LIONS QB JARED GOFF QUOTE SHEET

January 26, 2024

On if he heard that the crowd chanted ‘Jared Goff’ at the Red Wings game last night: “Yeah, it was sent to me last night by a few people. And yeah, pretty cool, pretty fun to be a part of a city that cares so much.”

On if he was at the Red Wings game last night: “I was not there, no.”

On if the spread of fan support is surreal and if he experienced this when he played for the Rams: “Not like this, no. No, this is a little different. And obviously, the circumstances of it all kind of feeds into that. But yeah, these fans are unbelievable. I expect to see a lot of them this weekend as well, it’ll be fun.”

On how this week of practice went: “It was good, really good.”

On how quickly he is able to build chemistry with Lions TE Zach Ertz with the amount of experience he has had in this League: “Yeah, he’s picked it up extremely fast. He really has. And really impressive, not that you didn’t expect that from a guy like him who’s been around for so long. And I’ve known him here and there throughout the years and just hearing about how smart he is and how well he can pick up things, he’s done it really well this week. And yeah, it’s been good.”

On how valuable it is to have veteran voices who have been in this position before in the locker room: “Yeah, it is cool. It is good having those guys around. I mean, (Lions TE) Zach (Ertz)’s another one. Like you said, he’s won a Super Bowl and having him around for games like this and being able to know that the moment isn’t too big for a guy like that and being able to have guys see that on the field every day is fun.”

On the 'superpowers' he sees in Lions Head Coach Dan Campbell: “Oh boy, yeah. I mean, again, I could probably go for a little while here. But obviously, I think the number one thing that I think about with him is his emotional intelligence, how well he can read the room and know people and that’s maybe characteristic number one of being a leader and why he is so good at that. But he knows when to push, when to pull, when to tell you he needs a little bit more from you, when to love you up. He’s got such a great feel for all that, which is why he’s so special.”

On if Lions Head Coach Dan Campbell's leadership ability is one of the reasons why he was able to lock into the organization from the start: “Yeah, I think not just me, we all respect him because he tells us how it is and he’s sat in our seats before and understands on day 15 of training camp that we’re tired and it’s hard and we know he gets it, but at the same time he’s going to push us. And when a guy that knows it is still pushing you, you kind of trust that a bit more. And yeah, it’s a good way to be as a head coach and it helps us.”

On what he makes of the 'cosmic forces' that led him to play against his former team and his hometown team this postseason: “I don’t know, yeah, they’re the one seed and that’s who’s up next. I don’t think it has anything to do with me. But yeah, it’ll be fun. It’s exciting and yeah, it’s cool for me to go back home, but at the same time, it’ll be a tough game.”

On the similarities and differences between when he was in this position with the Rams compared to now: “Yeah, a lot of similarities. On the road, certainly will be the similarity of that one against a good team. It’ll be a tough matchup regardless of how the game goes. It’ll be a four-quarter game. Yeah, as far as the ins and outs of the team, not much. But yeah, I think it’s certainly being a road NFC Championship game.”

On if he had to hold off on getting the offensive linemen gifts until the postseason ends or if he has to give them a bigger second gift: “Their gifts? They got their gifts at Christmas. Yeah, you do it before the season extends. But those guys, I’ll make sure they’re well taken care of.”

On if he has to give the offensive linemen a second gift for making it this far into the postseason: “No, I may have to. That’s a good idea. I’ll have to think about that, yeah.”

On what it is about his personality that has allowed him to improve programs at California, the Rams and now the Lions: “Yeah, I don’t know. I think it’s – all three of those situations have been very, very much about the people that were there. Certainly, I had a hand in it, but for me, I’ve always had a lot of pride in trying to be the same guy every day. And whether it’s hard, whether it’s great, whether it’s fun, whether it’s not, how do you show up every day and be that same guy? And I think that, certainly, helped me get through it. And maybe it’s rubbed off on some other guys along the way. But yeah, that and optimism, eternal optimism. You’re always knowing, thinking the best situation.”

On if the drive to better the situation at California was part of the reason why he chose to go there: “No, both my parents went there. It was one-of-three scholarship offers and there it’s the number one public school in the world, so made it pretty easy.”

On if there is something about how he was raised that pushes him to have an optimistic outlook on the world: “No, I don’t know. I had great parents, so that probably had something to do with it. But I can’t point to any one thing they’ve pointed to me. I think I’ve talked about this in the past, but my dad played professionally and always just preached to have fun, enjoy it, doesn’t last forever. And that’s certainly carried me through a lot of the hard times.”

On the steps he takes to mentally prepare for a game of this magnitude: “Same things I do every week. No different. Wednesday-Friday, do the gameplan and study it up and get ready to go.”