Jared Goff set to become more Detroit Lion than Los Angeles Ram
On Sunday, quarterback Jared Goff will start his 70th career regular season game as a Detroit Lion. That’s significant because he began his career starting 69 total games for the team that drafted him: the Los Angeles Rams. So by the time he walks off the field in Cincinnati, his career will officially be more Detroit Lions than it will be Los Angeles Rams.
Goff learned about this fact earlier in the week during his regular 97.1 The Ticket radio appearance. And it’s fair to say his identity has fully taken over as a Detroiter.
“I wear a lot of Carhartt. That might be part of it.”
Okay, maybe there’s some work to do there.
But when it comes to his football identity, he is more Lion than Ram.
“I’ve certainly become a Lion now in my career,” Goff told Detroit media on Wednesday. “When I look back on it, it’s going to be majority Lions. Hopefully, a lot more majority as we go on. But yeah, it’s been a fun journey here; it’s been fun to grow into and to be a part of this city. And to now, I guess flip the scale in that way is cool.”
What’s truly remarkable about this moment in Goff’s career is how his Lions and Rams careers are near mirror images of each other. In his 69 games as a Rams starter, he amassed a 42-27 record despite a 0-7 start. In his 69 games as a Lions starter, he’s 42-26-1 despite a 3-10-1 start to his career. In LA, he made the Super Bowl in his third year with the team. In Year 3 in Detroit, he made the NFC Championship game.
The obvious difference is that there has been no downfall in Detroit. While his productivity and trust from his coaching staff eroded with the Rams, the Lions have never been more confident in Goff.
“I’m telling you, the guy is playing at a very high level,” Campbell said last week during a radio appearance. “You talk about running the quarterback position, nobody’s playing it better than him right now.
The numbers certainly back that up. Goff is currently holding the highest completion percentage (73.8), passer rating (113.0), and QBR (81.7) of his entire 10-year career.
And he hopes, by the time his career is over, that his Lions’ career dwarfs his five years in Los Angeles. But how far away is that finish line? Goff isn’t ready to say.
“That’s a big question right now. I’m in Week 5. Hopefully, a long time, I don’t know. Yeah, hard to answer. I think a long time,” Goff said.
Commanders All-Pro WR Terry McLaurin Spotted Back at Practice
We got to see what life is like for the Washington Commanders without quarterback Jayden Daniels and Terry McLaurin a Week 4 loss to the Atlanta Falcons.
That’s the same Falcons team that was shut out by the lowly Carolina Panthers just one week earlier The loss dropped the Commanders to 2-2.
With Daniels back for Week 5 on the road against the Los Angeles Rams after missing the last 2 games with a sprained knee, there might be even more good news on the horizon.
The Athletic’s Nicki Jhabvala posted a picture of McLaurin warming up at practice for the Commanders on Thursday, October 2, that gave some hope he might be back sooner than expected after missing the game against the Falcons with a quad injury.
McLaurin was injured in a Week 3 win over the Las Vegas Raiders in which he finally seemed to shake off the rust of missing almost the entire offseason and training camp because of a lengthy contract dispute.
Commanders head coach Dan Quinn said McLaurin was “trending up” on Wednesday.
“(McLaurin) reportedly visited multiple specialists, including a foremost expert on core muscle injuries,” Commanders Wire’s Bryan Manning wrote on October 1. “Surgery wasn’t needed for McLaurin at that time and Quinn called him ‘week to week.’ ”
McLaurin Off to Slow Start After $97M Payday
McLaurin set the franchise record with 13 receiving touchdowns in 2024 and earned NFL All-Pro honors for the first time. After signing a 3-year, $97 million contract extension on August 25, he had just 10 receptions for 149 yards and no touchdowns through the first 3 games of the regular season.
“Washington WR Terry McLaurin is uncertain to play Sunday vs. Atlanta due to his quad injury, per source,” ESPN’s Adam Schefter wrote on his official X account on September 23. “He still is seeking more information about the injury.”
With Marcus Mariota starting in place of Daniels, McLaurin had his best game of the season against the Raiders with 3 receptions for 74 yards and one touchdown … that wasn’t really a touchdown.
CONTROVERSY
The knee never actually hits the ground; Terry McLaurin is on top of the Raiders defender.
This should have been a TD. The "expedited replay system" got this wrong.
pic.twitter.com/BbNFseJfEz— Chad Ryan (@ChadwikoTWW) September 21, 2025
ESPN’s John Keim thinks reading too much into McLaurin’s struggles might be a mistake.
“The slow start was somewhat expected given that he missed all of training camp (in addition to OTA and minicamp practices) while holding out/in,” Keim wrote on September 17. “He’s receiving a similar number of targets as he did last year (6.88 in 2024; 6.5 in 2025) and he was getting open vs. Green Bay — but the Packers’ pass rush often negated chances. McLaurin is still getting open — when he runs a route after lining up wide left (his usual spot), he’s averaging 2.53 yards of separation compared with 2.63 last year. It’s a matter of time for McLaurin.”
Commanders WR Room Not in Great Shape
The Commanders were without 2 of their top 3 wide receivers against the Falcons as the team’s WR3. Veteran Noah Brown has missed the last 2 games with a groin injury.
Another NFL All-Pro, Deebo Samuel, is the team’s leading wide receiver (22 receptions, 204 yards, 2 touchdowns) is listed as questionable with a heel injury but all signs point to him being able to play against the Rams.
