Recently, the Detroit Lions have been steamrolling their competition, boasting 4 wins straight. Even with the terrific all around team play, there has been one player who has played a huge role in making this possible. Their Quarterback, Jared Goff.
His play has been terrific so far, which I believe gives Jared Goff the opportunity to actually have a chance to earn the Most Valuable Player (MVP) this season. This award is given to the best player in the league, which is mainly based on statistics and team performance.
After a slow start to the season, Jared Goff would begin the season with 1 touchdown and 3 interceptions. However, in the last 4 weeks, Jared Goff has improved his numbers with 9 passing touchdowns and only 1 interception, leading his team to four straight wins.
During this period he has also averaged a Passer Rating (RTG) of 140.8 and a season average of 111.5 putting him only behind the reigning MVP of the NFL Lamar Jackson and has a completion percentage of 73.6 putting him only behind Jayden Daniels. While maintaining a high completion percentage and Passer Rating, he’s third in the league for passing yards averaging 268 yards a game over the course of the first 6 games of the season.
However, even with the stats, Jared Goff has led the Detroit Lions to a 5-1 record, allowing them to take top spot of the NFC North and NFC conference as the number 1 seed (thru week 7).
Also, 3 of the 5 wins are over teams that have a win-loss record over .500, with 2 of those wins being by 2 scores or more with the most notable win being their dominant 47-9 win over the Cowboys in Dallas where Jared Goff threw for 3 touchdowns.
Jared Goff has also been incredibly accurate as well recently, with 2 of his last 3 games he’s had 3 incompletions or less and hasn’t thrown an interception in any of his last 3 games.
To say that Jared Goff doesn’t deserve to be in any MVP talks would be absurd. Comparing his start to this season to Lamar Jackson’s start to his season from last year, which earned him his second NFL MVP season, he has thrown 2 more touchdown passes and only 1 more interception than Lamar through week 7, While matching him for passing yards as with 1,610 yards through week 7.
Even though many betting sites like DraftKings Sportsbook have Jared Goff listed as fourth for the MVP voting odds. However, focusing on these sites would be very unideal since the people listed above him haven’t truly performed up to MVP expectations through week 7.
One notable name being Patrick Mahomes who is listed as the second favorite for the MVP, however his stats truly don’t resemble this at all. Even though the Kansas City Chiefs are currently 6-0, very little credit goes to Mahomes as through week 7, Mahomes leads the league in interceptions with 8 and has only thrown for 6 touchdowns. He’s also listed as 17th for passing yards which puts an even bigger dent into his argument for MVP.
Even though it is only week 7, I think we could definitely see Jared Goff continue to perform excellently, giving him even more of a notch to win his first MVP award. Especially since the Lions have surrounded him with key receivers like All-Pro, Amon-Ra St. Brown, and Jameson Williams who has been showing signs of breakout throughout the beginning of the season.
With these weapons and continuous excellent coaching from Head Coach, Dan Campbell and Offensive Coordinator, Ben Johnson, Jared Goff has everything he could possibly need to give him the extra notch and boosts to become the sleeper pick for MVP this season.
