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    • Jared Goff’s perfection shows everything that is possible for Lions
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    Jared Goff’s perfection shows everything that is possible for Lions

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    The first pass Jared Goff threw Monday night was an easy 1-yard completion to his tight end, Sam LaPorta. That happened a few seconds into the first quarter.

    The last pass Jared Goff threw Monday night was a high throw to Amon-Ra St. Brown, who jumped and grabbed it for a touchdown.

    That came with 5:23 left in the game.

    In the nearly three hours between these two passes, Goff threw another sixteen. Some were fastballs. Some were beaten to the field. One was a long catch-and-sprint to Jameson Williams for a 70-yard score. Another, Goff somehow shot after a defender spun him like a roulette wheel.

    But every passage was a completion.

    LION GRADES: Perfection gets an A for Jared Goff

    That’s right. The ball did not touch the ground: 18-for-18. No drops. No high or low misses. That means a starting quarterback for the Detroit Lions was absolutely perfect for an entire game.

    We can all die now and go to heaven.

    “It’s good,” Goff told a TV interviewer moments after the Lions’ 42-29 win over the Seahawks at Ford Field ended. “If the ball doesn’t touch the ground, it’s fine.”

    Good? It’s perfection! And these weren’t easy dump passes or three-yard screens. These were: find-your-tightend-rollout, or find-your-wide-receiver-on-a-crossing-pattern, or find-from-the-defense-to-your-second-option, or move -the- bag-and-wait-till-your-husband-gets-out – get him now!

    Eighteen to eighteen?

    Spotless.

    ‘I was excited’

    Goff made it look like he was programmed by the computer. The balls were tight, hard and on the money. He shifted the pocket, but threw with ideal footwork. Despite playing without injured star Frank Ragnow, Goff was at such an excellent level Monday night, it’s no wonder some teammates and coaches didn’t immediately realize that statistically he had just done something that no quarterback in the history of the NFL had ever done: be perfect for that many passes (18) and that many yards (292.)

    “I just gave the game ball to someone else, so I feel terrible right now,” head coach Dan Campbell said with a laugh during his post-game press conference. “I knew he played a great game. I didn’t know he was perfect.”

    When St. Brown was initially asked about it by a reporter, he too was confused. “The (reporter) says, ‘Your quarterback, the ball didn’t hit the ground,’ and in my head I’m thinking, ‘What does she mean the ball didn’t hit the ground?’ I know he didn’t mess around,” St. Brown told ESPN. “After the game I finally realized he was 18-for-18. I think he had more receiving touchdowns than incompletions.”

    Oh yes. Let’s not forget that gem. Midway through the third quarter, Goff feigned a handoff to David Montgomery and then threw the ball to St. Brown, who watched its quarterback sneak out of the backfield like a kid leaving school out the back door. St. Brown then threw a perfect pass just over a defender, and Goff, who will never be confused with Usain Bolt, caught the ball and rushed into the end zone.

    He then shot the ball into the stands. By the way he threw, I’m pretty sure it was caught.

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    “I was excited,” Goff told ESPN. “We’ve been cooking that thing for a long time. I think this is my first career touchdown catch ever.

    Leave it to Goff, who rarely talks about the big things he’s done, to do two mondo things in the same night. That reception gave Detroit 19-for-19 passing attempts. The only other time a team was perfect on all of its passing attempts was in 1942, when the Giants threw one pass the entire game, on the very first play.

    That shouldn’t even count, right?

    Spotless.

    Putting the ‘compliment’ in ‘complementary’

    Of course, all of this statistical stuff would be meaningless if the Lions didn’t win the game. What they did. A huge win against an undefeated Seattle franchise that had beaten them the last six times they had played. The Lions did it with big offense and just enough defense when they needed it at the end. The game only effectively ended after Kerby Joseph intercepted a Geno Smith heave in the end zone with 66 seconds left.

    “It’s good that we finally beat those guys,” Aidan Hutchinson told the media. “I think the difference was that we got the stops we needed at the end.”

    Up until that point, though, the Lions defense has given up so much real estate that I thought they might be giving away a luxury box. Seattle finished with 516 total yards, ran 78 plays (to Detroit’s 50) and had 38 first downs (to the Lions’ 21). Detroit also handed Seattle 101 yards on 12 penalties, which will no doubt leave Campbell furious – after he’s done. celebrate.

    “I’m proud of the boys,” he told the media. “I thought what we did really well was we played complementary football, and that’s what good teams do.”

    We knew the Lions were good. We didn’t think the ‘compliment’ in ‘free’ would be ‘Congratulations on a perfect night’.

    But how nice for Goff, who for all his efficient success has fought the sticky film of being traded for a shinier model after the Rams traded him up for Matthew Stafford four years ago. Because he isn’t flashy, Goff isn’t always on the highlights. And because he’s not loud, Goff doesn’t get social media buzzing.

    But when he’s on, he’s on, and there are few who can match him in the NFL. He exemplified that low-risk, high-reward production last season. This year was a bit of a slow start. Detroit’s offense was okay in the opener against the Los Angeles Rams, stalled in the loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and had a good half in the win against the Arizona Cardinals. Goff himself said he didn’t play to his potential (four interceptions against three touchdowns). The defense kept the Lions on the winning ledger.

    Monday evening the seesaw shifted.

    “I was confident it would happen,” Goff said of the offense getting its mojo back. “I thought the first half of last week was indicative of who we are. … To be able to play a full game that felt like that, that’s what you want.”

    It certainly is. I hope Goff eventually gets that game ball one day. And that he places it somewhere where it will not be lost, displaced or even soiled. After all, perfection is hard to come by. And now that a Lions quarterback has done it, it no longer seems so impossible.

    With the Lions largely living up to their massive preseason hype – despite a string of injuries – many impossible things seem more likely these days.

    Are the Tigers not in the playoffs on Tuesday?

    Contact Mitch Albom: [email protected]. Check out the latest updates on his charities, books and events at MitchAlbom.com. Follow him @mitchalbom.

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