Jared Goff, the Detroit Lions quarterback, is expected to receive a contract extension this summer, but he made news on Wednesday for a very different reason.
According to Kory Woods of MLive, Goff appeared to criticize local media members during a recent appearance on the “Trading Cards” podcast over coverage of the Lions prior to and during the club’s run to the NFC Championship game this season.
“I have this like … and I probably need to drop it pretty soon because I’m hopefully going to be in Detroit for a very long time,” he said. “But I have this thing with our local media, where they seem to love negativity at times. And maybe that’s what attracts clicks and sells. However, it is no longer sufficient for their survival. Like, “Hey guys, we have a good team.” We had success. As if we could be glad about that. We can celebrate that, rather than continually writing about how we’re always the underdog.”
According to Woods and Sean Keeley of Awful Announcing, Goff’s comments came in response to a query the signal-caller received regarding the San Francisco 49ers prior to the conference championship game, which the Niners won 34-31:
During the podcast, Goff stated that he would have chosen to focus on “how good our players are” at the time, which coincided with Detroit’s first playoff victory since January 1992.
“Teams are gonna be gunning for us now,” Goff said throughout the show. “We won the division, and all that. And I’m probably overthinking it in my head because I have a chip on my shoulder and am a competitor, but at the time, I was just giving [the reporter] a hard time. “I truly like him.
Goff is correct that people expect huge things from the Lions entering the 2024 NFL Draft. As of late Wednesday afternoon, DraftKings Sportsbook had Detroit tied for fourth among the betting favourites, with +1200 odds to win Super Bowl LIX in February 2025.
Goff has previously admitted to having chips on his shoulders for other reasons, such as the Los Angeles Rams replacing him with Matthew Stafford after the 2020 season.
Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of Goff’s statements is that the Lions were widely regarded as national media darlings dating back to last offseason.
Regardless of what Goff genuinely thinks of those who cover the Lions on a weekly basis, history shows that an athlete starting feuds with local media members usually benefits neither the player nor his club.
Goff will have plenty of opportunity to elaborate on his remarks between now and Week 1 in September.
Leave a Reply