Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff is blocking out the noise made by Fox Sports duo Tom Brady and Terry Bradshaw on his way to the NFL Playoffs.
When Goff was traded to the Midwest in 2021, three years after Super Bowl LIII heartbreak with the Los Angeles Rams, many wrote the 30-year-old off. Yet, after a stuttering start, Goff has helped bring joy back to Ford Field, marching to a 14-2 record this season.
The Lions will now look to continue a Super Bowl charge and right the wrongs of their NFC Championship Game disappointment at the hands of the San Francisco 49ers last year. And Goff is ensuring that no noise – even the complimentary variety – could derail this train.
A 3-13-1 record promised very little during Goff’s debut year in the Motor City, and a 2020 draft class, headlined by lengthy OSU corner Jeff Okudah and Georgia’s star running-back D’Andre Swift, generally disappointed.
However, with their luck in the draft hotting up and stars such as 2025 Pro Bowl shoo-ins Jahmyr Gibbs and Amon-Ra St. Brown emerging to aid Goff, the turnaround has been swift. Now, hard-nosed Dan Campbell and his Lions sit atop the NFC – and face the division rival Minnesota Vikings in Week 18 for the number one seed.
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Goff’s role in these victories, which sees him rank second in passing yards to only Cincinnati Bengals star Joe Burrow this season, has understandably seen the likes of Brady and Bradshaw impressed.
Yet, speaking on the Let’s Go podcast, Goff revealed even compliments are now heading in one ear and out the other: “Anytime he [Brady] says stuff good, it’s, it’s always, it’s always nice to hear. But to be honest, you try to block it all out,” he stated. “The good and the bad.
“Like, it’s a lot of it, a lot of good stuff coming at us right now, and we got to do our best to kind of block that out just the same way as two years ago.”
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Speaking on Fox earlier in the year, when the Lions held a 4-1 record, Brady was full of praise for Goff, adding: “I just think that he’s really ascended to a great position as a leader of a franchise.”
Furthermore, Brady’s colleague, Fox NFL Sunday’s Bradshaw, was also called out in October last year for comparing Goff and his nonchalant and inevitable play to the seven-time Super Bowl winner.
“You said it; someone just said, Lions are going to go down, Goff’s going to take them right down, and they’re going to score. I remember standing on the sidelines in Houston when Tom led them down there, and Howie was a mess,” stated Bradshaw, live on Fox.
“And I said ‘Never worry, it’s in the best hands it could possibly be in Tom Brady’. When you can trust a quarterback who has consistently brought your team from behind – in the fourth quarter, especially – that’s a rarified air right there. Jared Goff has earned a lot of respect from me.”
Another of Bradshaw’s co-stars, Curt Menefee, replied to this claim by asking: “Goff is playing really well, but you want to go Tom Brady? You sure?” This prompted a telling response from the 76-year-old, who replied: “Yeah, I mean, yeah? Of course? Why not?”