Lions' Jared Goff rips Detroit media who 'relish in negativity at times'
Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff should sign a contract extension at some point this offseason but was in sports headlines on Wednesday for a much different reason.
As shared by Kory Woods of MLive, Goff seemed to rip local media members during a recent appearance on the "Trading Cards" podcast regarding coverage of the Lions before and during the club's run to the NFC Championship game this past season.
"I have this like ... and I probably need to drop it pretty soon because I’m hopefully going to be in Detroit for a very long time," Goff explained. "But I have this thing with our local media where they almost like relish in negativity at times. And maybe that’s what gets clicks and that’s what sells. But it’s no longer what they need to live in. Like, 'Hey guys, we have a good team. We’ve had success. Like we can be happy about that. We can celebrate that, not constantly have to write about like how we’re constantly the underdog'"
Per Woods and Sean Keeley of Awful Announcing, Goff's comments were related to a question the signal-caller received about the San Francisco 49ers ahead of the conference title game that the Niners won 34-31:
During the podcast, Goff noted that he would've preferred focusing on "how good our players are" at that particular moment and during a run that included Detroit's first playoff victory since January 1992.
"Teams are gonna be gunning for us now," Goff added during the episode. "We won the division and all that. And I’m probably overthinking it in my head because it’s the chip on my shoulder and the competitor in me, but in that moment I was just giving [the reporter] a hard time. I actually really like him."
Goff is right about people expecting big things out of the Lions heading into the 2024 NFL Draft. As of late Wednesday afternoon, DraftKings Sportsbook listed Detroit tied for fourth among the betting favorites at +1200 odds to win Super Bowl LIX in February 2025.
Goff has previously discussed having chips on his shoulders for other reasons, such as the Los Angeles Rams replacing him with Matthew Stafford following the 2020 campaign.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about Goff's remarks is that the Lions were widely considered national media darlings going all the way back to last offseason.
Regardless of what Goff truly thinks about those who cover the Lions on a weekly basis, history shows that an athlete sparking feuds with local media members usually does that player and his team little good.
Goff will have plenty of time to expand on his comments between now and Week 1 this September.
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