There aren’t many outside the Lions’ building who believe the team can go to the postseason this year.
Quarterback Jared Goff doesn’t care about their opinions.
Detroit’s new QB1 is used to winning and going to the postseason, making three trips to the playoffs in the last four years for the Rams. But the expectations are significantly different for his first season as a Lion, given that the team is starting over with a new General Manager and head coach.
Still, Goff said Monday that even though he understands why folks think the way they do about the Lions, he and his teammates have higher expectations.
“It’s a new regime, new staff, they [the Lions] weren’t very good last year,” Goff said, via Tim Twentyman of the team’s website. “It’s a whole new thing, and I understand it, but just like every other team in this league, there’s expectations.
“I don’t know what the stat is, but every year there’s new teams in the playoffs. Every year there are teams that were in the playoffs last year that aren’t. Why not us? Why can’t we be that one that wasn’t in last year that is this year? ... Again, it starts one week at a time. Internally, our expectations are as high as anyone else.”
It won’t be easy for Detroit in a division that includes Green Bay, Minnesota, and Chicago. But Goff’s right that every year there are teams that surprise and make their way into the postseason. Things could work out that way for the Lions in 2021 if the club meets its own lofty expectations.
