Here’s why Jared Goff is legitimate MVP name after Lions’ win

This time, Jared Goff won his street fight. Down 29-28 with 2:32 remaining, punched in the mouth by a fourth-quarter defense that had just forced two punts and returned a fumble for a touchdown, the quarterback responded when the Lions most needed him.

Goff took the ball at his own 30-yard line and calmly marched Detroit to victory, including a play-action screen to Jahmyr Gibbs, who seamlessly darted down the sideline into field-goal range and skipped out of bounds to stop the clock. Then, Goff made the toughest of tough throws on a 14-yard out-route completion to Amon-Ra St. Brown in double coverage – setting up a 44-yard field goal by Jake Bates that ensured a 31-29 win and handed Minnesota (5-1) its first loss.

“The last drive was great summation of all the things you’re talking about,” said insider Sheil Kapadia on the Week 7 Ringer NFL Show. “They’re running the ball. They schemed up a beautiful play to Jahmyr Gibbs, Jared Goff is making tough throws. So, if you’re the Lions, you’ve got to feel good. They’ve faced a lot of adversity.”

Embodying that adversity was Bates. The big-legged UFL kicker was selling bricks when the Lions signed him June 18 to replace an injured Michael Badgley. But Goff put Bates in position for the biggest kick of his life, and the Detroit quarterback put himself in position for an MVP candidacy.

“I do think that the difference between him and the top quarterbacks is the ability to extend and make plays under pressure,” said Ringer co-host Steven Ruiz. “But behind that offensive line and in this offense, he doesn’t really have to do that, to the extent that those other players do. He doesn’t have to be Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes. … And he’s averaging 11 yards per attempt under pressure, so he’s doing it. He’s doing what those top quarterbacks do.”

He did more than the top quarterbacks on Sunday. Goff was 22 of 25 for 280 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions, and registered his 18^th game-winning drive, his 10^th with the Lions. And before that fourth-quarter march, he engineered four consecutive touchdown drives, overcoming an early 10-0 deficit against the vaunted Brian Flores defense. And when he wasn’t beating a cover-zero blitz with a perfectly placed seam touchdown to St. Brown, he was moving in the pocket to avoid a strip sack and completing a critical 22-yard first-down to Tim Patrick, setting up Goff’s touchdown pass to Khalif Raymond. Goff proved he’s not the same player who lost to the Patriots in Super Bowl LIII six years ago, or the same quarterback who lost at San Francisco in the 2023 NFC Championship Game.

“The one thing that Brian Flores is going to do,” said co-host Diante Lee, “is force you into uncomfortable situations, and make you have to change the way you play, specifically to attack the defense. And I thought Jared Goff did a really good job of that.

“And he didn’t panic in those third-down, pure-dropback situations where Brian Flores was really loading up the line of scrimmage with potential blitzers, whether they’re dropping or bringing guys from unconventional spots.”

Unconventional or not, the Lions (5-1) are squarely among the best teams in the NFL. And the only hope for the rest of the league might be that the NFC North cannibalizes itself. Next on the Lions’ agenda is the league’s top defense, the Titans, in Detroit on Sunday.