Jared Goff has been one of the most productive quarterbacks in the NFL over the last couple seasons, and the Lions richly rewarded him this offseason. So he’s not going anywhere for the foreseeable future, and he’s as indispensable as anyone on the roster as the Lions try to find a suitable backup if should something happen to him.

No quarterback is great when pressured. But Goff, by DVOA (h/t to Bryan Knowles of FTN Fantasy), he had the steepest drop off in performance from a clean pocket to when pressured last season. It’s an easy way to knock Goff, as he simply does not move around well, but according to Next Gen Stats he had the most passing yards against the blitz last year (1,623).

Truly, that was success against unsuccessful blitzes. According to Next Gen, Goff was sacked on just 4.3 percent of his dropbacks against the blitz (lowest in the league).

Goff deserves props for recognizing when extra rushers are coming/where they are coming from, and getting the ball out of his hands. But it’s also good to work behind the best offensive line in the league.

Jared Goff faced one thing more than any other quarterback last season

So it’s no surprise, via NFL Inside Edge, to see the Lions faced more blitzes (230) than any other team in 2023. The second-place Los Angeles Chargers faced nine fewer blitzes, and the bottom-five on the list were around or over 100 fewer blitzes faced than the Lions.

There is of course a difference between sending blitzes and said blitzes getting home. The Lions’ offensive line makes it hard to get to Goff when sending four (or fewer) rushers, so sending extra people becomes virtually mandatory.

Knowles had some deeper data:
-Goff faced five or more pass rushers on 33 percent of his dropbacks last season (third-most in the league), but pressure got home on just 30 percent of those blitzes
-Goff had 1,112 passing yards against blitzes that did not result in pressure
-Goff had seven interceptions when pressured, second-most in the league

There’s a natural risk-reward equation attached to blitzing. When it comes to the Lions, it’s easy to accept the risk of getting burned when there’s the reward of turning a pressured Goff into a practically unplayable quarterback.

So even if a blitz won’t result in a sack very often, four times out of 100 (roughly, referring back to Next Gen Stats last season), it’s worth it to bring extra people against Goff. And opposing defensive coordinators will continue to do it a lot, since it’s the clearest way to disrupt the Lions’ offense.