ESPN NEWS:Lions’ Jared Goff: 4,444 chips ‘will never leave me’ in trade with Rams ..
ALLEN PARK, Mich.
For quarterback Jared Goff, the past is the past.
Neither he nor any member of the Detroit Lions intends to turn Sunday’s NFC wild-card playoff game against the Los Angeles Rams, led by Goff’s former coach Sean McVay, into a head-to-head contest.
3dDan Graziano In 2021, the Rams traded Goff to Detroit for quarterback Matthew Stafford for a 2021 third-round pick, a 2022 first-round pick, and a 2023 first-round pick.
Goff admitted things didn’t work out in Los Angeles after starting in Super Bowl LII, but McVay still stands as the Lions prepare for their first home playoff appearance since the wild-card matchup He is grateful to Stafford.
That was in 1993, when they played in the Pontiac Silverdome instead of Ford Field against the Green Bay Packers.
“Obviously, we had a disagreement at the end, but he’s a great coach,” Goff said of McVay.
“He’s someone who taught me a lot.
” McVay said Wednesday he now realizes “I should have been treated better” than the way Goff was treated in his departure from Los Angeles.
said.
“One thing I will never escape is the mistakes I made in past cases.However, looking back, I have many good memories and am grateful for the past four years.
I might add that it was difficult in the end.
And could it have been handled better on my part?
absolutely.
And I will never run away from it,” he said.
“But the further you get away from it, the more you try to grow as a person, as a person, as the leader you want to be.
” He deserves better than the way everything went wrong.
I admit that.
And I think he knows that too.
I’m not afraid to admit these things, but I think it would be better for all of us to be able to reflect on these things.
Stafford, 35, remains Detroit’s all-time best passer and led the Rams to a Super Bowl title in his first year on the move.
It will also be his first time since moving to Detroit after 12 years with the Lions.
But Goff was unable to win a postseason game in Detroit, a rare opportunity.
In his third year with the Lions, Goff enjoyed a career resurgence, leading Detroit to a 12-5 season and tying for the most wins in franchise history.
He also joined Stafford (2011), and in that season he became the only player in team history to record at least 4,500 passing yards and 30 passing touchdowns in a season.
Eric Kramer was the last Lions quarterback to win a playoff game in 1991, and Goff hopes to join that list.
“I have a lot of respect for him and as a player and everything he’s done.
In my opinion, he’s a Hall of Fame player and this is a great way to build my own legacy and do something special.
” “We saw this as an opportunity to be on the ground floor of something and hopefully create something even more special than what we have now,” Goff said.
ESPN talks about Stafford.