DETROIT – Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff might be No. 3 in the NFL MVP race through the first third of the season.
Goff threw for 353 yards and two touchdowns on 30-of-44 passing Sunday to help lead the Lions over the first-place Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the road. He did it all without a running game (the Lions averaged 1.8 yards per carry) and despite a handful of dropped passes.
In six games, Goff has thrown for 1,618 yards, 11 touchdowns, and three interceptions. He’s completing 69.5% of his attempts for an average of 8 yards.
I know it sounds weird, but right now, Goff is a serious MVP candidate.
We can’t say he’s the leader, because Tua Tagovailoa has been better in pretty much every statistical category: passing yards, touchdowns, completion percentage, yards per attempt, adjusted QBR, and passer rating.
Then there’s Christian McCaffrey -- probably the only serious non-QB candidate. He has nine touchdowns and 770 total yards through six weeks, so he’s probably right near the top.
But Goff might be No. 3.
MVP is a statistical award. The quarterback who puts up the best numbers for a playoff-caliber team will probably win (again, unless McCaffrey keeps up his pace). Well, the Lions are 5-1 and 2.5 games up in the NFC North Division, so I’d say Goff will qualify from a team success standpoint.
Here’s how he ranks statistically compared to the other top quarterbacks in the league:
Goff doesn’t lead any categories, but he’s top six in all of them. Obviously, there are other stats that factor into the equation -- for example, Goff’s immobility won’t help him against a dual-threat QB -- but this is a decent snapshot of the race.
If you combine all the rankings above, Goff has the second-best average behind Tagovailoa. That’s not to say he’s definitively best MVP candidate of that bunch, but it at least shows he belongs in the conversation.
Justin Herbert has already had a bye week, for example, so his counting stats are lower. Meanwhile, Josh Allen would have better overall numbers than Goff if he didn’t have twice as many interceptions -- is that alone enough to put Goff ahead?
I think there’s justification for putting Goff above both Herbert and Allen right now, but I can see the other side of that argument, too.
It’s a fun conversation, and reasonable people could come to very different conclusions. That’s what makes the MVP race unique: There is no rigid definition.
But the Lions aren’t just a plucky underdog looking to make a playoff run for the first time in decades. They’ve got a legitimate MVP candidate at quarterback, and his name’s Jared Goff.