Jared Goff has been having a brilliant season so far. Multiple table-topping performances. But apart from Drew Brees, no one has really included him in the NFL MVP race yet. Why is that? Well, his teammate Amon-Ra St. Brown thinks he has an answer … and it starts with media bias.
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Goff has been straight-up awesome to start the season for the Detroit Lions. He’s thrown a league-leading 12 TDs to just 2 INTs, while leading the team to a 4-1 record and the highest scoring offense in football. The Lions are averaging around 34 points per game and over 40 in their four wins, showing they’re a dominant offense that doesn’t need Ben Johnson to thrive.
Even with those numbers, Goff hasn’t been mentioned much in the MVP conversation. The spotlight has gone to flashier names like Baker Mayfield, Dak Prescott, and Josh Allen.
Amon-Ra, Goff’s top wideout, said on his podcast that it’s unfair. According to him, if Goff played perfectly throughout the season, he’d only then win the coveted award. His not-so-flashy style seems to keep media attention away otherwise.
“Honestly, I feel Jared would have to play perfect for him to ever win an MVP,” Amon-Ra professed on the St. Brown Podcast.
“Just because his game, like, it’s not flashy. He’s not rolling out, throwing off one leg, throwing across his body, necessarily all of the time. He’s in the pocket, he’s delivering strikes, accurate balls, he’s taking care of the football. I feel like he’s doing everything right as a quarterback. But in today’s game, the media, everyone is going to hype up the flashy plays.”
Goff is indeed not known for his highlight reels. At the end of the day, he’s still a top-tier game manager who has been in the league long enough to hold his own, and then some. But he’s never going to “wow” anyone with his abilities.
Nevertheless, Amon-Ra later clarified that he doesn’t care that others continue to sleep on Goff. Because he knows and believes that Goff is the best QB in the league.
“I just want him to keep doing what he’s doing. I think he’s one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL right now, if not the top… For me, look, they can keep sleeping on him. That really has nothing to do with me. Hopefully, it fires Jared up so he keeps playing even better. But whatever he’s doing right now, it’s been working for the past 3 years,” Amon-Ra said.
Over the last three seasons, Goff has thrown a total of 79 TDs and only 26 INTs. He’s also gone 31-8 over that span while completing 70% of his passes for over 10,000 yards. Clearly, he’s been one of the best in the league, but not many ever give him his flowers.
That’s why, at the end of the day, Amon-Ra thinks that if Goff were to win the MVP, he’d have to be inch-perfect and lead the Lions to a great record.
“For him, he might not ever be in the MVP conversation until maybe, say, we go 16-1, and his stats are insane. Then they have no choice but to give it to him… But if we lose 3 or 4 games, and his stats are still insane, I feel like there’s always another guy that maybe looks more appealing to the fan’s eye.”
It’s actually exactly what happened to Goff and the Lions last season. Despite having a great statistical season, two losses were enough to keep the QB well out of the limelight for the MVP discussion. Ultimately, that award came between Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson because of their exciting dual-threat ability. Even though Goff finished 5th in voting, nobody really considered him a legitimate candidate to win.
We’ll see if that changes this year. Although it’s seemingly going to take a lot more than the 37 TD passes Goff threw last year to get people’s attention. If he can get that total over 40, and maybe even closer to 50, NFL fans and media will have no choice but to consider him as a legitimate candidate to win. But until that happens, Amon-Ra is right, Goff will continue to be slept on.
