Jared Goff Explains How Backups Help Him Prepare

Goff provides insight into how the quarterback room prepares for games.

On Thursday, the Detroit Lions’ quarterback room welcomed back a familiar face.

After acquiring Teddy Bridgewater, the Lions now have three active quarterbacks and one on the practice squad. Starter Jared Goff relies on everyone in the room to prepare for each opponent.

Bridgewater is no stranger to the Lions; he was with them last year before resigning to coach high school football in Florida. After winning the state title in his first season as a coach, he decided to come out of retirement and join the Lions for the remainder of the season.

Each quarterback is responsible for their own part of the game preparation process. Jake Fromm, a practice squad quarterback, evaluates the proportion of man or zone coverage deployed by opponent defenders in various situations.

Bridgewater and Hendon Hooker contribute significantly to position coach Mark Brunell’s collaborative team atmosphere. The procedure is incredibly comprehensive until the night before the game, when the entire room will go over every detail of the game plan.

“They all do a ton, whether it’s breaking down the stuff early percentage wise, like getting the percentages and Jake (Fromm) does a lot of that weekly of, what’s the percentages of what they play on certain downs, and then through the week, just little quizzes here and there, making sure we’re on our stuff,” Goff told reporters. “The night before the game, we’ll go over everything, and they’ll keep me on my toes.” Now, Teddy (Bridgewater) is a guy I said last year, a guy who’s played, a guy who’s played in big games, he’s got the experience, and I can rely on him for some of those things. He’s a veteran with valuable expertise.”

Brunell, who has tutored the Lions’ quarterbacks since 2021, agreed that there is a lot that goes into preparation each week. In addition to the coaches’ time, the group of passers frequently spent a significant amount of time reviewing footage together.

“It’s a daily review of the game plan. They watch tapes together. “We spend a lot of time with them,” Brunell explained. “They spent a significant amount of time simply in the room without the coaches, studying footage, talking over things, and going over different situations. Adding Teddy to that, as you could expect, is a great advantage for us since he has seen it all. And he simply has a different viewpoint, that of a man who has been out there and played in this league for a long time. This year, I discovered that he is a really clever person and an excellent coach. But he’s fantastic, and a lot goes into it.”

Returning to San Francisco.

The Lions recall the pain of walking off the field at Levi’s Stadium while confetti fell.

As the club returns to the site of their NFC Championship loss in January, they’re ready to continue their quest of the top seed in the postseason against the team that kicked them out just one game shy of their ultimate objective.

Goff stated Thursday that the Lions had grown from their experience late last season. It acted as fuel for this year’s group, which adopted the tagline ‘It Takes More’ as the campaign’s theme.

“Anytime you go deep in the playoffs, and you go through a game like that, you learn, you grow, you get better, you get closer, all that stuff comes into play,” Mr. Goff said. “We felt so close to winning that game and we came up short, but yeah, it served us well this season and hopefully as we go into the postseason.”

Amon-Ra St. Brown, a wide receiver, believes that the team has evolved from last year’s setback, despite the addition of new players.

The sting from the setback is not fresh, but the game is critical to Detroit’s chances of winning the NFC’s top seed.

“It happened over a year ago. It ached and really stung at the moment. But I believe it has helped us all grow as players and coaches,” St. Brown added. “We have some new faces on the team, but many of the same players from last year. It was a difficult loss for us last year. We’re pleased about the new year because it allows us to craft our own tale.

Christian Booher

Sports journalist who has covered the Detroit Lions for the last three NFL seasons. Christian delivers experienced analysis, insights, and the ability to objectively appraise the team’s performance in a competitive NFC North division.