Detroit Lions QB Jared Goff has sneaky rushing success

One per game.

That's how many first downs Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff wants to steal with his legs, and he's managed to do that so far.

Goff made a 3-yard run on a third-and-6 in the fourth quarter of the Lions' Week 1 win over the Los Angeles Rams and made a 3-yard run on a third-and-2 late in the first half of the week 2 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and capped last week's victory over the Arizona Cardinals with an 8-yard keeper on second-and-7 that allowed the Lions to take two squats to end the game.

“That one run was just absolutely amazing,” Lions running backs coach Scottie Montgomery joked Thursday at the team’s practice facility in Allen Park. “You don’t get the chance to see many runs like this. I know the run you think I'm talking about, I'm talking about Jared Goff's run at the end of the game. The game with a big- On a timed throw and a big run like that, I gave the defenders hell and said, “How can JG outscore you in that section right there?” And he did, he did right there Did a great job and was probably even more impressive when he immediately threw up that attitude.

Goff doesn't offer much mobility as a quarterback.

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He has surpassed the 100-yard rushing mark in a season once in his career, in 2018 when he finished with 108 yards, and had 21 yards rushing and two touchdowns in 17 games last year.

While some top quarterbacks (Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Jalen Hurts) have built-in rushing packages in their offense and others (Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert) use their legs primarily to make plays in the pocket, Goff gives indicates that he spends a lot of time working on his passing, well, running.

“If you don’t run, you lose it,” Goff said Thursday. “And I’m not getting any younger and as time goes on you struggle to make sure you’re still running — especially as a quarterback. Running and actively running and doing it in the off-season, doing it in-season because I really don't do that in training, so I have to actively get into some exercises that get me running and get those fibers and those fast-twitch muscles in Bring momentum – as many as I have.”

The Lions rank fourth in the NFL in rushing through three games (163 yards per game) and have one of the league's best backfield tandems in Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery.

They don't have many designed quarterback runs for Goff in their offense, and the ones they do make are either sneaks or catch-you-sleep plays. But Goff improvised in all three of his first losses this year.

Against the Rams, Goff dropped back to pass out of the shotgun and had a five-man route concept downfield. With no one open and the protection beginning to fail, he scrambled up the middle and turned right, where he picked up a block from Sam LaPorta and had just enough speed to escape safety Quentin Lake for a first down.

Against the Bucs, Goff scored back-to-back plays during a two-minute drill late in the first half. On his second carry, Goff faked a handoff to Gibbs in the backfield, rolled to his right, got another good block from LaPorta and tucked the ball away without a receiver open on that side of the field.

Last week against the Cardinals, Goff faked to right and ran to the batters after defensive end Dennis Gardeck fell badly after the run. Most Arizona high school students had turned their backs on men's coverage.

Goff said he was at “top speed” when he ran a 4.82-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine in 2016, and while admittedly he probably couldn't top that time now, he's enjoying the small gains as a rusher , which are big wins for the Lions.

“I hid (my speed) for eight years and now, in my ninth year, I decided to pull it out,” he said. “No, we joke about it, but I think if I get one per game, one leg first down per game, maybe it's two, that's a big deal for us. Third down if I can. “The first three games I grabbed one, so every game I try to find a way to get one and that definitely helps us.”

Dave Birkett is the author of the new book “Detroit Lions: An Illustrated Timeline.” Pre-order it now from Reedy Press.

Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on X and Instagram at @davebirkett.

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