Detroit Lions. It’s been a great turnaround for Goff after he was discarded by the Los Angeles Rams as part of a blockbuster trade in 2021.
The Lions are now one game away from making the Super Bowl, performing admirably in the 2023 playoffs. After eight years in the league, how has Goff fared in the playoffs across his whole career?
Jared Goff’s Playoff Stats
Goff has resurrected his career in Detroit after almost being an afterthought in the Rams’ trade for Matthew Stafford. Many had written Goff’s postseason chances off after he was viewed as an average option moving to Detroit.
Now Goff stands on the verge of making it to another Super Bowl as he tries to take the Lions to the big game for the first time in their history.
Goff has answered all the doubters and has shown he is capable of winning. He may not be flashy, but he is reliable. He has consistently shown it in the regular season in Detroit, and now he’s done it in the playoffs as well. In his playoff career, Goff is 5-3 in the postseason (2-3 with the Rams, now 2-0 with the Lions).
We first saw Goff in the postseason in 2017, when the Rams lost 26-13 in the Wild Card Round to the Atlanta Falcons. He had 24 completions on 45 attempts, 259 passing yards, and one touchdown.
The following season, in 2018, the Rams went 13-3 and returned to the playoffs as the No. 2 seed and had a bye in the Wild Card Round. That season, Los Angeles made the Super Bowl with Goff under center.
The Rams went on to beat the Dallas Cowboys 30-22 in the Divisional Round, with Goff completing 15 of 28 passes for 186 yards. He did just enough but didn’t have any touchdowns.
In the NFC Championship Game, LA beat the New Orleans Saints 26-23 in overtime, where Goff had 25 completions for 297 yards, one touchdown, and one interception.
The Rams then faced the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LIII but were completely underwhelming, losing the game 13-3. In that contest, Goff wasn’t able to get going, finishing with 19 completions on 38 attempts, 229 passing yards, one interception, and was sacked four times.
In the three games in Goff’s run to the Super Bowl, he had 59 completions on 106 attempts, one touchdown, and two interceptions.
It wasn’t until 2020 that Goff would return to the playoffs with the Rams. Entering the postseason as the No. 6 seed, the Rams beat their divisional rivals, the Seattle Seahawks, in the Wild Card Round, with Goff going 9 of 19 for 155 yards and a touchdown.
However, he didn’t start that game after undergoing thumb surgery just two weeks prior. Backup QB John Wolford started but exited with a neck injury, forcing Goff to come in off the bench.
Yet, Goff completed only 47.4% of his passes that day, joining an exclusive club of quarterbacks to have a completion percentage under 50% and win a playoff game.
MORE: Have the Lions Ever Played in the NFC Championship Game?
In the Divisional Round, Goff and the Rams took on the Green Bay Packers, where they faltered 32-18 despite his credible performance — completing 21 of 27 passes for 174 yards and one touchdown.
That would be the last game for Goff with the Rams before his trade to Detroit as part of a package for Stafford.
When traded, the Lions were in rebuild mode. Detroit went 3-13-1 in Goff’s first season with the team. Yet, under the tutelage of HC Dan Campbell, Goff has managed to guide the Lions back to relevance.
Goff’s 2023 Playoff Run
Detroit narrowly missed the playoffs in Goff’s second season with the team, finishing above .500 at 9-8 and second in the NFC North. However, in 2023, Goff and the Lions returned to the postseason looking to shake off the playoff hoodoo that hung over Ford Field.
Entering the playoffs as the No. 3 seed, the Lions hadn’t won a playoff game since January 1992. With the Rams as the sixth seed, Goff and Stafford were set to face off against their old teams.
Goff completed 22 of 27 passes for 277 passing yards and one touchdown as the Lions finally won a playoff game, defeating the Rams 24-23.
The Lions headed into another home game at Ford Field in the Divisional Round of the 2023 playoffs against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Goff completed 30 of 43 passes for 287 yards and two touchdowns as Detroit won 31-23.
Goff has led the Lions to only their second-ever NFC Championship Game as they head to Santa Clara to face the San Francisco 49ers for a spot in Super Bowl LVIII.
Speaking of how good Goff has been in 2023, Campbell said, “He’s one of the reasons that we won this division, and he’s another reason why we just won our first playoff game here in 30 years, so what a stud.”
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