Detroit Lions

Jared Goff's issues reinforce his, Lions' reliance on excellent offensive-line play

Published Dec. 5, 2023 3:39 p.m. ET

Every team’s success depends heavily on its ability in the trenches — particularly the offensive line. Everything starts up front, as coaches say.

Few teams have taken that to heart more in recent years than the Detroit Lions, and it may have more to do with necessity than philosophy.

The Lions first started to unequivocally focus on their offensive line after acquiring Jared Goff in the trade of Matthew Stafford. By 2021, they had identified a few good, young players and signed them to multi-year deals.

Center Frank Ragnow is one such player. He’s only 27 years old and signed through 2026. But he was the latest lineman to go down with an injury in Sunday’s win over the New Orleans Saints. He suffered a knee injury in the second quarter and Goff wasn’t at all the same quarterback in the second half.

The first quarter — rather, the first seven minutes — saw the Lions score three times and go up 21-0 over the Saints, silencing the Superdome in the process. After Ragnow left the game, Goff only threw for 86 more yards, 48 of which came on one throw to tight end Sam LaPorta. And after all that, the Lions settled for a field goal on the drive. They scored just one touchdown in the entire half, which came on a 19-yard end-around by wide receiver Jameson Williams.

Goff was ultimately 9-of-15 in the first half, passing for 127 yards and two touchdowns. In the second half, he went 7-of-10 for 86 yards and no touchdowns, while Detroit’s offense looked positively anemic for most of the final two quarters.

The Lions looked to have dodged a severe injury to Ragnow, but head coach Dan Campbell wouldn’t put a timetable on his return.

In Goff’s worst game of the season — a brutal last-minute win over the Chicago Bears, who the Lions will face again this weekend — Goff didn’t come alive until the final four minutes of the game. He completed 23 of his 35 passing attempts with two touchdowns and three interceptions. Ten of those completions and both of his touchdowns came within that last four-minute span. It was Goff’s only multi-interception game this season. Wouldn’t you know it? The Lions had two backup offensive linemen in the game.

Can Jared Goff turn things around for the Lions?

Halapoulivaati Vaitai had been out since Week 7 and the game against Chicago was the first of two games that guard Jonah Jackson missed. Rookie Colby Sorsdal was in for Vaitai while Graham Glasgow was in for Jackson.

During the next game against the Packers, whom the Lions lost to on Thanksgiving, Detroit was still trying to find the right replacement combination and they suffered even more injuries. Sorsdal and Awosika split snaps while Dan Skipper was brought in nine times as an extra blocker as the Lions desperately tried to protect Goff. His stat line looks perfectly acceptable; he completed 29 of his 44 passing attempts for 332 yards and two touchdowns. But Goff fumbled three times and Detroit lost the ball all three times.

Detroit got Jackson back in New Orleans and put Glasgow in Vaitai’s place. It wasn’t perfect, but Goff managed 213 passing yards and two touchdowns without turning the ball over.

Alongside this shuffling has come a noticeable downturn in Goff’s play overall. He started the season with a fully healthy offensive line and completed 141 of his 203 passing attempts, good for a 70% completion rate. He threw for 1,618 yards, 11 touchdowns and just three interceptions.

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Since the Baltimore Ravens game in Week 7, Goff has just a 66% completion rate and has a noticeably worse touchdown-to-interception ratio with nine touchdowns and five interceptions.

Ragnow’s injury could prove to be the most impactful one for however long he’s out. The Lions will also face a defensive front in Chicago that has improved since the arrival of Montez Sweat at the trade deadline. If that’s the case, the Lions offense doesn’t look like the unstoppable force it was earlier in the season because Goff doesn’t look like the MVP candidate he was when his offensive line was fully intact.

Carmen Vitali covers the NFC North for FOX Sports. Carmen had previous stops with The Draft Network and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. She spent six seasons with the Bucs, including 2020, which added the title of Super Bowl Champion (and boat-parade participant) to her résumé. You can follow Carmen on Twitter at @CarmieV.