Jared Goff didn’t need much time after Sunday Night Football to pinpoint where the Detroit Lions went wrong in their loss to the Carolina Panthers. The finish was there. The execution wasn’t.
Asked whether he thought the Lions were going to pull it out late, Goff said he believed they were close to flipping the game with one score.
"Yeah, I did. I thought we just needed that first score to cut it to one score.
I had the drive before we scored on that I thought we would get it done on; we didn't. But just getting the ball with two minutes and a chance to win it is all we want, and we had the chance.
Feels like we, I, let us down a little bit not scoring there at the end to win the game."
That theme carried through the rest of his postgame comments. Goff pointed to the details that kept the offense from finding its rhythm, especially the pre-snap mistakes that stalled drives and added up over the night.
"Yeah, too many penalties, right? Too many pre-snap stuff.
Starts with me, communication and the whole thing, just making sure guys are on the same page and being a little cleaner there. We had a couple holding calls or something, a couple post-snap penalties, those are going to happen, but the pre-snap stuff can't happen.
"Yeah, maybe something I need to spend a little more time on."
Even with the loss, Goff said the season is far from defined by one rough night. He stressed that the Lions still have plenty in front of them and made clear that the locker room’s response matters as much as the result.
"Yeah, the whole season's ahead of us with 13 games left now, and I've done some good things. This one's going to sting certainly because we had our chances to win it.
But yeah, whole season ahead of us and a lot of ball ahead of us and a lot of things to get right. I know one thing, we're going to stick together and stay insulated in our bubble and lean on each other and make it right."
There were a couple of bright spots on offense, including connections downfield to Isaac TeSlaa and Jameson Williams. Goff said those plays were a positive, even if he thought there were more opportunities to hit.
"Yeah, a couple of them. It was good to hit. There's probably a couple more we would like to have, but it's good to hit."
He also addressed the run game, both in this game and in the loss to Buffalo, saying the unit simply wasn’t efficient enough. He stopped short of drawing a hard comparison between the two performances.
"No, other than it wasn't as efficient as we would like. I don't know. I would have to watch it to give you a better answer, but no, it wasn't great."
In Other News...
Lions Suddenly Have A Bigger Problem Than One Ugly Loss
After a rough stretch that left Detroit sitting at 2-2, the frustration around the Lions goes beyond one bad night. The offense and defense both came up short in a loss that exposed some familiar problems, even as there were still a few bright spots worth noting. Jake Bates continued to provide steady work on special teams, and Jared Goff had enough promising passing moments to show the attack is not completely out of rhythm.
The bigger concern is how many areas now need attention at once. The Lions have been loose at key moments, and the linebacker group has not consistently done its job, which puts more pressure on the rest of the defense. Add in the need for better depth in the secondary, and the ugly loss starts to look less like an isolated setback and more like a warning sign about how much cleaning up still has to happen. [Read more 🡒]
Lions Loss Exposed Two Problems Fans Can't Ignore
Detroits 32-26 Sunday night loss to Carolina left the Lions at 2-2 and brought two lingering issues into sharper view. Even with Alim McNeill making impact plays up front and Jake Bates staying steady on special teams, Jared Goff still had to work through pressure behind an offensive line that never fully settled in, though he still managed 412 passing yards.
The bigger concern came behind that. The secondary had too many breakdowns against Panthers receivers, and those repeated completions helped swing the night away from Detroit. For a team that expects to contend, the defeat was less about one bad break than about how vulnerable the Lions can look when the coverage unit cannot hold up its end. [Read more 🡒]
Jahmyr Gibbs Gave Lions Fans An SNF Intro Nobody Saw Coming
Sunday Night Football against the Panthers had plenty of on-field attention for Detroit, but Jahmyr Gibbs briefly stole the spotlight before the action really settled in. During his introduction, the Lions running back said he was from Hollywood Arts, the fictional school from the TV show Victorious, instead of his actual alma mater, and the line immediately sent fans and social media buzzing with amusement.
It was the kind of offbeat moment that fits the growing attention Gibbs has drawn beyond his playmaking, with the second-year back already having turned heads for reasons unrelated to football. For a Lions team that usually lets its work on the field do the talking, Gibbs found a very different way to make himself the story for a few minutes. [Read more 🡒]