Before the game in Detroit today, a group of nuns was standing down on the field. A quarterback in a Lions hat came over and said hello to every one of them. They taught him in high school. His name is Jared Goff. He went to Marin Catholic, up in Kentfield, California, and the sisters who taught there used to sit at the 50 yard line on Friday nights so they could be around the families. In 2011 two of them were sitting together watching a skinny junior play quarterback. One of the sisters was a lifelong Michigan fan and knew the game. Here is what she said about the kid. "He's going all the way to the NFL." She was not looking at his numbers. She was looking at how he behaved when it got bad. "He doesn't crack under pressure." Sister Miriam, who was sitting next to her, could not believe somebody would say that out loud about a high school junior. So look at what that kid was actually offered. Boise State. Fresno State. Washington State. That is the list. He went to Cal instead, became the first true freshman ever to start a season opener there, and the team went 1 and 11. He left Cal holding 26 school records and went first overall in the 2016 draft. Then the Los Angeles Rams went 0 and 7 with him as a rookie starter, and two years later he took them to the Super Bowl, and they lost it 13 to 3. And then they traded him. Understand how that trade was built. To get Matthew Stafford, the Rams sent Detroit two first round picks, a third, and Goff. He was not the prize in it. He was treated as a bridge to whoever came next. His father Jerry, who caught in the Major Leagues for six seasons, put it plainly. "He's tough, man. This whole transition wasn't for everybody. It was a hard deal." Detroit went 3 and 10 and 1 his first year there. Then in 2023 he won the first Detroit playoff game since 1991. In 2024 he went 15 and 2, and against Seattle that September he completed all 18 of his passes, which no quarterback in the history of the league had ever done in a game that size. He has thrown for more than 40,000 yards. Be straight about where it still sits. He has not won a Super Bowl, Detroit has never played in one, and the last two Januarys both ended early. But a woman in a habit watched a skinny 16 year old in 2011 and called the whole thing, and he still walks across a field to find her. When did somebody see something in you before you could see it.

solid list

Jared Goff just netted his 51st 300-yard game. That ties him with Patrick Mahomes for the most 300-yards games since 2018